Budget May Throttle Allegheny River Traffic
Aspinwall Herald
15 February 2011
By Mary Ann Thomas
Some locks and dams on the Allegheny River could close as the
president's fiscal year 2012 budget slashes the river's locks and dams
budget by more than 50 percent.
The Army Corps of Engineers' operation and maintenance of the
Allegheny's navigation system is set at $4 million for the FY 2012
budget, compared to $8.5 million in the president's 2011 budget.
The president's budget serves as a road map for federal spending. In
reality, Congress draws up and passes the federal budget.
But after November's election, it's clear that such cuts would be
welcomed in the halls of Congress.
Although there have been lean budgets and threats of closing locks
before, the upcoming budget cuts are severe enough that Corps officials
say that they will either close some locks or cut hours of operation at
facilities along the Allegheny.
In fact, the Allegheny River was singled out for cuts because it is
classified as a low-use navigation system, which federal government
officials targeted for 50 percent cuts across the country in the 2012
budget, according to Jeff Hawk, spokesman for the Army Corps of
Engineers, Pittsburgh District.
The Corps of Engineers is looking to either close Lock 5 at Schenley
through Lock 9 at Rimer to recreational boaters or reduce shifts and
operating hours for the locks and dams in the lower Allegheny River,
Hawk said.
Additionally, 18 worker positions throughout the Allegheny's lock and
dam system will relocate within the Corps Pittsburgh District, said
Hawk, who added that no layoffs are planned.
In both scenarios, commercial boats could still get through the locks
by appointment.
"The federal government's efforts and the Corps' efforts is to place
funds where there's the highest return in investment and value to the
nation," Hawk said.
"And the Allegheny River just does not stack up well."
Commercial tonnage -- the measure by which federal funding is allocated
-- is a mere drop in the bucket on the Allegheny River.
For example, about 1.6 million tons of commodities passed through the
Allegheny River's locks and dams in 2008. That's compared to about 21
million tons through the Emsworth Lock and Dam on the Ohio River, and
59 million tons on the Mississippi at Granite City, Ill.
The Allegheny has long been known as more of a playground for
recreational boaters rather than a commercial throughway.
More recreational boaters moved through the Allegheny's navigation
system than commercial vessels from 2000 to 2009 -- by roughly a 3 to 2
margin, according to the Army Corps of Engineers.
Not unexpected
Local boaters have known that the budget ax was coming.
Last December, more than 200 Allegheny River pleasure boaters met at
the Oakmont Yacht Club to rally and plan for what was then rumored as
federal budget cuts of only 20 percent.
"The closures or the cuts would be devastating as far as the
recreational boating season," said boater Mike Ferris, 56, of Gilpin,
who has dealt with other Corps budget crunches before.
"I don't think it's an idle cry," he said. "It's a miracle that they
have kept these dinosaur locks operating as long as they have been."
Ferris is on the board of directors of the Oakmont Yacht Club and a
member of a number of local boating groups, including the Pirates of
the Allegheny.
"Any cut in service would make these upper pools into little lakes --
without being able to move from one pool to another," Ferris said.
And most boat owners who lease slips at local marinas move throughout
the Allegheny River and often stop at Kittanning, he added.
"If people can't move around the river, that will adversely affect the
marina business, and it will trickle down form there."
Terry Grantz of Shaler, who runs the website www.boatpittsburgh.com for
the local boating community said, "It will be a sad day when they shut
down the locks."
Boaters in Pittsburgh will be out, too, as Grantz and other city
boaters voyage up the Allegheny River at least once a year to
Kittanning and beyond.
"That's probably the most pristine waters that the river system can
offer in western Pennsylvania," he said.
Coming up
• Who: Army Corps of Engineers
• What: Public meetings on possible closure of upper Allegheny locks or
cuts in service in lower Allegheny
• When/Where: 6 p.m., Feb. 22, O'Hara Elementary School auditorium, 115
cabin Lane, O'Hara;
7 p.m., Feb. 24, West Kittanning Fire Hall, 401 Arthur St., West
Kittanning
Mary Ann Thomas can be reached at mthomas@tribweb.com or 412-782-2121
x1510.