Harbor Dredging

   Historically, the task of keeping local harbors dredged for boat traffic has been a partnership between the Army Corps of Engineers and the local harbor officials.  While the Corps of Engineers has paid for the actual dredging and some site costs, it is up to the local harbor to provide a site for the dredge materials.  Outer harbor dredge material around the pier heads can be used for beach nourishment.  Once you get into the channel, any inner harbor dredge materials require a location to be provided by the local harbor.  In recent years VerPlanks has provided a location at their dock to place the dredge material and we have worked in partnership with VerPlanks to blend the dredge materials with composted leaves for a marketable top soil product.
 
   With federal budget reductions, the amount of funding available for harbor dredging has been reduced.  In 1986, a tax was imposed on cargos moved through the federally maintained harbors to be used for maintenance of those federal harbors.  This tax was initially intended to supplement the funding provided by the Army Corps of Engineers’ budget but over time has become the sole funding source.  In recent years, the Corps of Engineers is not even receiving the full annual tax revenues for harbor dredging and maintenance.  Last year’s funding represented approximately half of the tax revenues collected.  With this reduction in funding, the Corps of Engineers has had to prioritize projects by determining any commercial harbor with commercial traffic less than 1,000,000 tons per year will no longer be eligible for harbor dredging and maintenance funding.  This has eliminated many harbors from being eligible for funding.  For the 2012 shipping season, the Corps of Engineers used 2008 commercial shipping data for Grand Haven which provided a tonnage slightly over 1,000,000 tons so we will receive outer harbor dredging in 2012.  However, using data from any year after 2008 will reduce tonnage under the 1,000,000 tons threshold and we will no longer be eligible for Corps of Engineers’ funding.
 
   The BLP is working aggressively with other local harbor users and government officials to assure future funding of these harbor maintenance activities.  This maintenance includes not only the annual dredging, but also infrastructure repairs and replacements such as the piers and the channel wall.  Under the new guidelines, repairs to the channel wall along the boardwalk would no longer be funded.  The first front in this fight is to work through our Michigan Representatives and Senators to assure the total taxes paid on cargos each year are available for the Corps of Engineers in their budgeting process for harbor maintenance.  If that level of funding can be secured, I expect our second front will be to assure that harbors with less than 1,000,000 tons of commercial traffic are eligible for Corps of Engineers maintenance funding.  
 
   The Grand Haven harbor is an important local asset not only to the Board of Light and Power but to the region as a whole.  We will continue to work with our local and regional partners to assure that Grand Haven remains a viable commercial harbor.
 
                                                                                                                                                          Annette Allen