ICW -- In Danger
 

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.

ICW -- In Danger
 

Dave wrote:
When it's your pig at the trough, ya gotta yell loud to be sure it gets its
swill.

Personally, I'm more concerned about whether there's money in the budget to
dredge the area where I want to moor my boat.

You have spent to much time listening to AM radio.

--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com

ICW -- In Danger
 

Dave wrote:
When it's your pig at the trough, ya gotta yell loud to be sure it gets its
swill.

Personally, I'm more concerned about whether there's money in the budget to
dredge the area where I want to moor my boat.

You have spent to much time listening to AM radio.

--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com

ICW -- In Danger
 

I think it's about time pleasure boaters start speaking out before we lose
support for many of the things that help us enjoy cruising. I think the lack
of funding outlined for AIWW could be just the tip of the iceberg. ICW's
elsewhere and sea inlets in many places (like Sarasota's, for instance)
just aren't getting much maintenance. All of us need to get seen on our
politicians' radar screens.

Len

ICW -- In Danger
 

I think it's about time pleasure boaters start speaking out before we lose
support for many of the things that help us enjoy cruising. I think the lack
of funding outlined for AIWW could be just the tip of the iceberg. ICW's
elsewhere and sea inlets in many places (like Sarasota's, for instance)
just aren't getting much maintenance. All of us need to get seen on our
politicians' radar screens.

Len

ICW -- In Danger
 

This is actually sort of old news. The original Bush budget proposal
back in March 2003 included no money for the AICW. Congress added back
about 7.6 million or about 20% of what the Corps needs. Most of that
went to Florida. (For some unknown reason)

The real current problem is that the chickens are coming home. We are
probably going to hear a lot more as the great spring migration of
snowbirds heads north next month. THe real problem is that bulk transit
in the ICW is coming to a screaching halt. We can count on increased
truch traffic in I-95 and I am tempted to buy some stock in Norfolk
Southern.

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.

--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com

ICW -- In Danger
 

This is actually sort of old news. The original Bush budget proposal
back in March 2003 included no money for the AICW. Congress added back
about 7.6 million or about 20% of what the Corps needs. Most of that
went to Florida. (For some unknown reason)

The real current problem is that the chickens are coming home. We are
probably going to hear a lot more as the great spring migration of
snowbirds heads north next month. THe real problem is that bulk transit
in the ICW is coming to a screaching halt. We can count on increased
truch traffic in I-95 and I am tempted to buy some stock in Norfolk
Southern.

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.

--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com

ICW -- In Danger
 

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.

ICW -- In Danger
 

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.

ICW -- In Danger
 

I promise this is my last political comment on this newsgroup (for the
time being at least) but I just can't resist.

Facing growing criticism about the loss of manufacturing jobs, the
President's chief economic advisor wants to reclassify McDonald's and
other fast food restaurant employees from the service to the
manufacturing sector. Seems he thinks assembling Big macks is an
industrial job.

And ketchup is a vegetable.

--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com

ICW -- In Danger
 

I promise this is my last political comment on this newsgroup (for the
time being at least) but I just can't resist.

Facing growing criticism about the loss of manufacturing jobs, the
President's chief economic advisor wants to reclassify McDonald's and
other fast food restaurant employees from the service to the
manufacturing sector. Seems he thinks assembling Big macks is an
industrial job.

And ketchup is a vegetable.

--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com

ICW -- In Danger
 

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.
:

ICW -- In Danger
 

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.
:

ICW -- In Danger
 

WaIIy wrote:

On Sat, 21 Feb 2004 15:29:09 -0500, Glenn Ashmore
wrote:


And ketchup is a vegetable.

--
Glenn Ashmore

Why don't you and krouse go back and troll on rec.boats?



That's right, Wally. Running aground in the middle of the channel in the
ICW is only an illusion, and discussing the problems of the ICW and the
shorting of funds necessary to maintain it is purely political and has
nothing to do with pleasure boating. Cruisers, after all, never use the ICW.

Right, Wally?

ICW -- In Danger
 

WaIIy wrote:

On Sat, 21 Feb 2004 15:29:09 -0500, Glenn Ashmore
wrote:


And ketchup is a vegetable.

--
Glenn Ashmore

Why don't you and krouse go back and troll on rec.boats?



That's right, Wally. Running aground in the middle of the channel in the
ICW is only an illusion, and discussing the problems of the ICW and the
shorting of funds necessary to maintain it is purely political and has
nothing to do with pleasure boating. Cruisers, after all, never use the ICW.

Right, Wally?

ICW -- In Danger
 

The budget for maintaining the ICW has never been lavish. Now it's just
been cut a bit more...

One of the big problems I see is that the section between Beaufort NC
and Norfolk is going downhill. For much of the Atlantic, going offshore
isn't too terrible an option (*if* the inlets are passable)... but Cape
Hattaras is a deal breaker.

anchorlt wrote:
Salty Southeast Nautical Newsletter Supplement
(very long cut-n-paste spam snipped)

There was an article in Soundings recently about how much the commercial
traffic in the ICW contributes to the economy, and they noted that the
figures don't include recreational traffic. The question is, does the
ICW pay it's own way?

Fresh Breezes- Doug King

ICW -- In Danger
 

The budget for maintaining the ICW has never been lavish. Now it's just
been cut a bit more...

One of the big problems I see is that the section between Beaufort NC
and Norfolk is going downhill. For much of the Atlantic, going offshore
isn't too terrible an option (*if* the inlets are passable)... but Cape
Hattaras is a deal breaker.

anchorlt wrote:
Salty Southeast Nautical Newsletter Supplement
(very long cut-n-paste spam snipped)

There was an article in Soundings recently about how much the commercial
traffic in the ICW contributes to the economy, and they noted that the
figures don't include recreational traffic. The question is, does the
ICW pay it's own way?

Fresh Breezes- Doug King

ICW -- In Danger
 

Dave wrote:

On Sat, 21 Feb 2004 20:05:03 GMT, (Norm) said:

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.

Let's all hurry and jump in to defend boaters' divine right to have the
costs of their sport paid from the taxpayers' pockets. That's the American
way. Having to pay your own freight would be downright unAmerican.


I vote to have the thousands of dollars of my tax payments going over to
Iraq and being flushed down that toilet instead be used for maintenance
of the ICW.

ICW -- In Danger
 

Dave wrote:

On Sat, 21 Feb 2004 20:05:03 GMT, (Norm) said:

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.

Let's all hurry and jump in to defend boaters' divine right to have the
costs of their sport paid from the taxpayers' pockets. That's the American
way. Having to pay your own freight would be downright unAmerican.


I vote to have the thousands of dollars of my tax payments going over to
Iraq and being flushed down that toilet instead be used for maintenance
of the ICW.

ICW -- In Danger
 

Similarly, I was amazed at the lack of traffic on the Erie and Oswego canals
as we passed through them last summer. Based on what we saw, it is hard to
justify the cost to keep the locks open and channels dredged.

"DSK" wrote in message
.. .
The budget for maintaining the ICW has never been lavish. Now it's just
been cut a bit more...

One of the big problems I see is that the section between Beaufort NC
and Norfolk is going downhill. For much of the Atlantic, going offshore
isn't too terrible an option (*if* the inlets are passable)... but Cape
Hattaras is a deal breaker.

anchorlt wrote:
Salty Southeast Nautical Newsletter Supplement
(very long cut-n-paste spam snipped)

There was an article in Soundings recently about how much the commercial
traffic in the ICW contributes to the economy, and they noted that the
figures don't include recreational traffic. The question is, does the
ICW pay it's own way?

Fresh Breezes- Doug King

ICW -- In Danger
 

Similarly, I was amazed at the lack of traffic on the Erie and Oswego canals
as we passed through them last summer. Based on what we saw, it is hard to
justify the cost to keep the locks open and channels dredged.

"DSK" wrote in message
.. .
The budget for maintaining the ICW has never been lavish. Now it's just
been cut a bit more...

