[StBernard] Closure of MR-GO is a stone's throw away

[Westley Annis]

Closure of MR-GO is a stone's throw away
Residents to take part in event symbolizing the end of channel
Friday, March 27, 2009 
By Bob Warren
St. Bernard bureau
The closing of the controversial Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet in St.
Bernard Parish will be marked in a unique way Saturday: with the casting of
stones. 

Government officials, conservationists and residents will pile into boats
and head out to Bayou La Loutre, where everyone will get the chance to chuck
rocks into the waterway at the spot where it is being plugged. 

The ceremony is sponsored by St. Bernard Parish government, the St. Bernard
Parish Sportsmen's League, the St. Bernard Coastal Advisory Committee and
the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation. 

"It'll be a different way to express a little relief," Carlton Dufrechou,
executive director of the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation said with a
chuckle. "Old-timers have been talking for years of just blocking it with
rocks. So this is for them." 

Big rocks are being dumped into the waterway by the Arkansas company that
won a $13.6 million contract to plug the channel at Bayou La Loutre. 

The event could prove popular with residents. 

"We've had a very good response," said William McCartney, a St. Bernard
Parish government employee organizing the ceremony. He said some people plan
to take their own boats to the rock-throwing site. 

The shipping channel, also known as MR-GO, was built in the 1960s as a
shortcut from the Gulf of Mexico to New Orleans. It has taken the brunt of
criticism in St. Bernard Parish, the Lower 9th Ward and some parts of
eastern New Orleans for Hurricane Katrina's deadly flooding in 2005.
Although the Army Corps of Engineers has said the channel had minimal impact
on flooding, the MR-GO became increasingly unpopular in St. Bernard Parish
after the hurricane. 

In January, Pine Bluff Sand and Gravel Co. of Pine Bluff, Ark., began
erecting a rock structure across the channel. The structure's base will be
450 feet wide, tapering to 12 feet at the top. It will be 950 feet long and
will jut 7 feet from the water's surface. The structure will consist of
430,000 tons of rock and cover 10 acres of the channel bottom. 

Some of the rock used for the structure will come from the jetties that
extend from the MR-GO into Breton Sound. 

In late February, the work was almost 15 percent complete. Full closure is
scheduled by July. 

Once the closure reaches 14 feet below the water's surface, the channel will
be officially closed to all vessels, ending more than 45 years of navigation
on the shipping channel. 

Space on the boats Saturday is limited; to reserve a spot, call McCartney at
504.278.4227. The boats will leave Breton Sound Marina in Hopedale at 8 a.m.
There is no charge. 

An onshore gathering will be held at 9 a.m. at the marina for those not
wanting to go on the boats to Bayou La Loutre. 

. . . . . . . 

Bob Warren can be reached at bwarren at timespicayune.com or 504.826.3363.