WATERWAYS JOURNAL
Vol. 133 No. 43
SINCE 1887
January 20, 2020
the Weekly
Inside This Issue WJ Editorial: USMCA Passed In Senate, China Trade Deal Signed......................... 4
Boats And Their Stories................4 Miss Sally Dane Christening ........5 Eddyville Riverport Growth ...........8 Classified Advertising ................10 Obituary Notices ........................11 Barge Grain Movements .............13 Forthcoming Events ...................13 Professional Directory ................13 Old Boat Column........................14
Trade Deals Reached With China, Mexico And Canada
Storm Causes Millions In Damage At Port Milwaukee
By David Murray
A line of winter storms that hit the Midwest January 12 was especially hard on Milwaukee-particularly Port Mil- waukee on the shores of Lake Michigan. Adam Schlicht, executive director of Port Milwaukee, told local media that the storm caused millions of dollars' worth of damage at the port and characterized it as a "once-in-a-generation catastrophic event." He said emergency crews are still assessing damage. The storm's "unprecedented" dam- age was exacerbated by lake levels, which have been higher than normal all year. Ac- cording to Schlicht, 15-foot waves pushed by winds gusting up to 50 mph. ripped off dock walls and washed them inland, cov- SEE MILWAUKEE PAGE 9
Kentucky Study Analyzes State's Public Riverports
Pegasus Barge Loaded With New-Generation Rocket Stage
By Shelley Byrne
A new study costing up to $1 million is designed to help the state of Kentucky analyze its riverports and better position them for the future. Metro Analytics has been selected as the consultant for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet's Kentucky Riverports, High- way and Rail Freight Analysis Study. State officials are working with the consultant to finalize the study's scope, and the contract could be signed by the end of the month, said Jeremy Edge- worth, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet's freight, rail and waterways coordinator. In an initial phase, Edgeworth said the consultant must de- termine what freight is moving through the state and how that freight is being moved, as well as any potential growth on which the state may be able to capitalize. The study will also include identifying freight moving by trucks that might be suitable for transition to the river system to ease road congestion. A second phase will look at each public port and its ability to handle potential new commodities, Edgeworth said. "Part of the study is the consultants will be on the ground at the public riverports to assess infrastructure needs at the ports," Edgeworth said. Those site visits could begin as soon as the late spring or ear- ly summer, he said. He anticipated them including a series of stakeholder meetings. A third phase will focus on how to best market Kentucky's ports to industry. Edgeworth visited with port officials in Paducah, Eddyville, Hickman, Owensboro, Henderson, Ashland and Maysville ear- lier this month and plans to visit the Northern Kentucky and Meade County ports soon to discuss the study's benefits and an- swer any questions, he said. The new study follows up on a 2008 study that focused on in- frastructure needs and ultimately provided several industry rec- ommendations, including the creation of the Kentucky Water Transportation Advisory Board, Edgeworth said. Identifying Markets The new study will go beyond that scope to help identify po- tential future markets based on current freight movement, said Greg Pritchett, executive director of the Henderson County Riv- erport. It will be of benefit to Kentucky's regional public river- ports and their industrial development partners as well, he said. "The most direct benefit I think is it helps the Kentucky riv- erports identify a prospect list," Pritchett said. Additionally, he SEE KENTUCKY PAGE 7
By Frank McCormack
NASA's first Space Launch System (SLS) rocket core stage was loaded onto the space agency's Pegasus barge January 8 near NASA's Michoud Assembly Facil- ity in New Orleans, La., the manufacturing center for the rocket that will power the forthcoming Artemis program to space. Now aboard the Pegasus barge, and with a push from a contracted towboat, the SLS rocket core stage will travel via the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW) to Mississippi and the Stennis Space Cen- ter near Bay St. Louis, where the rock- et will undergo its "core stage Green Run test series." "Completion of this first-time build of the Space Launch System rocket's core stages puts humans on the cusp of a new era of space exploration," said John Honeycutt, the SLS program manager at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. "NASA's SLS rocket is designed to evolve so a variety of missions can be accomplished first to the moon for the Artemis missions and then to Mars and other deep space destinations." The SLS rocket core stage is the larg- est stage ever built at Michoud, the facil- ity that previously produced the Saturn V rocket stages for the Apollo missions and the external fuel tanks for the space shut- tle program. Besides its miles of cabling, along with its avionics and propulsion systems, the SLS rocket core stage carries a com- bined 733,000 gallons of propellant in two propellant tanks, which power four RS-25 engines. The rocket's liquid hy- drogen tank has a capacity of 537,000 gallons, while its liquid oxygen tank can hold 196,000 gallons of fuel. The core stage, measuring 212 feet long by 27.6 feet wide, delivers more than 2 million pounds of thrust, which will eventually deliver NASA's Orion spacecraft and the crew of Artemis III to the lunar South Pole by 2024. Artemis I, which will be powered by the recently-completed rocket core stage, will be an uncrewed test flight this year. NASA estimates Ar- temis II, the first crewed test flight of the Orion spacecraft, will launch in 2022. "This is a historic moment for NA- SA's Artemis program and a proud time for the Space Launch System Core Stage team as the first flight article leaves the factory floor," said Julie Bassler, NASA's SLS Stages manager. "Rollout of the core SEE PEGASUS PAGE 7
By Jim Myers
WJ Washington Correspondent Washington, D.C.-President Donald Trump signed a much-anticipated Phase 1 of a trade deal with China, describ- ing it as a "momentous step" for the two countries. "Together, we are righting the wrongs of the past and delivering a future of economic justice and security for American workers, farmers and families," Trump said. He revealed that Phase 2 negotiations will begin as soon as the initial phase kicks in. "We're leaving tariffs on," the pres- ident said, conceding that approach shocked others. "But I will agree to take those tariffs off, if we are able to do Phase 2. In other words, we are negotiating with the tariffs." Speaking on background, a senior ad- ministration official later told reporters the U.S. has agreed not to implement the tariffs scheduled to take effect December 15, not to increase tariffs as scheduled on October 15 and to reduce the September 1 tariffs from 15 percent to 7.5 percent. Chinese Vice Premier Liu He called the trade deal mutually beneficial and a win-win agreement. "It is good for China, for the United States, and for the world," Liu said. According to a White House sum- mary, this initial stage includes a pledge from China to boost imports of American goods and services by at least $200 billion and up to $50 billion in agricultural goods each year for the next two years. It also covers "critical reforms" such as ending China's practices of forcing tech- nology transfers and addressing certain currency practices. Leading Democrats in Congress criti- cized the agreement. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) warned the deal lacks long-term reforms and will harm Ameri- can workers and industry. Schumer said the agreement also fails to address China's massive subsidies that support its domestic industries or its il- legal dumping of products onto the U.S. market at artificially low prices. USMCA Progress A bill implementing the trade agree- ment with the U.S., Mexico and Canada (USMCA) easily won final congressional approval from the Senate. After the 89 to 10 vote, H.R. 5430 headed to the desk of President Trump, who is expected to sign it promptly. "That'll be tremendous, with Can- ada and Mexico," the president said a day earlier. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McCo- nnell (R-Ky.) had made it clear he wanted the floor vote held before his chamber be- gins Trump's impeachment trial on Tuesday. McConnell said Mexico and Cana- da buy more than $500 billion in Ameri- can goods and services annually, including nearly 30 percent of all food and agricultur- al products the U.S. exports to the world. Small businesses, workers and families have been clamoring to get the agree- ment approved, he said. NEPA Reform President Trump targeted what he called endless infrastructure project de- lays caused by a regulatory nightmare in promoting his administration's effort to SEE WASHINGTON PAGE 10
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