Future still looks murky for Intracoastal Waterway

Though the following story was published in the Charleston, SC Post & Courier nearly five year ago, the issue remains the same; one of our nation's major transportation arteries is becoming less usable each year.  This morning as I sat in my daughter's kitchen sipping coffee and watching "snowbirds" traveling back North on the ICW, I decided to post Brian's story to remind boaters of an issue that never seems to go away.  It is beyond comprehension that Congress can continue to fund some of the most asinine projects known to mankind and ignore saving one of the most important maritime assets in America.

Without key funding to deepen channel, South Carolina may lose vital commerce

Published on 08/04/07

BY BRIAN HICKS
The Post and Courier

A few years ago, Capt. Jim Donnelly didn't think the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway could get any worse.  His tugboat was running aground regularly as the federal government allowed the waterway to silt in, ignoring its own law that requires a 12-foot channel at low tide.

Then, on a trip through Charleston a few months back, Donnelly saw just how much worse it's gotten.  "Just north of the Ben Sawyer Bridge, I saw people wading across the Intracoastal Waterway," Donnelly said Friday.

In the three years since The Post and Courier rode on Donnelly's tug as part of an in-depth look at the waterway's woes, commercial traffic — like the waterway — has dried up even more. Many captains won't travel the route anymore and consider it closed south of Morehead City, N.C.  Some of the larger recreational boats that travel the coast have been forced offshore into the more dangerous, and unpredictable Atlantic.

Now, after six straight years of budget cuts, the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway is barely more than a third the depth it should be. Unless something changes soon, the East Coast's maritime highway could become the nautical equivalent of a dirt road, grounding $10 billion in commercial and recreational commerce and cutting off some of Charleston's supply of fuel, building materials and transit-boat business.

"It's getting worse out there," said Benjamin "Bos" Smith, operations manager of Stevens Towing. "It's like having a road — if you don't maintain it, you can't use it."

Since 2001, the Bush administration has slashed most money to the waterway by using a funding formula that doesn't consider recreational traffic.  Counting only commercial traffic, much of which has been forced offshore by shoddy conditions in "The Ditch," the waterway doesn't qualify for dredging and maintenance money.

A no-win situation

The waterway, which is made up of natural and man-made channels, is open to the ocean at countless inlets and requires constant dredging to fight off the accretion and erosion caused by the tides. A lack of funding leads to shallower channels, which lead to less traffic, which proves the argument for cutting the money. It is the classic Catch-22, say the tug operators and officials with the Army Corps of Engineers, which is responsible for the waterway.

"There's just no way we can compete with the Mississippi River," said Jimmy Hadden, the Corps of Engineers local project manager for the waterway. "Basically, we've been getting caretaker money. I've probably got a 4-foot controlling depth."

That means at low tide, there are spots along the channel that are 4 feet deep. Corps officials have estimated that the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, which runs 1,200 miles from Norfolk, Va., to Miami, needs more than $100 million in work.

The limited work that has been done on the waterway since 2001 has come from congressional additions to the budgets. For South Carolina, that has amounted to an average of about $800,000 a year. It's been enough to monitor the problem, spray for mosquitoes, and little else. The last dredging project was done near Georgetown in 2005.

This year, the Senate version of the federal budget includes $3.8 million, and the House's and president's versions of the budget include $872,000 — the caretaker money.

The extra Senate money is the work of U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, who said he's going to fight to keep the higher amount in during budget negotiations.

"The Intracoastal Waterway is an important asset for our state," Graham, R-S.C., said. "I'm afraid if we don't get this funding, we could well face restrictions on the use of the waterway. In turn, it could have a devastating impact on commerce."

Donnelly said that for his tug, the Island Express, to make a waterway trip, his barges must have shallower drafts than they used to. A few years ago, the tug could make the trip up the coast with barges that had a 9-foot draft. Now, they can only load to a 7.5-foot draft.

"That's a big difference when you get paid by the ton," Donnelly said.

A cloudy future

Even if South Carolina can get money to make a dent in the dredging, it does little good without other states getting the same. The Corps of Engineers says that the waterway needs to be considered one project, instead of making each state fend for itself.

Georgia hasn't had any dredging in about six years, according to waterway supporters, and behind Jekyll Island, the channel is mostly mud at low tide. If not for a military fuel barge that still makes the run, pushing mud the whole way, the waterway would probably be gone there.

Of course, South Carolina is not far behind.  Rosemary Lynch, executive director of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway Association, said that without the extra money Graham has slipped into the Senate budget, South Carolina's waterway might close.

"We are grateful that Senator Graham made funding the waterway his Number One priority," Lynch said. "The bill must go through the conference committee before we know what the final amount will be, but because of the senator, we are still in the game."

If something doesn't change soon, Smith said, it may not be just his tugboats and other commercial traffic that can't get through.

"We only go through the waterway behind Breach Inlet on a rising tide," Smith said. "It's getting so bad that before long, a sailboat won't be able to get through. We've just got to ask ourselves: Is this a valuable resource or not?"

Reach Brian Hicks at 937-5561 or bhicks@postandcourier.com.

On the Web:

To see the 2004 story and photos about the problems with the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, go to www.charleston.net.