Officials Hopeful Of Finally Obtaining Funding For Lower Mon Locks, Dams Project

Area congressmen are optimistic that federal funds will be available soon for a full year’s work of upgrading locks and dams on the lower Monongahela River.

John Rizzo, spokesman for Sen. Bob Casey Jr., D-Scranton, said Wednesday a bill with $52 million for the Lower Mon Project was released May 21 by the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Matt Dinkel, spokesman for Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Forest Hills, said that $52 million is included in House of Representatives Bill 2028, an appropriations measure passed May 1.

Part of a $1.7 billion project, the $52 million is to be used in fiscal 2015-16 at the Charleroi No. 4 Locks and Dam by the Army Corps of Engineers.

That’s part of a project to upgrade Charleroi No. 4 and Braddock No. 2 locks and dams and eliminate Elizabeth No. 3 Locks and Dam.

Read more: http://triblive.com/neighborhoods/yourmckeesport/yourmckeesportmore/8493916-74/project-locks-million#ixzz3c7L0qfjF
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Maryland Says It Intends To Deny Permit To Continue Operating Conowingo Dam

Map of Maryland highlighting Cecil County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A week after a report found that dams in Lancaster County and Maryland are no longer trapping polluting farm and urban stormwater runoff, the Maryland Department of the Environment says it plans to deny a water-quality permit renewal to the Conowingo Dam.

Exelon, the owner of the hydroelectric dam on the Susquehanna River in Cecil County, Maryland, has been seeking relicensing renewal from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

The dam also needs a water-quality permit from Maryland to operate.

The state’s Department of the Environment says Exelon hasn’t fully supported its contention that the dam’s reduced ability to trap sediment is not harming the Chesapeake Bay, about 10 miles downriver, the Associated Press reported.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/news/local/maryland-says-it-intends-to-deny-permit-to-continue-operating/article_c91f5770-7198-11e4-bd9a-071fc8f2b5d3.html

Deepened Delaware River Channel Should Boost Commerce

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Philadelphia County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

With 60 percent of the Delaware River navigation channel now at or deeper than 45 feet, steamship lines and port officials say the dredging will do two things:

Put more cargo on ships currently coming into the ports of Wilmington, Philadelphia, and South Jersey, and allow larger ships from Asia to sail the river when the Panama Canal expansion is completed in 2015.

It’s been 30 years since Congress directed the Army Corps of Engineers to investigate the feasibility of deepening the channel from 40 feet to 45.

Since the project began in March 2010, 42 miles of the 102-mile channel from Camden to the Atlantic Ocean have been deepened.  Thirty-five miles are already naturally at or below 45 feet, which leaves about 25 miles left to be dredged.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/business/transportation/20130707_Deepened_river_channel_should_boost_commerce.html#3Lq7HTFsuY5Yy3zG.99