cicugaha.wordpress.com
For the first time in 10 years, the federally regulated river and its reservoirs will have enough water to enablwe barge navigationuntil Nov. 30, the said But the full-length barging season will do little to help an industrh that has dwindled away at the mercy of shortenesd seasons and lowwater levels, CEO Joe LaMoths said. “In effect, it doesn’t mean anything,” he In 2007, the company closed its bulk terminal on the riverr inKansas City, a few years aftee two companies that formerly operated tow boats for bargesw also quit working the stretch througb Kansas City, LaMothe said.
“Both of those companiea left the river thesame year,” he Not even full reservoirs can guarantee sufficieny river flows to reinvigorate the barginhg industry, LaMothe said, adding that the companu would not have gone to the expenswe of closing its facility if he’d seen any hope for the bargin industry. Federal law requires the Corps to protecyt river habitats for endangered species by regulatintriver flows, and recreational users of reservoirs have also influencesd river flows, making future barge usage of the riverd unpredictable at best, LaMothe said. Only sporadic barging may still occuf as a few agricultural products processors between Omahaand St.
Louie charter loads, he said. The Corp said seasonal runoff into the Missouroi River will be 129 percent of averagerthis year, allowing four reservoirws upstream from Kansas City to fill their main Only Fort Peck in Montana will remain shory of full this year. Storagde in the reservoirs is expected to peak at 57 millio n acre feet of watedthis month, the Corps said, a level not reache since July 2000.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment