Deepening HNC stuck in Corps study

As with the Morganza to the Gulf project in its entirety, the deepening of the Houma Navigational Canal to compensate for larger vessels is in the infamously despised study stage.

David Rabalais, executive director of the Terrebonne Port Commission, said the project is still under study by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and could take anywhere between “1 year and 100 years” before it is complete, citing the study-approve-restudy method the corps used with Morganza.

“Until we get it authorized, we’re stuck, dead in the water,” Rabalais said.

Tony Alford, president of the board of commissioners on the Terrebonne Parish Levee and Conservation District, said the board is considering ideas to prevent saltwater intrusion into the HNC. Once it finds a mechanism to attain this goal, he said the environmental regulators should be satisfied.

Construction on a barge gate in the HNC is anticipated to begin next month. The 42-foot by 273-foot gate will curb some of the canal’s saltwater intrusion by the natural process of making it narrower, but Alford said the intrusion must cease before progress can be made in the study.

“Now we just have to figure out how to stop the saltwater, I think, to appease the regulatory authorities to go forward and dredge this canal,” Alford said. “We’re all about doing that the safest way we can do it.”

TLCD Executive Director Reggie Dupre said the barge gate, which will sit 18 feet above the surface, was built with the future dredging in mind.

“We went deeper than the authorized depth,” Dupre said. “Normally, you would have probably built approximately an 18-foot depth, but we went to a minus-24 for when the channel is deepened.”

Through deepening the channel, larger vessels would be able to pass through and dock in Houma.

“The HNC is a main artery to this area’s economy,” Rabalais said. “If you don’t keep up with the times and you don’t try to improve, then we’re not going to be keeping up with the other areas and industry will leave.”

Alford agreed and said deepening the HNC would bolster commerce in Terrebonne Parish in allowing larger vessels to dock in Houma. “More work for the companies, more work for the employees and more jobs.”