How come the marina's and communities along the ICW that soak the boaters
have not yelled yet?
They can't be that ignorant ;-)
--
c ya Wim
www.cork.org


"Norm" wrote in message
...
: I bet in the end the cost of maintaining all of these waterways will
: be passed down to the people who use them. "User Fees". If you pass
: thru, you pay a fee. It will soon be too expensive for most of us.
: Back to being a rich man's sport? That will also solve some of the
: pollution problems and most importantly, we lose some more of our
: freedom. There are lots of places that ban anchoring or you have to
: pay a fee to anchor. The ICW is most likely next in line to see these
: user fees passed down to boaters.
:
: On 20 Feb 2004 12:43:29 -0800, (anchorlt)
: wrote:
:
: Salty Southeast Nautical Newsletter Supplement
: 02/23/04
: Critical News Concerning the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway
:
: Hello Fellow Cruisers:
:
: This is perhaps the single most important installment of the Salty
: Southeast nautical newsletter to ever reach your In-box. At least,
: it's that important if you EVER navigate the track of the Atlantic
: Intracoastal Waterway between Norfolk, Virginia and Miami, Florida.
: Even those of you who reside and cruise exclusively in the Florida
: Keys, along the western coastline of the Sunshine State, or on the
: Northern Gulf Coast, will want to read the startling information
: below. While this critical situation may not affect you as immediately
: as it will those of us who cruise along the eastern seaboard, the
: budget cuts outlined below will almost certainly impact your waterways
: eventually.
:
: Allow me to begin with the "short version," and then I will present
: some of the more detailed information that has reached our office. All
: this began when I returned from a trip to Eastern Florida this past
: Thursday (February 19). As you might imagine, after being out of the
: office for almost a week, there were several hundred e-mails that
: required my eventual attention. As I sifted through these many
: messages, a couple stuck out. While all were cryptic, they referred me
: to a series of announcements and press releases from the "Atlantic
: Intracoastal Waterway Association." This is an organization with which
: I've had some contact. Some three years ago, Boat/US asked me to come
: to an AIWA conference in Charleston, South Carolina, to represent the
: cruising community's point of view. I addressed this meeting, but
: except for myself and Judith Light, former editor of "The Waterway
: Guide," all of the other attendees were commercial tow captains or
: officials of commercial Waterway shi pping operations. While, to be
: su re, the goals of these commercial captains and operators were in
: many ways analogous with the cruising community, clearly the emphasis,
: at least at that time, was bent towards non pleasure craft interests.
:
: All of which is a long winded way of explaining why I did not follow
: up on these messages immediately. All that changed this morning when I
: received an urgent summons from Penny Leary Smith, director of the
: Dismal Swamp Canal Welcome Center. Penny is a long time friend, and
: also one of the most knowledgeable people going as to what's happening
: on the water in Northeastern North Carolina. Anyway, Penny said I had
: to look at the AIWA's web site NOW, and believe me I then lost no time
: in doing so.
:
: What I discovered was, to say the very least, ALARMING!!!!! And, I
: suspect it will alarm most you as well. I have now learned that we
: have both a long term and a critical short term problem with the
: Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. Within the next few paragraphs, I'm
: going to give you a brief overview of these problems. Please
: understand that for the sake of brevity, I'm going to simplify a bit!
:
: Well, with all that build-up, let's finally get into the real
: situation (at last). In the United States Federal Budget, recently
: sent to Congress by the Bush Administration, there has been $0
: allocated for maintenance of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway.
: That's right, at least as I understand it, a big, fat goose-egg for
: any dredging and/or maintenance of aids to navigation along the entire
: track of the Atlantic ICW. I must admit to being floored by this utter
: lack of funding!
:
: How long does anyone think the Waterway will remain a viable entity to
: pleasure craft (not to mention commercial) traffic without dredging
: those shoal prone spots we can all think of? I can answer that
: question - "NOT LONG!"
:
: And, that leads directly to the critical short term problem that I
: mentioned above. Over the past six months or so, the Waterway has been
: shoaling, as it often does, along its passage behind Lockwoods Folly
: Inlet, and across the mouth of Lockwoods Folly River in southeastern
: North Carolina. Depths in the Waterway channel at MLW have dropped to
: a mere 3 feet. This portion of the ICW has now been CLOSED to
: commercial Waterway traffic except at high water, and, even then,
: apparently the tow captains have to get special permission to proceed.