One of the big problems I see is that the section between Beaufort NC
and Norfolk is going downhill. For much of the Atlantic, going offshore
isn't too terrible an option (*if* the inlets are passable)... but Cape
Hattaras is a deal breaker.

anchorlt wrote:
Salty Southeast Nautical Newsletter Supplement
(very long cut-n-paste spam snipped)

There was an article in Soundings recently about how much the commercial
traffic in the ICW contributes to the economy, and they noted that the
figures don't include recreational traffic. The question is, does the
ICW pay it's own way?

Fresh Breezes- Doug King

ICW -- In Danger
 

I ran into this situation when I was doing research on the marine
sanitation legislation. The problem is that the Corps of Engineers does
not keep records of yacht traffic on the AICW. Unlike most of the newer
impounds and waterways that the COE maintains, the AICW was created
before recreational boating had a major economic impact. They must
evaluate the economic impact of the AICW on commercial traffic only.

It is actually sort of a self fulfilling situation. The COE has to
allocate its budget based on economic impact. For several years barge
traffic on the AICW was well below the Gulf Coast ICW in total tons and
ton-miles. That made the COE allocate more money to other waterways.
Tonnage was down 20% from 2000 to 2001 primarily because the low level
of maintenance caused so much of shoaling. Now it is 1/20th of the Gulf
ICW traffic so it is hard to justify renovating it. Less funding = less
traffic = even less funding. If estimated 15,000 recreational boats
that transit the waterway twice a year could be included the picture
would be a lot different.

The thing that really hacks me is that Rep. Jack Kingston from my state
who is on the Appropriations Committee did not ask for any funding and
all the ICW through Georgia is in his district. All we got was enough
to keep 2 engineers at work measuring the shoaling in 100 miles of
waterway.


DSK wrote:

The budget for maintaining the ICW has never been lavish. Now it's just
been cut a bit more...

One of the big problems I see is that the section between Beaufort NC
and Norfolk is going downhill. For much of the Atlantic, going offshore
isn't too terrible an option (*if* the inlets are passable)... but Cape
Hattaras is a deal breaker.

anchorlt wrote:

Salty Southeast Nautical Newsletter Supplement

(very long cut-n-paste spam snipped)

There was an article in Soundings recently about how much the commercial
traffic in the ICW contributes to the economy, and they noted that the
figures don't include recreational traffic. The question is, does the
ICW pay it's own way?

Fresh Breezes- Doug King


--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com

ICW -- In Danger
 

I ran into this situation when I was doing research on the marine
sanitation legislation. The problem is that the Corps of Engineers does
not keep records of yacht traffic on the AICW. Unlike most of the newer
impounds and waterways that the COE maintains, the AICW was created
before recreational boating had a major economic impact. They must
evaluate the economic impact of the AICW on commercial traffic only.

It is actually sort of a self fulfilling situation. The COE has to
allocate its budget based on economic impact. For several years barge
traffic on the AICW was well below the Gulf Coast ICW in total tons and
ton-miles. That made the COE allocate more money to other waterways.
Tonnage was down 20% from 2000 to 2001 primarily because the low level
of maintenance caused so much of shoaling. Now it is 1/20th of the Gulf
ICW traffic so it is hard to justify renovating it. Less funding = less
traffic = even less funding. If estimated 15,000 recreational boats
that transit the waterway twice a year could be included the picture
would be a lot different.

The thing that really hacks me is that Rep. Jack Kingston from my state
who is on the Appropriations Committee did not ask for any funding and
all the ICW through Georgia is in his district. All we got was enough
to keep 2 engineers at work measuring the shoaling in 100 miles of
waterway.


DSK wrote:

The budget for maintaining the ICW has never been lavish. Now it's just
been cut a bit more...

One of the big problems I see is that the section between Beaufort NC
and Norfolk is going downhill. For much of the Atlantic, going offshore
isn't too terrible an option (*if* the inlets are passable)... but Cape
Hattaras is a deal breaker.

anchorlt wrote:

Salty Southeast Nautical Newsletter Supplement

(very long cut-n-paste spam snipped)

There was an article in Soundings recently about how much the commercial
traffic in the ICW contributes to the economy, and they noted that the
figures don't include recreational traffic. The question is, does the
ICW pay it's own way?

Fresh Breezes- Doug King


--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com

ICW -- In Danger
 

Glenn Ashmore wrote in message news:2me_b.14381$23.140@lakeread04...
I ran into this situation when I was doing research on the marine
sanitation legislation. The problem is that the Corps of Engineers does
not keep records of yacht traffic on the AICW. Unlike most of the newer
impounds and waterways that the COE maintains, the AICW was created
before recreational boating had a major economic impact. They must
evaluate the economic impact of the AICW on commercial traffic only.

It is actually sort of a self fulfilling situation. The COE has to
allocate its budget based on economic impact. For several years barge
traffic on the AICW was well below the Gulf Coast ICW in total tons and
ton-miles. That made the COE allocate more money to other waterways.
Tonnage was down 20% from 2000 to 2001 primarily because the low level
of maintenance caused so much of shoaling. Now it is 1/20th of the Gulf
ICW traffic so it is hard to justify renovating it. Less funding = less
traffic = even less funding. If estimated 15,000 recreational boats
that transit the waterway twice a year could be included the picture
would be a lot different.

The thing that really hacks me is that Rep. Jack Kingston from my state
who is on the Appropriations Committee did not ask for any funding and
all the ICW through Georgia is in his district. All we got was enough
to keep 2 engineers at work measuring the shoaling in 100 miles of
waterway.


DSK wrote:

The budget for maintaining the ICW has never been lavish. Now it's just
been cut a bit more...

One of the big problems I see is that the section between Beaufort NC
and Norfolk is going downhill. For much of the Atlantic, going offshore
isn't too terrible an option (*if* the inlets are passable)... but Cape
Hattaras is a deal breaker.

anchorlt wrote:


Nothing that a few more tax cuts won´t solve....
john
Salty Southeast Nautical Newsletter Supplement

(very long cut-n-paste spam snipped)

There was an article in Soundings recently about how much the commercial
traffic in the ICW contributes to the economy, and they noted that the
figures don't include recreational traffic. The question is, does the
ICW pay it's own way?

Fresh Breezes- Doug King

ICW -- In Danger
 

Glenn Ashmore wrote in message news:2me_b.14381$23.140@lakeread04...
I ran into this situation when I was doing research on the marine
sanitation legislation. The problem is that the Corps of Engineers does
not keep records of yacht traffic on the AICW. Unlike most of the newer
impounds and waterways that the COE maintains, the AICW was created
before recreational boating had a major economic impact. They must
evaluate the economic impact of the AICW on commercial traffic only.

It is actually sort of a self fulfilling situation. The COE has to
allocate its budget based on economic impact. For several years barge
traffic on the AICW was well below the Gulf Coast ICW in total tons and
ton-miles. That made the COE allocate more money to other waterways.
Tonnage was down 20% from 2000 to 2001 primarily because the low level
of maintenance caused so much of shoaling. Now it is 1/20th of the Gulf
ICW traffic so it is hard to justify renovating it. Less funding = less
traffic = even less funding. If estimated 15,000 recreational boats
that transit the waterway twice a year could be included the picture
would be a lot different.

The thing that really hacks me is that Rep. Jack Kingston from my state
who is on the Appropriations Committee did not ask for any funding and
all the ICW through Georgia is in his district. All we got was enough
to keep 2 engineers at work measuring the shoaling in 100 miles of
waterway.


DSK wrote:

The budget for maintaining the ICW has never been lavish. Now it's just
been cut a bit more...

One of the big problems I see is that the section between Beaufort NC
and Norfolk is going downhill. For much of the Atlantic, going offshore
isn't too terrible an option (*if* the inlets are passable)... but Cape
Hattaras is a deal breaker.

anchorlt wrote:


Nothing that a few more tax cuts won´t solve....
john
Salty Southeast Nautical Newsletter Supplement

(very long cut-n-paste spam snipped)

There was an article in Soundings recently about how much the commercial
traffic in the ICW contributes to the economy, and they noted that the
figures don't include recreational traffic. The question is, does the
ICW pay it's own way?

