Idaho News

2024 marks another year for development of a biennial WRDA bill—Water Resources Development Act, critical legislation for the Nation’s waterways, ports and harbors. WRDA encompasses a range of issues, from environmental regs to energy use to agriculture and, of course, a focus on projects critical for economic growth.Because these are dynamic and timely issues, Congress and the maritime sector like to keep WRDA on a two-year reauthorization timeline. Indeed, the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, December and January, held three WRDA information hearings.

"The Columbia River and its tributaries, wetlands, and estuaries are the lifeblood of the Pacific Northwest, providing abundant water, power, recreation, agriculture, transportation and natural resources that have supported livelihoods, cultural and spiritual practices, commerce and economic growth.” - President Biden, Memorandum of September 27, 2023.Those abundant benefits directly impact about 13 million people in the Pacific Northwest. Hydropower extends that plentitude to millions more, powering cities and industry from Idaho to California.

Groton, Conn. submarine builder General Dynamics Electric Boat hosted a christening ceremony for the U.S. Navy's new Virginia-class submarine Idaho (SSN 799) March 16.Idaho is the 26th submarine in the Virginia class, designed for the full range of 21st-century mission requirements, including anti-submarine and surface ship warfare and special operations support. Electric Boat and its partner Newport News Shipbuilding share construction of the Virginia class in a teaming agreement. Idaho is the 13th submarine in the class to be delivered by Electric Boat.The submarine will be the fourth U.S.

Senator Wesley Livsey Jones gave his name to the famous “Jones Act” governing U.S. domestic maritime trade. But what do really know about him? It turns out that he was much more than a leading merchant marine policy maker. (i)Jones had a long career in the U.S. House of Representatives before he was a Senator, was an effective legislator, an astute politician, one of the hardest working legislators of his era, and always viewed as honest and forthright. His many maritime legislative successes included the Merchant Marine Act…

Edison Chouest Offshore (ECO) affiliate C-Innovation (C-I) has welcomed back Lucas Cribley as its new business development manager.During his more than 20-year career, Cribley worked as the program manager and first employee in a joint venture start-up between ECO and FMC Technologies, in which he secured and managed major Inspection, Maintenance, & Repair (IMR), light construction, and Riserless Light Well Intervention (RWLI) projects. As a senior manager at TechnipFMC, Cribley…

In a canyon at the Idaho border and alongside a bayou in Louisiana, two nearly identical cruise ships were just christened. American Cruise Lines announced the christening of sister ships American Jazz and American Serenade, two of the lines’ six new riverboats.“The two christenings, one in a desert canyon and one on the bayou, show the incredible breadth of river cruise options in the USA,” said Charles B. Robertson, President & CEO, American Cruise Lines. “They also show the growth of American Cruise Lines and the range of places that we explore.

A race is being run by nuclear scientists and ship designers. The prize? “Decarbonization’s” holy grail — believed to be a “small” thorium-fueled, molten-salt rector’s unlimited power to propel sea trade. At the same time, a recently revived discussion among leading marine-nuclear thinkers revolves now around how to put an ultra-modern, as-yet non-existent marine reactor aboard a modern commercial vessel. As with nuclear power generally, shipborne reactors produce national discussion first, then discovery.

It’s amazing to consider that a commercial vessel in the Pacific Ocean, approaching the mouth of the Columbia River, can continue its eastward journey to finally tie up at the Port of Lewiston, in Lewiston, Idaho, America’s most inland West Coast port, 465 miles from the Pacific Ocean.The Columbia and Snake Rivers form that critical east-west waterway, an economic powerhouse regionally, nationally and internationally. According to the Pacific Northwest Waterways Association (PNWA)…

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded ABS a contract to research barriers to the adoption of advanced nuclear propulsion on commercial vessels.The $800,000 research project – awarded by the DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy last year and formally contracted through its U.S. Industry Opportunities for Advanced Nuclear Technology Development funding opportunity – will address challenges to adopting new reactor technology in commercial maritime applications. ABS will develop models of different advanced reactor technologies for maritime applications and develop an industry advisory on the commercial use of modern nuclear power.Support will be provided by the Department of Energy’s National Reactor Innovation Center (NRIC), based at Idaho National Laboratory.

Federal water managers are changing release and storage schedules at several Pacific Northwest dams because of a late season and strong atmospheric river that began June 9. Significant amounts of rainfall have fallen across the Columbia River Basin filling reservoirs and rivers.To assist in managing river stages at Vancouver, Wash., the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Northwestern Division, is increasing storage behind the John Day Dam in Eastern Oregon. Where most dams on the Columbia and lower Snake rivers are “run of river” projects…

Fluor Corporation (NYSE: FLR) announced today that its Department of the Navy contract with Fluor Marine Propulsion, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Fluor, was extended through fiscal year 2022. The contract is part of a joint program, Naval Reactors, that is overseen by the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration and the Department of the Navy. The contract includes Naval Nuclear Propulsion work at the Navy Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) sites in New York, Pennsylvania and Idaho.

Berne, Ind.-based portable sectional barge manufacturer Poseidon Barge said it has hired Jerome Lemanowicz as East Coast territory sales manager, to fill the position left by the transfer of Carl Piedmont from the Northeast to the West Coast.Located in New Jersey, Lemanowicz's territory includes Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Maryland, Delaware, Washington D.C., Montreal, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova…

Scania USA Announces Expansion of Marine Territory for Distributor, Cascade Engine Center, LLC.As of September 1st, Cascade Engine Center, LLC has been assigned additional marine territory in the West Coast of the United States to include Arizona, California, Nevada and Utah.Cascade Engine Center currently represents Scania’s latest marine platform: 13- and 16-liter engines for auxiliary and propulsion applications; and currently distributes themin Alaska, Gulf Coast, Hawaii, Idaho…

Project Manager to Temporarily Lead Alaska Operations. Cook Inlet Tug & Barge (CITB), an independently managed subsidiary of Foss Maritime Company, announced that Foss project manager Amber Thomas has been selected as interim Business Operations Manager for Anchorage. Beginning January 2, Thomas will serve as the central point person for administrative and commercial operations, leading all shoreside activities in Anchorage and Seward. Thomas will take on the temporary position while the search continues for a new president to replace former CITB head Ben Stevens.

