Dredging Today – USA: Perdido Key Renourishment About to Begin: Gulf Islands National Seashore and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are expected to begin a sand-renourishment project on the south shore of Perdido Key next week.
The project is expected to be completed by the end of December.
Seashore Superintendent Dan Brown said the purpose of the project is to:
- Restore beach that has been lost to erosion through storm action and active shoreline processes.
- Relocate sand deposited within the Pensacola Pass navigational channel.
- Restore the sand that erodes from the island, which is vital to barrier island function and longevity.
The renourishment project with sand taken from the Pensacola Pass channel will be placed along a two-mile segment of shoreline near the eastern end of Perdido Key, park officials said.
The sand is expected to be similar to the existing island sand in grain size, texture and color. In time, the sand placed in what’s called the swash zone –- the near-shore area and up to an elevation of approximately 3 feet near of the sand berm — on the beach will be indistinguishable from the sand already there.
The public may notice unusual concentrations of sea birds that will flock around the work site because the sand slurry discharged from the dredge pipes will include aquatic organisms. The initial discharge will appear grayish or blackish until the finer materials settle out into the water column leaving behind the white sand for which the area is known.
The operation will involve dredges that will remove sand from the borrow area and pump it onto shore through 30-inch pipes. The pipes will place slurry of sand and water on the beach where bulldozers and other construction equipment will be used to place the sand.
Operations will be conducted 24 hours a day, seven days a week until the project is completed. Floodlights will also be used at night to illuminate the project areas. For public safety purposes there will be fencing and personnel on site to restrict access in the active project areas to authorized personnel only.
By Kimberly Blair (pnj)
Monday, November 14, 2011
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Senate votes to audit BP claims fund | Pensacola News Journal | pnj.com
Senate votes to audit BP claims fund Pensacola News Journal pnj.com: Senate votes to audit BP claims fund
WASHINGTON — The fund that compensates businesses and people hurt by last year's oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico would be audited under a measure the Senate approved Tuesday.
The proposal, drafted by Republican Sens. Marco Rubio of West Miami and Roger Wicker of Mississippi, passed as an amendment to a package of spending bills. The vote on the package was 69-30.
The amendment would require the Justice Department to find an independent auditor to review the process that the Gulf Coast Claims Facility uses to evaluate and pay out claims of economic damage as a result of the oil spill.
The claims fund was set up last year with $20 billion from BP.
Kenneth Feinberg, administrator of the compensation fund, has said he would welcome an audit and it should be done as soon as possible.
He cautioned that several competing interest groups would want input in the audit process. Groups representing business interests, environmental agendas and low-income Gulf residents already have lobbied claims fund officials.
"You can't win on this independent audit," he told lawmakers last week.
Rubio voted against the overall spending bill Tuesday because he wants to see more cuts to the $182 billion measure that funds agriculture, transportation, housing, law enforcement and NASA programs. But he said he's glad it includes language requiring the audit.
"This amendment brings us one step closer to an audit that will bring greater transparency to the claims process by providing a full review of the Gulf Coast Claims Facility on behalf of those impacted by the 2010 Gulf oil spill," Rubio said in a statement.
Florida Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, who co-sponsored the audit proposal, voted for the entire spending package.
A similar amendment introduced by Rep. Jo Bonner, R-Ala., was approved by the House Appropriations Committee in July.
Tuesday's vote follows a hearing last week before the House Natural Resources Committee where Gulf Coast lawmakers angrily said the compensation fund has processed claims slowly and inconsistently, and lacks transparency.
Rep. Steve Southerland, R-Panama City, who sits on the Natural Resources panel, last week called the compensation fund process "a flawed payment system that lacks accountability and fails to account for the tremendous economic growth in North and Northwest Florida over the past two years."
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder visited Orange Beach in Alabama in July to assess damages from the spill and to meet with Bonner. He met later that month with Feinberg, and both agreed to support plans for an independent audit.
"We are pleased that Mr. Feinberg agreed to the department's request that an independent audit be commenced before the end of the year," Wyn Hornbuckle, a spokesman for the Justice Department, said in an email. "We believe the process will benefit from the input we have received from our Gulf partners over the past several weeks, and we remain on schedule and pressing forward."
Gulf Coast lawmakers are irked that it hasn't happened.
News Journal Washington bureau reporter Ledyard King contributed to this story.
WASHINGTON — The fund that compensates businesses and people hurt by last year's oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico would be audited under a measure the Senate approved Tuesday.
The proposal, drafted by Republican Sens. Marco Rubio of West Miami and Roger Wicker of Mississippi, passed as an amendment to a package of spending bills. The vote on the package was 69-30.
The amendment would require the Justice Department to find an independent auditor to review the process that the Gulf Coast Claims Facility uses to evaluate and pay out claims of economic damage as a result of the oil spill.
The claims fund was set up last year with $20 billion from BP.
Kenneth Feinberg, administrator of the compensation fund, has said he would welcome an audit and it should be done as soon as possible.
He cautioned that several competing interest groups would want input in the audit process. Groups representing business interests, environmental agendas and low-income Gulf residents already have lobbied claims fund officials.
"You can't win on this independent audit," he told lawmakers last week.
Rubio voted against the overall spending bill Tuesday because he wants to see more cuts to the $182 billion measure that funds agriculture, transportation, housing, law enforcement and NASA programs. But he said he's glad it includes language requiring the audit.
"This amendment brings us one step closer to an audit that will bring greater transparency to the claims process by providing a full review of the Gulf Coast Claims Facility on behalf of those impacted by the 2010 Gulf oil spill," Rubio said in a statement.
Florida Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, who co-sponsored the audit proposal, voted for the entire spending package.
A similar amendment introduced by Rep. Jo Bonner, R-Ala., was approved by the House Appropriations Committee in July.
Tuesday's vote follows a hearing last week before the House Natural Resources Committee where Gulf Coast lawmakers angrily said the compensation fund has processed claims slowly and inconsistently, and lacks transparency.
Rep. Steve Southerland, R-Panama City, who sits on the Natural Resources panel, last week called the compensation fund process "a flawed payment system that lacks accountability and fails to account for the tremendous economic growth in North and Northwest Florida over the past two years."
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder visited Orange Beach in Alabama in July to assess damages from the spill and to meet with Bonner. He met later that month with Feinberg, and both agreed to support plans for an independent audit.
"We are pleased that Mr. Feinberg agreed to the department's request that an independent audit be commenced before the end of the year," Wyn Hornbuckle, a spokesman for the Justice Department, said in an email. "We believe the process will benefit from the input we have received from our Gulf partners over the past several weeks, and we remain on schedule and pressing forward."
Gulf Coast lawmakers are irked that it hasn't happened.
News Journal Washington bureau reporter Ledyard King contributed to this story.
Transocean claims indemnity from fines under BP contract | Pensacola News Journal | pnj.com
Transocean claims indemnity from fines under BP contract Pensacola News Journal pnj.com: Transocean claims indemnity from fines under BP contract
Depleted oyster beds just need time to rest, biologist says | Pensacola News Journal | pnj.com
Depleted oyster beds just need time to rest, biologist says Pensacola News Journal pnj.com: Depleted oyster beds just need time to rest, biologist says
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