Fresh Breezes- Doug King

ICW -- In Danger
 

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.

ICW -- In Danger
 

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.

ICW -- In Danger
 

Keith wrote:

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


Pipelined to Iraq.

ICW -- In Danger
 

Keith wrote:

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


Pipelined to Iraq.

ICW -- In Danger
 

In article ,
Harry Krause wrote:

Dave wrote:

On Sat, 21 Feb 2004 20:05:03 GMT, (Norm) said:

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.

Let's all hurry and jump in to defend boaters' divine right to have the
costs of their sport paid from the taxpayers' pockets. That's the American
way. Having to pay your own freight would be downright unAmerican.


I vote to have the thousands of dollars of my tax payments going over to
Iraq and being flushed down that toilet instead be used for maintenance
of the ICW.

I want all the MARINE fees and taxes (state and federal) used for MARINE
purposes!

--
Jere Lull
Xan-a-Deux ('73 Tanzer 28 #4 out of Tolchester, MD)
Xan's Pages: http://members.dca.net/jerelull/X-Main.html
Our BVI FAQs (290+ pics) http://homepage.mac.com/jerelull/BVI/

ICW -- In Danger
 

In article ,
Harry Krause wrote:

Dave wrote:

On Sat, 21 Feb 2004 20:05:03 GMT, (Norm) said:

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.

Let's all hurry and jump in to defend boaters' divine right to have the
costs of their sport paid from the taxpayers' pockets. That's the American
way. Having to pay your own freight would be downright unAmerican.


I vote to have the thousands of dollars of my tax payments going over to
Iraq and being flushed down that toilet instead be used for maintenance
of the ICW.

I want all the MARINE fees and taxes (state and federal) used for MARINE
purposes!

--
Jere Lull
Xan-a-Deux ('73 Tanzer 28 #4 out of Tolchester, MD)
Xan's Pages: http://members.dca.net/jerelull/X-Main.html
Our BVI FAQs (290+ pics) http://homepage.mac.com/jerelull/BVI/

ICW -- In Danger
 

Subject: ICW -- In Danger
From: Dave

Let's all hurry and jump in to defend boaters' divine right to have the
costs of their sport paid from the taxpayers' pockets. That's the American
way. Having to pay your own freight would be downright unAmerican.

The above would be funny if it wasn't so clueless.

Capt. Bill

ICW -- In Danger
 

Subject: ICW -- In Danger
From: Dave

Let's all hurry and jump in to defend boaters' divine right to have the
costs of their sport paid from the taxpayers' pockets. That's the American
way. Having to pay your own freight would be downright unAmerican.

The above would be funny if it wasn't so clueless.

Capt. Bill

ICW -- In Danger
 

I know it's not amusing, but private pilots pay through the nose to
land at any old grass airfiled in England, and we are accustomed to
having the tax-payer pay the freight for our landings in the US.
Same issue

Brian W

On 26 Feb 2004 23:35:39 GMT, (LaBomba182) wrote:

Subject: ICW -- In Danger
From: Dave

Let's all hurry and jump in to defend boaters' divine right to have the
costs of their sport paid from the taxpayers' pockets. That's the American
way. Having to pay your own freight would be downright unAmerican.

The above would be funny if it wasn't so clueless.

Capt. Bill

ICW -- In Danger
 

I know it's not amusing, but private pilots pay through the nose to
land at any old grass airfiled in England, and we are accustomed to
having the tax-payer pay the freight for our landings in the US.
Same issue

Brian W

On 26 Feb 2004 23:35:39 GMT, (LaBomba182) wrote:

Subject: ICW -- In Danger
From: Dave

Let's all hurry and jump in to defend boaters' divine right to have the
costs of their sport paid from the taxpayers' pockets. That's the American
way. Having to pay your own freight would be downright unAmerican.