:
: With the new and seemingly total lack of funding for dredging the
: Atlantic ICW, the Army Corps of Engineers is scrambling to try and
: find the necessary moneys in some other part of their budget to dredge
: this channel. There is NO guarantee that they will succeed.
:
: Can you imagine the chaos this situation will cause this spring, if
: not remedied by dredging, as the annual snowbird migration begins
: moving north???!!!! Consider this; the nearest, completely reliable
: inlet south of Lockwoods Folly is Charleston, while the nearest
: reliable seaward cut to the north is the Cape Fear River. (Of course,
: you could use Little River Inlet near Calabash or the Winyah Bay
: inlet, but, while both are good enough for local captains, visiting
: cruisers may, quite rightly, not feel totally comfortable using either
: of these channels). Imagine all northward bound boats, large or small,
: sail or power, being REQUIRED to go outside from Charleston to Cape
: Fear, no matter what the weather, to continue their northward
: migration!
:
: Clearly, this is a situation that requires the cruising community's
: immediate and full attention. It's time to call and write our US
: Congressional representatives to make our feelings and alarm
: forcefully heard. Below, in copies of several messages, from the AIWA
: and our faithful cruising reporter, "grandma Rosalie," you will hear
: specific recommendations as to how this critical goal can be
: accomplished. By all accounts, you need to visit the web site of the
: Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway Association immediately!!!!
: (http://www.atlintracoastal.org/)
:
: You may rest assured that we will be pulling out all the stops here at
: Waterway Publishing to get the attention of our Federal government.
: May we strongly suggest that you do the same!
:
: We also strongly urge any of you who receive this message, and are
: yourselves editors or contributors to other nautically oriented
: newsletters, to include an account of this serious problem in your
: publications. You may rest assured that you have my permission to use
: any of my words presented here without the need for further
: permission!
:
: Thanks so much for your time and attention. Let's go to work!
:
: Claiborne Young
: Watermark Publishing
:
: http://www.CruisingGuide.com
:
:
: Dear Members and Friends,
:
: We have received a request from the Transportation and Infrastructure
: Committee of the House to gather for them anecdotal information
: (basically, whatever you can give us) on the current status of our
: waterways -- shutdowns and near shutdowns, etc., and how it affects
: you. Congressmen would like to have this prior to the Water Resources
: Subcommittee hearing on the Corps' FY05 budget which is scheduled for
: February 26th. And, they are seriously considering having another
: hearing just on this issue. We know about several "hot spots" -- GIWW,
: AIWW, Black-Warrior, MRGO, etc.-but having your input is vital
: (including if you are on the aforementioned rivers.) They want the
: information in YOUR words. Feel free to e-mail me with status reports
: , and we'll take care of the rest. Many thanks for
: your responses--and don't hesitate to forward this on toothers!
:
: Worth Hager
: President
: National Waterways Conference
: 1130 17th Street, N.W.
: Washington, DC 20036
: (P) (202) 296-4415
:
:
:
: I heard from many of you that you were communicating with your elected
: representatives regarding the funding crisis affecting the AIWW. Thank
: you for your messages. I am sharing your emails describing your
: difficulties navigating the AIWW with members of Congress and the
: House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee. We need more emails
: and phone calls. If you haven't contacted your Congressman yet please
: stop what you are doing and do it now! We have many members who don't
: live in the South but frequent the AIWW. I've heard from several of
: them wanting to know who they can contact. There are two very powerful
: committees that can help us. I urge all of you all to contact members
: of the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee and members of the
: House Energy & Water Development Committee. These committees are
: holding hearings in Washington in the next few weeks and it is
: extremely important that they hear from you. The contacts are as
: follows: Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure, Water Resources
: & Environment subcommittee
: Chairman- Rep. John Duncan (TN)
: Go to www.house.gov/transportation to find the email links to
: committee members. Chairman John Duncan must hear from you and you
: might find your representative on the list. Remember Congress will
: work hard for an issue that is important to their constituents. It is
: up to you to tell them about the situation. It doesn't help if I am
: the only one lobbying for funds. House Appropriations Committee,
: Energy and Water Development Subcommittee Chairman, David L. Hobson
: (OH) http://appropriations.house.gov This will bring you to the
: committee's main page. Select Subcommittees from the menu and then
: Energy and Water Development. This will bring up the list of members.
