This gentleman, the Executive Director of the Port of New Orleans, thinks that you should keep paying to keep the silt from building up on the Mississippi River bottom:
"All that water is bringing a whole lot of sediment," LaGrange says. "When it starts falling, the sediment will drop out." He says the Lower Mississippi has a design channel depth of 45 feet. "The last five years, the cost of dredging the Lower Mississippi River is $104 million. On an average, Congress and the Administration have appropriated $55 million to $65 million." He explains that previously, when it ran out of funds in September, the Corps would "reprogram" funds from districts that had a surplus, and they would make their depth. "We received an announcement that this year they would no longer reprogram funds. Now, with the higher rivers, the shipping industry has projected that that shortfall will be $95 million."He leaned forward in his chair. "Every foot in lost depth costs the economy $1 million per ship call," says LaGrange, because ships have to carry lighter loads. Less cargo equals less production. "We have 12,000 ship calls per year."
That's $12 billion per annum. "And we need $95 million." He thinks the government should find the money.
I won't spend time questioning his claim of economic loss.
Rather, there is a very straight forward mechanism for getting the $95 million/year. One that places the cost of dredging more closely to where it belongs.
Lagrange claims 12,000 ship calls per year. Assessing each ship call $8000 will generate $96 million.
Very straightforward and helps reduce the deficit. Lagrange should find the money. By his numbers his operation will get a rather large return.
I suspect the only ones who would oppose this are the Corp of Engineers and the folks getting subsidized.
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We'll post links to sites that have Friday (plus or minus a few days) photos of their chosen animals (photoshops at our discretion and humans only in supporting roles). Watch the Exception category for rocks, beer, coffee cups, and....?
Visit all the boarders, Link to the Ark and check back for updates through Sunday afternoon!
You can board the Friday Ark by submitting your post here, leaving a comment or a trackback to this post or emailing fridayark AT themodulator.org. NOTE: Trackbacks seem to broken right now.
You can find previous editions at the not quite up to date Arkives page.
Cats
Invertebrates
Birds
Other Vertebrates
Dogs
In Memoriam
Didn't Make It
Exceptions (inclusion not guaranteed)
Cat folks: remember to submit your links to:
Birders: I and the Bird: A Blog Carnival for Bird Lovers was published every 2 weeks.
For the Spineless: Circus of the Spineless. A monthly celebration of Insects, Arachnids, Molluscs, Crustaceans, Worms and most anything else that wiggles.
For the Herp lovers: House of Herps. The monthly blog carnival devoted exclusively to reptiles and amphibians.
Dog folks: remember to submit your links to:
For other current carnivals check out The Blog Carnival and The TTLB Uber Carnival
We'll post links to sites that have Friday (plus or minus a few days) photos of their chosen animals (photoshops at our discretion and humans only in supporting roles). Watch the Exception category for rocks, beer, coffee cups, and....?
Visit all the boarders, Link to the Ark and check back for updates through Sunday afternoon!
You can board the Friday Ark by submitting your post here, leaving a comment or a trackback to this post or emailing fridayark AT themodulator.org. NOTE: Trackbacks seem to broken right now.
You can find previous editions at the not quite up to date Arkives page.
Cats
Birds
Invertebrates
Other Vertebrates
Dogs
In Memoriam
Didn't Make It
Exceptions (inclusion not guaranteed)
Cat folks: remember to submit your links to:
Birders: I and the Bird: A Blog Carnival for Bird Lovers was published every 2 weeks.
For the Spineless: Circus of the Spineless. A monthly celebration of Insects, Arachnids, Molluscs, Crustaceans, Worms and most anything else that wiggles.
For the Herp lovers: House of Herps. The monthly blog carnival devoted exclusively to reptiles and amphibians.
Dog folks: remember to submit your links to:
For other current carnivals check out The Blog Carnival and The TTLB Uber Carnival
We'll post links to sites that have Friday (plus or minus a few days) photos of their chosen animals (photoshops at our discretion and humans only in supporting roles). Watch the Exception category for rocks, beer, coffee cups, and....?
Visit all the boarders, Link to the Ark and check back for updates through Sunday afternoon!
You can board the Friday Ark by submitting your post here, leaving a comment or a trackback to this post or emailing fridayark AT themodulator.org. NOTE: Trackbacks seem to broken right now.
You can find previous editions at the not quite up to date Arkives page.
Cats
Birds
Invertebrates
Dogs
Other Vertebrates
In Memoriam
Didn't Make It
Exceptions (inclusion not guaranteed)
Cat folks: remember to submit your links to:
Birders: I and the Bird: A Blog Carnival for Bird Lovers was published every 2 weeks.
For the Spineless: Circus of the Spineless. A monthly celebration of Insects, Arachnids, Molluscs, Crustaceans, Worms and most anything else that wiggles.
For the Herp lovers: House of Herps. The monthly blog carnival devoted exclusively to reptiles and amphibians.
Dog folks: remember to submit your links to:
For other current carnivals check out The Blog Carnival and The TTLB Uber Carnival