Portland, Oregon-based Vanport Marine, Inc. has been awarded the contract to perform the Dockside Repair of the USCGC Bluebell. The scope of the contract includes upgrades to the Allied buoy and cargo crane, deck preservation, repairs to the weather tight doors, renewal of the sewage shore tie valve, and repair of the remote fuel cutoff valve and deck box. The work will be completed at the vessel’s home pier at 676 N. Basin Ave, Portland, OR. The performance period will begin on June 12, 2018 and end July 18, 2018. The cutter Bluebell is an inland buoy tender built by the Birchfield Boiler Co. in Tacoma, Wash., and was commissioned April 4, 1945.

Preference given to fleets in areas facing air quality challenges. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the availability of grant funding to modernize the nation’s diesel fleet by retrofitting or replacing vehicles with cleaner, more efficient diesel engines. EPA anticipates awarding approximately $40 million in Diesel Emission Reduction Program (DERA) grant funding to eligible applicants, subject to the availability of funds. “These grants will incentivize improvements to aging diesel fleets and improve air quality throughout the country,” said EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. “Steps to reduce emissions from older diesel trucks are some of the most cost-effective measures we can take to improve the air Americans breathe,” said Rep. Ken Calvert (CA-42).

The U.S. Navy has a balanced fleet, but it wants to grow bigger and better. Will the budget allow both? Maritime Reporter's March 2017 cover story on the U.S. Navy was all about the numbers. There exists several plans to grow the fleet beyond the current number of 308 ships, the Mitre recommendation of 414 ships, the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessment 340-ship proposal, and the Navy’s decision to grow the fleet to 355 ships, and the Trump administration’s 350. With so many numbers being bandied about, there are even more suggestions on how to get there.

Traveling across the globe from port to port, the U.S. Navy fleet transports sailors and Marines, aircraft, and supplies. Unfortunately, ships can also unintentionally transport stowaways, small organisms which live in ballast water. Most people would not look at small organisms like mitten crabs or zebra mussels and think they are a major threat to the environment – and in their natural habitats they pose no threat. But what happens when these organisms are introduced into a new ecosystem? According to Rachel Jacobs, a chemical engineer in the Wastewater Management Branch at Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division, the results of introducing non-native species into a new environment can be disastrous for the ecosystem…

1898 - The battleship USS Kentucky (BB 6) is launched in Newport News, Va. 1903 - Adm. George Dewey is commissioned Admiral of the Navy, the only person to hold this rank. Upon his death Jan. 16, 1917, Congress deactivates the rank. 1919 - The battleship USS Idaho (BB 42) is commissioned. Idaho serves with the Pacific fleet, participating in gunfire support of the Aleutian, Marianas, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa Campaigns, and is in Tokyo Bay Sept. 2, 1945 when Japan formally surrenders. 1936 - USS Balch (DD 363), named after Rear Adm. George B. Balch, is launched.

Piggybacking on the success of the Upriver Container Barge-Rail Shuttle program, Northwest Container Service announced they would increase rail service from twice a month to weekly starting in April. The improvement will benefit shippers in Central and Eastern Oregon. The Port of Portland and other stakeholders have been working to increase the frequency of rail service between Boardman, and Portland, Ore. since upriver barge service resumed in November 2015. The Barge-Rail Shuttle Service starts in Lewiston, Idaho with containers loaded with agricultural goods. These containers are barged every other week to the Port of Morrow and then loaded onto trains bound for Portland and continuing through to Puget Sound marine terminals. growing rail operations.

The two newest inland river towboats in Tidewater Transportation and Terminals’ fleet, Granite Point and Ryan Point, were christened during a late afternoon ceremony Saturday, June 11 at Vancouver Landing in Vancouver, Wash. After Deacon Tim Dooley from Portland’s Holy Family Parish delivered a blessing, Patty Reed, wife of Bruce Reed, Tidewater’s Vice President and Chief Operations Officer, and Diane Laya, wife of Marc Schwartz, Tidewater’s Maintenance and Engineering Manager…

Navionics, the leader in content and location-based services for the recreational boating and outdoor markets, announced today the release of Navionics+ Regions in five coverage areas throughout the U.S. and Canada. At the affordable price of $149 per region, Navionics+ Regions is a tremendous value that includes Nautical Chart, SonarChart 1foot HD bathymetry map and Community Edits, as well as easy access to daily updates for one year.With both Nautical Chart and SonarChart  preloaded, Navionics+ Regions ownershave all the best cartography available right out of the box. To keep their Navionics+ charts current, customers can up date their cartography anywhere within the coverage area.

Ellicott Dredge Technologies (EDT) informed that the City of Boise, Idaho chose it to design a Mud Cat 40E Custom (MC-40EC) dredge for the city's innovative Dixie Drain Phosphorous Offset Project. Boise will use the MC-40EC dredge to remove phosphorous from the Boise Watershed. Boise selected the MC-40EC due to Mud Cat’s global reputation for quality and their proven ability to deliver custom features. The custom features include the overall length of the dredge, the slurry pump flow and pressure, a fully protected auger system, and an auger calibrated to specific digging depths for the project. In addition to its custom features, the MC-40EC boasts several other unique systems.