: I urge you to send your messages to every committee member on this
: list. This is the committee that will approve funding for the Corps of
: Engineers.
: I've stated that we need 100 emails or phone calls a day. Our waterway
: needs are not a priority since there are so many others in the same
: condition. It's time for us to become the "squeaky wheel."
: Below is an excerpt from Worth Hager, President of the National
: Waterway Conference response to a question about the need for funding
: the AIWW. "The Office of Management and Budget has made its own little
: "rule" that so-called "low-use" waterways not be maintained. That is,
: waterways that carry less than 1 billion ton-miles of freight. Is it
: fair? No, its not. But, the guys at OMB making these arbitrary rules
: aren't willing to look at any other way of valuing our systems. They
: can't seem to understand the impact their decisions have on the lives
: of everyday people, regional development, our military installations,
: and the ability of our waterways to provide economic, environmental
: and recreational benefits. They only see it as a way not to spend
: money. We truly are working diligently to find some money for the
: AIWW. I personally know that Corps headquarters is searching the
: operation and maintenance budget as we speak for any spare funds. But,
: it won't be easy. First, their budget this year is a drop in the
: bucket of what they need. Already, the channels that go into New
: Orleans and Harlingen, TX, are silting up--they didn't get enough
: money either--and that affects a lot of our petroleum and
: international trade. Second, even if the Corps could find some spare
: money or just take it from another project,they will still face the
: wrath of OMB, and OMB has decreed that any "reprogramming" of funds
: over 15% of a project's budget has to be approved by them. In
: addition, they have to get approval from the appropriations committee
: staffs." As you can see from Worth's message, we really need to make
: the case for funding the AIWW. We need to hear from those who make a
: living from the waterway. Marinas, shrimpers, dredging companies,
: fishing boats, etc.
: Thanks
: Rosemary
:
:
: Here are some suggestions to help raise awareness about the conditions
: in the AIWW. Ø Use our logo (attached) to make banners, bumper
: stickers, buttons, etc. Take them to Chamber of Commerce meetings,
: City Council meetings and local events
: Ø Write letters to the editor!!! The press can help us make a "splash"
: (sorry I couldn't resist that) Ø Post the attached flyer in retail and
: boating businesses or community bulletin boards. Ø Pass this
: information on to your email list of boating friends.
: Ø See if the community cable channel will display the flyer on air.
: We need to make everyone aware of the serious crisis we are facing in
: the AIWW. If the waterway closes, many businesses are going to be
: affected - not just marinas. Local shops and tourist sites will be
: impacted as well.
: Let me know what you are doing to spread the Save the Waterway
: message. Thanks Rosemary
:
:
: ATLANTIC INTRACOASTAL WATERWAY
: ACTION ALERT
:
: December 8, 2003 USACE Bathymetric Survey
: We have been notified Lockwood's Folly, a portion of the Atlantic
: Intracoastal Waterway in North Carolina, is experiencing severe
: shoaling and commercial traffic is being restricted to navigating only
: during high tides. The result is that barges are waiting, sometimes
: for as long as 12 hours before navigating through the area.
: The U.S. Coast Guard has declared a safety zone at Little River Buoy
: 47 and 48. Commercial vessels with greater than three feet draft can
: only transit with COTP Wilmington's permission at high water. Tank
: barges are prohibited from transiting the area. The Corps of Engineers
: does not have money in their budget to do emergency dredging to open
: up the waterway. The situation is dangerous and totally unacceptable.
:
: AIWA is asking that everyone contact your members of Congress today
: and ask them to provide emergency funds for the US Corps of Engineers,
: Wilmington District to dredge this area. Go to the Congressional
: Contacts page to locate your Congressional representatives. Please use
: phone, email or fax to send your message. Members of Congress need to
: hear from their constituents about this situation before it becomes
: worse.
:
: We are asking all who read this message to voice your concerns. We
: need to make sure that our legislative leaders in Washington DC are
: aware of the far reaching effects of this situation.
: