Dredging & Marine Construction Subcommittee Lone Star Harbor
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Dredging & Marine Construction Subcommittee Lone Star Harbor Safety Committee Meeting Time: Tuesday, 23 September 2014, 10:30 am Meeting Place: Houston Pilots Address: 203 Deerwood Glen Dr. Deer Park, TX 77536 Meeting Minutes: A.) Dredge Sub Committee Meeting 10:30 to 11:30 am 1. Introduction to dredge subcommittee members and sign in sheet 2. Questions & Answers a. Port of Houston channel projects The PHA dredging of the Barbours’ Cut channel began July 25th. This is the project to widen the berths to 225’ and shift the 300’ channel 75’ north. The channel and berths will be deepened to 45’. We expect this dredging to be done by the end of the year. PHA’s approval to dredge the Bayport Channel was received from the Corps on 9/22/14. The preliminary landside work at PA 15 has been completed. Now that the preparation of the levee is complete, dredging of the Bayport Channel can begin as soon as a dredge is available. This project will be widening the channel by 100’ in the bay reach and 50’ in the land cut. Additionally, the channel and PHA berths will be deepened to 45’. We expect that dredging will begin sometime in late October. Under the current schedule, all of the new work dredging at Bayport should be complete by next May and all maintenance dredging and levee work should be done in the fall of 2015. The contractor has not submitted any information on their work plan for the Bayport dredging yet other than the proposed pipeline route. When information is available, the PHA community relations staff will work with the local communities and organizations to make them aware of the plans. Additional information regarding the contract can be found at www.deepeningportofhouston.com. This site will be updated when new information is available. The Coast Guard will align the range markers for the Bayport Widening project. b. Federal projects (USACE) Ongoing project: HSC Carpenters to Greens (includes area upstream of Greens Bayou to Hunting Bayou). RLB has completed dredging of Green's Bayou and is currently dredging the HSC upstream of Green's Bayou. We anticipate another 5 days or so before the dredge will relocate to the HSC adjacent to Carpenters Bayou and will begin placing material into Lost Lake. Upcoming projects: Peggy Lake Levee Raising: contract awarded Sept 10th to Affolter Contracting Inc. Alexander Island Levee Raise: scheduled for a November 2014 award. Sims to Turning Basin: scheduled for a December 2014 award. Galveston Entrance Channel and HSC Bolivar to Redfish: scheduled for an April 2015 award. Exxon to Carpenters: scheduled for July 2015 award Bayport Flare: next Federal job is scheduled for an August 2015 award. NOTE: Prior to the next Federal job, the Port of Houston Authority will be performing maintenance dredging of the Bayport Flare in fall 2014 and spring 2015 as part of their Deepening and Widening project. PA 14/15 Shoreline Stabilization: repair of erosion along levees, scheduled for August 2105 award Mid Bay PA dewatering: scheduled for July 2015 award Spilman dewatering and spillbox replacement: scheduled for July 2015 award Industries who wish to utilize Federal placement areas for dredged material placement, including with pass-by dredging in conjunction with Federal contracts, need to contact Frank Garcia (409-766- 3065) as soon as possible, preferably a year out, due to the high volume of requests. Although we are trying to accommodate industries as much as possible, there is no guarantee that an industry will be able to use a preferred PA at a specific time due to other Federal job requirements which take priority, as well as capacity issues. At this time, fees paid by industries for use of the Federal PAs are submitted to the General Treasury and do not come back to the Houston Ship Channel project. This creates a challenge maintaining the Placement Areas since the HSC budget remains the same, but more material is being placed into the sites. We are working on a way to retain fees for the HSC project in the future to help facilitate PA management and levee raises, but at the moment do not have a method in place to retain any fees. c. Recreational Boaters- Non-VTS Update Regarding the Port of Houston Bayport Deepening & Widening Project, Philip Kropf has continued to request detailed project information from the POHA in order to be able to knowledgeably circulate that information out to the larger recreational boater community. The www.deepeningportofhouston.com website, not linked from the POHA website, is unknown to most outside of the Shore Acres and HYC community. And even with the very recent addition of the pipeline route plan to the website, there is insufficient detailed information on that plan that would serve to keep recreational boaters safe when encountering or crossing that proposed dredge pipeline. 3. Current topics for the dredging sub-committee 2014 a. Corps of Engineers- Galveston District Dredging Meeting Tricia Campbell announced that the annual dredging meeting of the Galveston District will be on Thursday, October 23rd. It will be held at the held at the Galveston District Jadwin Building, 2000 Fort Point Road, Galveston, Texas 77553. Attached is the agenda. Please RSVP to Alice Ewing, [email protected], by close of business October 17, 2014. Attendees will be required to stay on the 1st floor for security purposes. Escorts will be required for movement throughout the remainder of the building. There will be a social dinner for those who would like to attend, on Wednesday, October 22nd at Fisherman's Wharf. More details to follow soon. The Hotel Galvez is holding a block of rooms for $91 per night. Please register on or before October 10th to receive that rate. Mention “Galveston District Dredging Meeting” when you make your reservation. b. CRA and Orion Marine Group’s “Dredging Your Docks” Conference CRA and Orion Marine Group will be having their annual “Dredging Your Docks” seminar on Wednesday, November 5th at Brady’s Landing Restaurant from 8:00 am- 12:00 pm (registration begins at 7:30 am). Please RSVP to Laci Theriot at [email protected], if you’d like to attend. Attached is the save the date flyer. If you have any presentation topics in mind that might be of interest to the industry, please let her know. Agendas and speakers have not been finalized. The event is supported by the Lone Star Harbor Safety Committee, Coast Guard, Houston Pilots, Port of Houston, and Corps of Engineers. c. ICW – Jurisdictional boundaries and increased traffic We are currently waiting on TXDOT to finish their study and supply information regarding the locks and increased traffic along the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, specifically the area near Freeport and east of the Colorado River where the waterway intersects. Dan Harmon, Director of Maritime for TXDOT will be presenting on the Intracoastal Waterway Master Plan at the next tri- subcommittee with Waterways and NavOps subcommittees on Tuesday, October 28th. Please see the PDF for more information: http://ftp.dot.state.tx.us/pub/txdot-info/tpp/giww/master- plan-0814.pdf d. Galveston Railroad Bridge Dredging Status Jim Stark with the Galveston Intracoastal Canal Association (GICA) reported on the status of USACE/TXDOT dredging and removal of obstructions at the Galveston Causeway/Railroad Bridge. The Corps of Engineers and TXDOT anticipate having a contract in place in January or February 2015 to clear the remaining obstructions in the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway at the bridges and allow for navigation of the full 125’ width of the channel. Meanwhile, Coast Guard temporary buoys will remain in place, marking the safe 108’ width. Last, GICA commented on dredging issues raised during the Gulf Intracoastal Canal Association Convention in August. Dredge operators and towboat operators are concerned about recent allisions in the Texas reaches of the GIWW involving dredges and tows. GICA has proposed a meeting of dredge operators, towboat operators, Coast Guard, and Corps representatives to discuss possible solutions and safe sharing of the waterway. This meeting has been tentatively scheduled for October 24th in Galveston, following the October 23rd Corps Dredging Meeting at the District office in Galveston. 4. LSHSC dredge subcommittee short (1-2 yrs) and long term goals (3-5yrs). a. Maintain and overview of USACE projects, schedules, and pre-dredge conferences. b. Communicate with VTS, Pilots, port authorities, and USACE c. Committee outreach through the Port Authorities and private terminals to educate all facility operators on the importance of maintaining adequate depth alongside their berths. d. Coordination between dredging subcommittee and Nav Ops. 5. Next Scheduled Meeting a. Full committee: 7 November, 10:00 am, USCG Sector Houston-Galveston b. Tri-Subcommittee with NavOps and Waterways : 28 October, 11:30 am, Houston Pilots B.) Action Items: C.) Open discussion: .