Effects of Closing Alabama River Navigation Channel

The President’s FY 05 Budget proposal eliminated funds to operate and maintain the Alabama River navigation channel, including the three locks (Claiborne, Millers Ferry, and Robert F Henry.) The US Army Corps of Engineers has determined that, if no funds are appropriated in FY 05 to operate these locks, the locks must be closed down, which means

 • Alabama River will be closed to navigation
 • Corps will have to change the way it manages water flows
    o Remove operators, close lock gates, open spillway gates
        § Keeps dam within structural design
        § Passes flood flow
    o At worst case, lower water levels at
        § Claiborne by 15 feet
        § Millers Ferry by 34 feet
        § Robert F Henry by 34 feet
 • Major impacts to Black Belt counties of Alabama River Basin

 Lower water levels have serious economic and social consequences
 • Navigation
    o Loss of navigation aids and safety markers
    o Channel deterioration due to no dredging
    o No barge shipments (Hyundai, Tenaska, s&g, etc.)
 • Recreation
    o Reduced or closed operations at federal sites
    o Major impacts to public sites and local supporting businesses
    o Access to public and private docks, sloughs, and creeks reduced
 • Hydropower ($11 million annual revenue)
    o Severely curtailed
    o Increased cost to consumer
 • Flood Control
    o Reduced storage
    o Less control (last major flood in basin in 1961, four years before dams were built)
 • Water Supply
    o Municipal and industrial intakes exposed
    o Environmental permits jeopardized
• Private property
    o Change of waterlines
    o Sloughs and creeks inaccessible
    o Approach to docks dry
 • Environmental
    o Potential increase in flash floods and bank erosion
    o Wildlife, aquatic vegetation and wetlands affected, water quality uncertain
    o Lack of compliance with NEPA
 • Economic Development
    o Loss of a major transportation asset
    o Already high unemployment in Black Belt counties exacerbated
    o Negative effect on state’s ability to recruit new or expanding industry

Specific Impacts

Businesses
 • Alabama Electric Cooperative
    o Cost of $4.8 million /year to replace lost hydropower generation
    o Loss to federal treasury of $11 million a year

• Alabama River Pulp Co ($1.4 billion investment – 750 employees- a Black Belt company)
    o Increased transportation costs - $1.5 mil/year – jeopardizes thin profit margin
    o Add 2500 fuel trucks onto highways
    o Cascading effect on suppliers

• Asphalt Contractors (sand & gravel) – a Black Belt business
    o Put them out of business
    o Loss of 10 jobs

• Beech Creek Marina (Selma) – a Black Belt business
    o No water in creek means no business
    o $320,000 investment

• Cooper Marine
    o Loss of revenue $500K/yr

• International Paper – Prattville - $750 million investment (650 employees)
    o Annual payroll of $37 million
    o Low water depths could shut down water intake (30 mgd) at a cost of $1 million/day
    o Effluent discharge highly dependent on flow rates governed by RFH dam and ability to hold wastewater in holding pond

• International Paper – Riverdale at Selma (850 employees) – Black Belt business
    o Annual payroll - $53 million
    o Withdraws 53 mgd from Alabama River
    o Loss of flow control and water depths would have major effects on mill operations
        § Water intake at 72 feet msl only 8 feet below normal depths at Millers Ferry, relocating pipe could be millions of dollars in operational cost
        § Fluctuating flow rates creates major problems with dissolved oxygen levels
 • Jay Minter – a farmer in Dallas County
    o Low water levels threaten irrigation system, an investment of over $1 million
    o Would affect discharge permit
    o Make irrigation mechanically and economically impossible
    o Without irrigation, would lose $150-500K a year, depending on rain
 • Montgomery Marina
    o Lower river depths would shut down business – a $300,000 investment
    o Loss of property value – leave 60 boat slips dry
 • Tenaska
    o Low water could expose water intake pipes
    o Generating plant rendered inoperable
    o Potential cost in millions of dollars
 • Weyerhaeuser – Pine Hill - $126 million investment – 800 employees
    o Withdraws 21 mgd
    o Low water level could affect discharge permits, holding pond operations, and daily water intake amounts
    o Cost of installing gaging station to coordinate discharges with flow rates

Municipalities
 • Autauga County
    o Lower property values jeopardize tax base
    o Largest employers (Tenaska, Southern Generation) affected
    o Lower water levels jeopardize planned development at Cooters Pond
 • Montgomery riverfront development
    o Lower water level risks $30 million riverfront investment
    o “uncontrolled water flow would be disastrous”
 • City of Mongomery
    o Puts at risk over $3 million investment in Riverside Industrial Park purchased expressly for recruiting heavy industry that would benefit from river
    o Many industries sited near river based on ability to discharge effluent efficiently
    o Other industries located in area based on available river transportation
 • Pine Hill, Alabama – a Black Belt community
    o Withdraws 2 mgd servicing six water systems (over 16,000 people)
    o Also supplies hospitals, nursing homes, and other essential services
    o No backup facility available

Others
 • Bassmasters
    o Detrimental effect on planned tournaments at Camden, Selma, and Prattville
        § $1 million economic contribution at each site
        § Black Belt events
    o Water depths extremely important to bass fishermen
    o Sport fishing a daily recreation activity
 • Corps of Engineers recreation sites
    o $66 million economic contribution annually
    o 3.7 million visits a year
    o Loss of funding would mean closing at least three major sites for six months a year
    o Over 1100 jobs depend on the continuing use of public and private facilities
 • Friends of the River (Camden)
    o 600 docks permitted to property owners and marinas on Dannelly Lake
    o All potentially left high and dry with no access to water
    o Drop in property value and sales
    o Potentially damaging effect on floodplain with receding water line
    o Would cause a halt in plans for a riverfront lodge and marina facility near Camden
 • Old Cahawba (Alabama Historical Commission)
    o Lower water levels would decrease property value recently acquired
    o Uncertain effects on environment and flood plain
 • Private property owner – many in the Black Belt
    o Scared of reduced property value – retirement homes and investments
    o Lower water table would jeopardize wells
    o Increased vulnerability to floods

Jerry Sailors, CARIA
(334) 265-5744
cariainc@bellsouth.net
September 2, 2004