Lingering drought seen as threat to barges

JEFFERSON CITY — Missouri River barge traffic that has been slowly dissipating over the past decade could disappear completely during the 2008 season.

If the prolonged drought that has plagued western states persists, the 2008 navigation season could be canceled, according to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.

“If the drought continues, as projections are right now — depending on how severe the drought is — in 2008 the reservoirs could get to a point where we wouldn’t have any navigation support at all,” said Mike Wells, DNR deputy director and chief of water resources. “Rather than just shortening it, they wouldn’t even try to have a navigation season in order to conserve water.”

For the Missouri River to permit barge and tow traffic, the water levels must be able to support a 7 foot 6 inch barge depth in order for carriers to pass down the waterways undamaged. When levels sink too low to support river traffic, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers releases water to increase river depth. There are six reservoirs operated by the Corps that affect the Missouri River.

“The system is intended to meet downstream needs during a drought season,” said Larry Murphy, reservoir regulation team leader for the Corps. “However, the problem is that after seven years of compensating for drought levels, the reservoirs levels are continuing to deplete.”

The six reservoirs that the Corps regulates are Fort Peck, Oahe, Garrison, Big Bend, Fort Randall and Gavins Point. They stretch from South Dakota to Montana to make up the largest reservoir system in the United States. Combined, the reservoirs have the ability to hold 70 million acre feet of water, regulated by the reservoir operating center in Omaha, Neb.

On March 15 every year, the Corps assesses whether reservoir levels will support the upcoming season. On July 1, they decide whether they will shorten the navigation season, which they have done for the past four years. If the combined levels of the six reservoirs dip below 31 million acre feet on March 15, the Corps will not commit themselves to the upcoming season, Murphy said.

While terminal managers blame the lack of traffic on drought conditions, Chad Smith, director of the Nebraska Field Office for American Rivers, a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting North American rivers, said that the drought only exacerbates a problem that has always existed.

“(Barge traffic) has been dissipating since it started on the Missouri River,” Smith said. “It has never lived up to its promised potential.”

Regardless of the cause of the decrease, a complete end to navigation would have economic implications for terminal operators.

Moving product by barge is the cheapest form of transfer, said Sherrie Martin, waterways program manager for the Missouri Department of Transportation. When navigation on the Missouri River is not an option, terminals must resort to more expensive means.

“With a six barge tow, we can bring in 300 truck loads,” said Bob Cox, supervisor for the Jefferson City River Terminal. “This reduces the cost of fuel and labor. When we have to do this by truck, you have to take that many more trips and it is more expensive.”

The Jefferson City terminal transfers bulk cement. On average, a fleet of more than 50 trucks is needed to transfer one barge worth of his clients’ material, Cox said.

If the navigation season is canceled in 2008, terminals such as the Jefferson City River Terminal will have to acquire more equipment and more labor, leading to greater expenses, Cox said.

The cost per mile to move one ton of material costs more than seven times the amount on a truck than on a barge. In terms of fuel consumption, it takes nine times as much fuel to transfer one ton of material, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration.

Missouri River barge traffic has not reached full functioning levels for years as terminals have gradually began switching to more reliable modes of transfer. Smith attributes this decrease to an evolving market, citing the drought as a contributing factor.

“Something like navigation on the Missouri — the health of that industry is going to be driven by market forces and agriculture more than anything,” Smith said.

Regardless, Smith said that navigation on the river will not disappear entirely as long as the Corps continues to lend support.

“As soon as the water comes back, you see some people who want to move a little cargo on the river,” Smith said.

While the levels have dipped before, the Corps has never canceled a season entirely. However, Wells and Murphy said a cancellation of the 2008 season is a real threat.

A normal navigation season lasts from April 1 to Dec. 1, Wells said. The shortened season alone has had a significant impact on river terminals along the Missouri River. Cox said that the loss of two months of river traffic has already had an effect on his company.

“This year we have only been able to depend on our boat and barges six months which normally we can depend on our navigation for an eight month period,” he said. “We’re are not able to bring in as much product, of course.

“We are a barge, truck and rail terminal. If you eliminate one mode of transportation it impedes the volume of product you can move, and the options that you might have in terms of shopping rates” said Kevin Knepper, general manager of Big Soo Terminal. “It pretty much gives the railroad a monopoly.”

But if Missouri River traffic is unsupported, the economic fallout would result would have no effect on the Corp’s decision.

“It’s part of our manual,” Murphy said. “It is not something that we could just willy-nilly do. There are a lot of people who would not like that who are depending on the river for transportation. The point is, that was put in the manual as part of the water conservation, when it gets down below that then that helps you to recover the system back to a more normal range.”

If the season is canceled, navigation would be permitted to recommence if the reservoirs are given ample time to recover.