Number: 1992-18
WHEREAS, the Ouachita and Black Rivers Navigation Project was authorized by the River and Harbor Acts of May 1950 and July 1960; and
WHEREAS, the authorized project is about 92 percent complete, at a cost of approximately $250,000,000; and
WHEREAS, the completion of the project will require the cut-off of 24 river bends and will widen an additional 14 bends in North Louisiana and South Arkansas at an additional cost of approximately 25 million dollars; and
WHEREAS, damage or loss of 38 bends will destroy almost every recreational area on the river; and
WHEREAS, an average of 162,000 cubic yards of fill material from each bend cut and widening will be pumped onto bottomland hardwood forests and wetlands, destroying 1,120 acres; and
WHEREAS, the navigation project’s existing water control plan is adversely affecting thousands of acres of bottomland hardwoods in Felsenthal National Wildlife Refuge and expansion of the navigation project will cause further degradation of the area; and
WHEREAS, the purpose of the additional bend cuts and widenings is to increase the capability of navigation from a two-barge tow to Crossett, Arkansas, to a four-barge tow and an existing one-barge tow to Camden, Arkansas, to a two-barge tow; and
WHEREAS, proponents of the navigation project have used unrealistic shipping projections in an effort to persuade elected officials and the public that the project could be justified economically; and
WHEREAS, during the past six years, since the navigation project was capable of handling two-barge tows to Crossett and one-barge tows to Camden, only one barge has traveled to Crossett and virtually none has gone to Camden; and
WHEREAS, more than 8,000 petition signatures have been obtained from citizens who oppose the project in South Arkansas and North Louisiana;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation in annual meeting assembled March 19-22, 1992, in Portland, Oregon, urges Congress to deauthorize the unfinished originally authorized for the Ouachita-Black River Navigation Project; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that Congress and/or the Federal Executive Branch agencies establish a multiple-use policy for the Lower Ouachita River.