Day-Tour of Tulsa Port of Catoosa for NRWA Source Water Specialists

day trip to the Tulsa Port of the . Dry Catoosa, the largest ice-free and liquid manufactured Ainland port in the , goods are shipped to and was part of the annual National Rural from the facility, year- Barges docked at the Water Association (NRWA) in-service round. Dry products include Tulsa Port of Catoosa training in Tulsa, in early grains and fertilizers. Liquid during the NRWA June. KRWA’s Source Water Protection products include refined tour on June 6, 2018. Specialists, Doug Helmke and Ken petroleum products and Kopp, took part. molasses. Due to the greater The port and its lock and dam system controls on streamflows through large amount of cargo transported are located on the Verdigris River, upstream locks dams along the through the port, some of which can be northwest of the city of Tulsa, in an Verdigris and Arkansas Rivers, the toxic or explosive, numerous area formerly referred to as the Rascal Tulsa Port of Catoosa is often more protections have been put in place to Flatts. The headwaters for the Veridgris desirable for shipping than the deal with accidents and spills. The port River are in . Its confluence Missouri River. During 2013, the port authority not only plans for industrial with the is a short handled 2.7 million tons of cargo. The accidents, but also for bomb threats distance downstream from the port, coast guard is responsible for and terrorist attacks. As an example, which allows water transport from the emergency response with close nearly 100 people were treated in 2001 Tulsa area, along the McClellan-Kerr coordination with Rogers County after being exposed to highly toxic waterway, to the and Emergency Management. With the arsine gas that escaped when a steel cylinder blew a valve at a chemical plant at the port. The history of Tulsa's Port of Catoosa can be traced back to major flooding along the Arkansas River in the early twentieth century. Tulsa experienced rapid growth and there was an income expansion during an oil boom in the 1920s. Much of the sprawling new development was poorly located in the floodplain of the Arkansas River. In 1923, a flood displaced 4,000 people and inundated the Tulsa Waterworks, causing $400,000 in damages. While this resulted in a push for a city flood-plan that included changes in land-use, it was not enough. Another flood in 1943 This image from Google Earth shows the layout of the again displaced 4,000 people and 2,500-acre Tulsa Port of Catoosa. The Verdigris River is threatened area oil refineries. located just to the east of the man-made shipping channel. Moreover, 21 people were killed and 23 were injured.

100 July 2018 THE KANSAS LIFELINE The McClellan–Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System runs from the Tulsa Port of Catoosa located in the upper-left portion of this graphic through Oklahoma and Arkansas to the Mississippi River. (Source: US Army Corps of Engineers)

Due to the vital importance of the $3 billion in commercial and United States’ fuel supply to the war industrial development in the effort during World War II, the Corps Arkansas River basin during the two was appropriated funds on an years after its completion in 1971. The emergency basis to build levees waterway system and its reservoirs around oil refineries along the also provide beautiful lakes for Arkansas River. While the U.S. Army recreation, sport fishing and Corps of Engineers had already been hydroelectric power-generation. provided by Congress with broad President Richard Nixon attended and authority to construct dams to control spoke at the opening ceremony on flooding along and upstream of the June 5, 1971. Kerr suffered a fatal Mississippi Basin, funding for such heart attack on January 1, 1963, at the projects was often a limiting factor. age of 66, before the project was After the 1943 event, the Governor complete. of Oklahoma, Robert S. Kerr, was The first barge, which actually determined to make sure that such arrived a few months before the destruction and suffering was never dedication ceremony, carried again experienced in his state. He newsprint. Since then, 41,409 barges worked with Senator John L. have travelled through the Port. They McClellan, and later ran and won his have delivered more than 67 million own senate seat, to help gain the tons of cargo on the waterway, enough federal funding that was needed to to fill 1.5 million trailer trucks. In build large scale flood control and a recent years, the Port has averaged multipurpose waterway. Congress two million tons of cargo per year and passed “The Rivers and Harbors Act” has not only created millions of in 1946. That and amendments to the dollars in revenue for the businesses Flood Control Act of 1948 and again located on its banks, but also has in 1950, collectively authorized and created thousands of jobs. Not only funded the building of what would does the port handle dry and liquid become the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas bulk products, odd or large size River Navigation System. A series of objects are often preferable to ship on 18 locks and dams have since been the waterway. As one example, many constructed and the Arkansas River of the large reactor components used channel was deepened to support large at the Wolf Creek Nuclear Generating barge traffic. The $1.2 billion federal Station in Burlington were shipped project reportedly fostered more than through the Tulsa Port of Catoosa.

July 2018 101 THE KANSAS LIFELINE