Morgantown Dominion Post
11 April 2006
By Evelyn Ryan
(Greer Limestone Co. is a division of Greer Industries Inc. John Raese and David Raese co-own the West Virginia Radio Corp. and Greer Industries Inc. They also co-own the West Virginia Newspaper Publishing Co., publisher of The Dominion Post. )
Brian Blankenship, vice president of sales for Greer Limestone, was at the Monongahela River Summit 2006 on Monday to urge around-the-clock lock operations at the Morgantown Lock.
Greer has its barge loading area in the Morgantown pool, south of the Morgantown Lock and Dam. Restricting the hours the lock is open creates problems for the shipping schedule, he said.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers limits the hours when river traffic can use the Morgantown, Hildebrand and Opekiska locks on the stretch of the Mon River located in West Virginia.
"When you leave Pittsburgh, it's hard to say what time you are going to arrive in Morgantown," Blankenship said. "If you catch fog on the river, that will set you back anytime from two to 24 hours. Downtime is very expensive."
A barge will have six people working on it, he said, and fuel for these vessels has become more expensive as well. "Just to sit there from two to 12 hours is not economically viable," he said.
Increased commercial traffic on the Mon might not be too far off, Deane Orr, vice president of river operations for CONSOL Energy, told those attending the summit. CONSOL delivers coal to coal-fired power plants along the river.
As scrubber systems are installed to reduce power plant emissions, more of West Virginia's high-sulfur coal can be burned to make electricity, he said. And limestone will be needed for the scrubber systems.
"We will be hauling around a lot of limestone and shipping a lot of coal. It will be local coal," he said.
Recreational boaters want longer lock hours as well.
The Javins family at Old Lock 9 owns a collection of boats: the Cindy, a live-aboard sternwheeler; a skiboat, a 19-foot aluminum boat, a canoe, bass boat, rowboat and three Jetskis.
"I believe this area needs more of an awareness of our river resources and what a valuable thing this is to the growth of the community," Bunny Javins said. "The town is built around the river."
The summit brought together about 120 people from West Virginia and Pennsylvania to work together on a common vision for the river.
Concerns and possible solutions from breakout sessions won't be compiled for several days, noted organizer Brad Allamong, president of the Greater Morgantown Chamber of Commerce.
Cross-pollination is needed between West Virginia and Pennsylvania, said Pat Donovan, acting director of the state Port Authority. His emphasis on cooperative planning proved to be a unifying theme for the daylong event.
"I think the challenge is going to be state lines," he said. "We are looking at how do we organize across state lines and bring everything together in a positive environment."
He wants to see an action plan out of the day's discussions, one containing ideas that can be realized in the next 12-18 months.
"Once they identify what they want to do," Donovan said, "I can take that to the national level, and look at funding, how to secure dollars, get investment in these strategies."
Money is the key to accomplishing many of the things the different groups want done on the river, said Lt. Col. Peter Steinig, acting Pittsburgh District engineer, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
A study on automating the Morgantown, Hildebrand and Opekiska locks, so they can be operated from the Point Marion, Pa., lock and dam is promising, Steinig said. Preliminary estimates show it would cost about $10 million to actually install the system.
Point Marion is only about eight miles north of Morgantown, but Town Council member Joe Murphy would like to reduce that distance with joint rail-trail and boating promotions.
"I think Pat Donovan stated it well when he said we have to have partnerships," Murphy said. "We can learn from you. We see Point Marion as being the gateway to Pennsylvania."
A "sizable core of serious volunteers" are working on developing the town's park on the Mon River, extending the rail-trail to the West Virginia line and working on a marina that's a federally-funded project. Dennis Groce calls himself "just a volunteer," but the Point Marion resident is very active in developing the waterfront.
"I am a recreational boater," Groce said. "I have a vested interest in seeing thoughtful, good development of the river. Point Marion has a great opportunity to be known as the alternative to Morgantown."
The Mon, created by the merger of the Tygart Valley River and West Fork River at Fairmont, flows north to join the Allegheny River at Pittsburgh and form the Ohio River. About 40 miles of the Mon River is in West Virginia.