Yea, "user fees". Whatever happens to all those Fu__ing TAXES we pay?

--


Keith
__
There's nothing like a small boat for getting to know people better than you
might wish.
"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.