OPINION: Dredging Columbia a Very Big Job

By Tom Koenninger, The Columbian, Vancouver, Wash.

Mar. 7–ABOARD ESSAYONS — A winter mix of rain and snow slashed across the deck of this ponderous ship as she moved downstream on the Columbia River, barely a whisper faster than the current.

Massive steel arms shaped like human elbows drop down from each side of the vessel, sucking up sand from the river bottom and depositing it within the 7,248-ton vessel.

The Essayons is a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers hopper dredge, last week working off the Clark County shore of the river, and dumping its river spoils in the pathway of the Portland pipeline dredge Oregon. The Oregon, in turn, pumped the river mix into the Port of Vancouver’s Columbia Gateway project area.

The project is deepening the river channel by 3 feet to 43 feet for 103 miles from the Vancouver-Portland area to its mouth at Astoria, to float larger container and grain ships.

Fourteen million cubic yards of material will be scraped off the bottom of the river and deposited in 22 disposal sites along the river.

Congress authorized channel deepening in the fall of 1999, after members were convinced the 40-foot depth would prevent larger ships with more cargo from reaching inland ports, including Vancouver and Portland. Lacking more depth for river commerce, a downward economic spiral was forecast.

Dredging started in 2005 and is scheduled for completion in 2010, said project manager Laura Hicks, whose job is to keep the project on schedule and within budget. Work along the shore of Clark County was to be finished last weekend. Total project cost is $150 million, Hicks said.

While material dredged is usually medium-coarse sand, there was a “Friday surprise” two weeks ago when a 19-inch-long cannon shell — believed to be for a 40 millimeter gun — was dredged up and spewed out of the pipe on the Clark County shore, according to Hicks. Fire and police took care of the ordnance.

Essayons (a French word meaning “Let us try”) is a rare sight on the upper Columbia. The corps said this is the first time in nearly 30 years a federally-owned dredge has been used to deepen or widen a navigation channel. Its normal job is river and harbor maintenance. Essayons, 350 feet long with a beam (width) of 68 feet, replaced a contract dredge when complications arose while the private dredge was in dry dock.

The ship is operated by two crews of 12 workers, with each crew working eight days on the ship and six days off. Both crews work on Tuesdays, the crew-change days.

Second engineer Randy Rolle, who has been on board 11 years, says it’s good duty. He remembers a day in 1998, when a rogue wave hit the stern of the 25-year- old ship in Humboldt Bay, Calif., causing heavy damage and spilling water down several decks.

River duty is quiet as the Essaysons’ “dragheads”"vacuum” off the tops of sand “waves” on the bottom of the Columbia. The ship can load 6,000 cubic yards of sand in two hours and dump it in five to 10 minutes. The precise course is determined by GPS and corps surveys.

Environmental mitigation in effect

It’s not all scoop and dump for the Essayons. Project manager Hicks said the corps is charged with restoration of the riverway where possible, making it “greener.” For example, rock that will be taken from the river will be dumped at Kelley Point, at the mouth of the Willamette River, to improve salmon habitat.

For every acre of wetland that is lost in the project, the corps must mitigate with 12 acres. At Shilapoo Lake, the project is creating 400 acres of waterfowl habitat. Beetles are being introduced to rid estuaries of an invasive plant known as Purple loosestrife.

At Cathlamet, attempts are being made to increase the population of Columbia whitetail deer by airlifting them to different locations.

Who pays the bill? The federal government is paying 65 percent; Washington and Oregon $27 million each. Six ports along the lower Columbia, including Vancouver, also make payments. The corps calculates an $18.8 million annual national benefit upon completion, or $1.66 returned for every dollar spent.

It is very early, but signs point to substantial benefits for the economy and environment.

Tom Koenninger is editor emeritus of The Columbian. His column of personal opinion appears on the Other Opinions page each Wednesday. Reach him at tom.koenninger@columbian.com.

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Copyright (c) 2007, The Columbian, Vancouver, Wash.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.

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