The above would be funny if it wasn't so clueless.

Capt. Bill

ICW -- In Danger
 

Subject: ICW -- In Danger
From: Dave

On 26 Feb 2004 23:35:39 GMT, (LaBomba182) said:

Let's all hurry and jump in to defend boaters' divine right to have the
costs of their sport paid from the taxpayers' pockets. That's the American
way. Having to pay your own freight would be downright unAmerican.

The above would be funny if it wasn't so clueless.

On the contrary. Nothing approaches the gullibility of those who believe the
promises of politicians who say they're gonna give you whatever your heart
desires for free because the other fella is gonna pay for it.

My point, which you seemed to miss, is that boaters, both commercial and
pleasure, that use the ICW spend tens of millions of dollars each year in the
communities that border the ICW.
Those communities benefit by the employment/business opportunities and tax
dollars generated by said boaters. As does the Federal government in tax
dollars.
And it's very short sighted to say "we can save a bunch of money" by just
cutting off the ICW funding.


Just the other night another boater and I were expressing our frustration at
seeing our mooring area become nearly useless because the town has to wait
for the Congress critters to appropriate money to dredge the silt that has
accumulated since the last time it was dredged.
The mooring fee is so low
that there's a waiting list of years to get in, but now once you get in you
can't use it except at high water. But to keep your mooring you still have
to put it in each year. If the town had been tacking on a small user fee
each year since the last dredging, there would be much less of a waiting
list, or no waiting list, and they wouldn't have to go hat in hand for the
money to restore the area to a useable state.

Apples to oranges.

Capt. Bill

ICW -- In Danger
 

Subject: ICW -- In Danger
From: Dave

On 26 Feb 2004 23:35:39 GMT, (LaBomba182) said:

Let's all hurry and jump in to defend boaters' divine right to have the
costs of their sport paid from the taxpayers' pockets. That's the American
way. Having to pay your own freight would be downright unAmerican.

The above would be funny if it wasn't so clueless.

On the contrary. Nothing approaches the gullibility of those who believe the
promises of politicians who say they're gonna give you whatever your heart
desires for free because the other fella is gonna pay for it.

My point, which you seemed to miss, is that boaters, both commercial and
pleasure, that use the ICW spend tens of millions of dollars each year in the
communities that border the ICW.
Those communities benefit by the employment/business opportunities and tax
dollars generated by said boaters. As does the Federal government in tax
dollars.
And it's very short sighted to say "we can save a bunch of money" by just
cutting off the ICW funding.


Just the other night another boater and I were expressing our frustration at
seeing our mooring area become nearly useless because the town has to wait
for the Congress critters to appropriate money to dredge the silt that has
accumulated since the last time it was dredged.
The mooring fee is so low
that there's a waiting list of years to get in, but now once you get in you
can't use it except at high water. But to keep your mooring you still have
to put it in each year. If the town had been tacking on a small user fee
each year since the last dredging, there would be much less of a waiting
list, or no waiting list, and they wouldn't have to go hat in hand for the
money to restore the area to a useable state.

Apples to oranges.

Capt. Bill

ICW -- In Danger
 

Does this mean all highways should be tolled, all roads?

ICW -- In Danger
 

Does this mean all highways should be tolled, all roads?

ICW -- In Danger
 

Dave wrote:

I'd have no problem imposing much of the costs of maintaining the waterway
on those communities that benefit from it, and letting them figure out
either how to recoup the costs from actual users or whether they want to
have their residents provide a subsidy to encourage users to come. But I
think the benefit to the resident of an Arizona desert is too remote to
require him to pay for the yachtis' pleasures.

Following that line of reasoning maybe the Corps and the BLM should
close down lakes Alamo, Apache, Abiquiu, Avalon, Brantley, Cabello,
Cochiti, Cinchas, Galisteo, Havasu, Jemez Canyon, Sumner and the other
250+ recreational lakes they maintain west of Colorado that us folks
back East don't get much benifit from. After all, their budget totals
about 40 times what the ICW costs and they don't carry freight.

--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com