The Dominion Post
June 7, 2000
By Evelyn Ryan
When it comes to river traffic, the upper Monongahela River is a small fish in a big pond.
About 60 river-lovers learned Tuesday night that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District is already stretching things among its staff to keep the Opekiska and Hildebrand locks open one shift for seven days a week.
"It's gloom and doom right now. There's nothing positive I can say," reported Tom Flynn, the Pittsburgh District's operations manager for the Monongahela River.
Opekiska and Hildebrand are upriver, between Morgantown and Fairmont. With this budget, they were to go to an eight hours, five days a week operation, he said. They're understaffed now, he added, "but we're keeping them open one shift seven days a week."
He's offered to slide the schedule back, and pay overtime for longer hours on heavy boating weekends, such as July 4, Memorial Day and Labor Day. "Right now, that's all I can offer," he said. "The operating budget is stonewalled."
But the meeting didn't resolve the competing needs of pleasure boaters, who like to be out in the evening, and the bass fishermen who are there at the crack of dawn.
If a motorboat arrives at the lock at the right time, it only takes 15 minutes to lock it through. A barge takes about 45 minutes to an hour.
There's no chance the Corps will get enough money in the future to staff those two locks for three shifts. The budget for 2001 was cut from this year's, Flynn said.
"Congress requires the Corps operate three shifts on a lock if 1.5 million tons of commodities travel through it a year," he said.
Last year, only 28,100 tons locked through Opekiska and 32,900 through Hildebrand. Morgantown Lock was busier, at 415,725 tons. That's far from the usage at Point Marion Lock, which handled 5.2 million tons last year.
"The reason we operate three shifts at Morgantown is because it operates Opekiska and Hildebrand" when there's no staff, he said. "But the future is not good for Morgantown. The five-year plan is to take two shifts off Morgantown Lock."
Recreation traffic isn't that heavy on the upper reaches of the Monongahela, he said. Braddock Lock 2, just outside Pittsburgh, handles 21.4 million tons of commercial traffic a year, and has been known to lock 5,144 motorboats through in a weekend.
Compare that to last year's 591 boats through Opekiska, 316 at Hildebrand, 759 at Morgantown and 688 at Point Marion.
Tom Spiker, representing the West Virginia and American Bass Federations as well as other fishing associations, said these groups are in favor of longer hours. Opening the locks later on weekends wouldn't help them, he said.
If the locks are open longer hours, the boaters said, more boaters will use the river for fishing and pleasure trips.
Another member of the audience wanted to know if it would be possible for the state to contribute tourism income to help keep the locks open.
The Corps can't just set any work schedule for the lock employees, Flynn said. These employees are represented by a union, the American Federation of Government Employees.
Since Congress determines what the Corps will do, the Upper Mononghela Committee for Better Boating urged boaters to write Rep. Alan Mollohan, U.S. Sens. Robert C. Byrd and Jay Rockefeller, all D.-W.Va., to urge legislation to include recreation as a Cor ps concern.
The Morgantown Lock is the oldest of the three, having opened in 1952, Hildebrand opened in 1964; Opekiska in 1966.
Boaters present were an eclectic group, representing everything from assorted bass fishing groups to Little Falls Boat Club, Six and Plum Marina and Campground, Javins Corp. and lock employees.