Post by tekmac on May 8, 2005 13:55:37 GMT -5
PENSACOLA, Florida (6 May 2005) -- Navy officials said this week they plan to spend $1.8 million to tow the USS Oriskany from Pensacola, Fla., back to Texas, and then back to Pensacola where it will be made into an artificial reef.
The 888-foot Korean Warera aircraft carrier, which could have come to Corpus Christi, will have been towed four times across the Gulf of Mexico between 2004 and 2006 before it finally slumbers at the bottom of the Gulf.
The $12 million the Navy has spent so far to prepare the ship for becoming an artificial reef is less expensive than the $24 million it would cost to completely scrap the ship, said Pat Dolan, a spokeswoman for Naval Sea Systems Command. And, towing the ship back to a Naval facility in Beaumont for the hurricane season is less expensive than spending about $6 million to secure the Oriskany with a mooring in Pensacola to protect it during hurricane season, Dolan said. In addition, a mooring couldn't be built before the brunt of this year's hurricane season, which is the summer and early fall, she said.
People from several coastal states competed to have the Oriskany sunk near their shores because of a potential tourist draw for scuba divers and commercial anglers. Officials at the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department wanted to sink the ship off the coast of Corpus Christi before the Navy awarded it to Pensacola last year.
The project has gone through several delays. The most recent delay, and the decision to bring the ship back to a Naval docking area for retired ships in Beaumont, was because of nervousness over hurricane season.
Officials at the Port of Pensacola and the U.S. Coast Guard's office in Mobile, Ala., were concerned the ship would damage the port or be damaged itself if an intense hurricane struck Pensacola. Hurricane Ivan damaged the city in September 2004.
While Beaumont isn't immune to hurricanes, it is better equipped than Pensacola to house the ship during hurricane season.
Plans to sink the Oriskany have been delayed until after hurricane season this year because of the death of a lead environmental researcher for the Navy. The researcher was working on a model to forecast the effects of polychlorinated biphenyls, PCBs, on the environment once the Oriskany is sunk, Dolan said.
Prior to the researcher's death, the Navy expected to have the Oriskany sunk by June, creating an attraction for scuba divers and a home for sea creatures, which also would have improved fishing in that area.
The PCB assessment is still being conducted, and then needs to be reviewed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It's possible the final review will take more than a year and the Oriskany could stay in Beaumont through the 2006 hurricane season.
Most of the environmental contaminants aboard the Oriskany were removed while the aircraft carrier was docked at the Port of Corpus Christi last year. That work was completed and the Oriskany was towed in December from Corpus Christi to Pensacola, Fla. Before that, the ship had been docked at a Beaumont facility.
The Oriskany is the prototype for the Navy's artificial reef program.
More than two dozen other ships and aircraft carriers are on the list to be made into artificial reefs, and Texas Parks & Wildlife Department officials hope to get one of those ships.
"Right now no Navy ships will be available until the Oriskany is taken care of," said Paul Hammerschmidt, director of the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department's artificial reef program.
Source-Caller-Times
As I say forever, if you want it f*cked up put a floridian in charge ;D
The 888-foot Korean Warera aircraft carrier, which could have come to Corpus Christi, will have been towed four times across the Gulf of Mexico between 2004 and 2006 before it finally slumbers at the bottom of the Gulf.
The $12 million the Navy has spent so far to prepare the ship for becoming an artificial reef is less expensive than the $24 million it would cost to completely scrap the ship, said Pat Dolan, a spokeswoman for Naval Sea Systems Command. And, towing the ship back to a Naval facility in Beaumont for the hurricane season is less expensive than spending about $6 million to secure the Oriskany with a mooring in Pensacola to protect it during hurricane season, Dolan said. In addition, a mooring couldn't be built before the brunt of this year's hurricane season, which is the summer and early fall, she said.
People from several coastal states competed to have the Oriskany sunk near their shores because of a potential tourist draw for scuba divers and commercial anglers. Officials at the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department wanted to sink the ship off the coast of Corpus Christi before the Navy awarded it to Pensacola last year.
The project has gone through several delays. The most recent delay, and the decision to bring the ship back to a Naval docking area for retired ships in Beaumont, was because of nervousness over hurricane season.
Officials at the Port of Pensacola and the U.S. Coast Guard's office in Mobile, Ala., were concerned the ship would damage the port or be damaged itself if an intense hurricane struck Pensacola. Hurricane Ivan damaged the city in September 2004.
While Beaumont isn't immune to hurricanes, it is better equipped than Pensacola to house the ship during hurricane season.
Plans to sink the Oriskany have been delayed until after hurricane season this year because of the death of a lead environmental researcher for the Navy. The researcher was working on a model to forecast the effects of polychlorinated biphenyls, PCBs, on the environment once the Oriskany is sunk, Dolan said.
Prior to the researcher's death, the Navy expected to have the Oriskany sunk by June, creating an attraction for scuba divers and a home for sea creatures, which also would have improved fishing in that area.
The PCB assessment is still being conducted, and then needs to be reviewed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It's possible the final review will take more than a year and the Oriskany could stay in Beaumont through the 2006 hurricane season.
Most of the environmental contaminants aboard the Oriskany were removed while the aircraft carrier was docked at the Port of Corpus Christi last year. That work was completed and the Oriskany was towed in December from Corpus Christi to Pensacola, Fla. Before that, the ship had been docked at a Beaumont facility.
The Oriskany is the prototype for the Navy's artificial reef program.
More than two dozen other ships and aircraft carriers are on the list to be made into artificial reefs, and Texas Parks & Wildlife Department officials hope to get one of those ships.
"Right now no Navy ships will be available until the Oriskany is taken care of," said Paul Hammerschmidt, director of the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department's artificial reef program.
Source-Caller-Times
As I say forever, if you want it f*cked up put a floridian in charge ;D