The city of Toledo, therefore, concurs in the recommendations of the Corps of Engineers, the Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors, the Lake Carriers' Association, and the State of Ohio that the existing project be modified to provide for removal of the center dike on which the Maumee Bay range lights are located, to the project depth of 25 feet, and the substitution therefor of drib lights along the channel lines. Mr. ANGELL. Thank you, Mr. Drulard. What is the population of Toledo? Mr. DRULARD. About 350,000. Mr. ANGELL. Any questions? Mr. Scudder? Mr. SCUDDER. I might comment it looks like you have a real traffic hazard and an improvement of that sort would seem to be very necessary. Mr. ANGELL. Off the record. (Discussion off the record.) Mr. ANGELL. Any questions on the right? Mr. JONES. Do you have any channel-improvement works going on there at the present time? Mr. DRULARD. The channel course is maintained by the Corps of Engineers and the dike is maintained by them. Mr. JONES. Is this annual cost for keeping the dike in repair? Mr. ANGELL. Off the record. (Discussion off the record.) Mr. SCUDDER. I would like to make a remark off the record. (Discussion off the record.) Mr. ANGELL. Mr. Reams, do you have anything to add or any furother witnesses? Mr. REAMS. I have nothing further to add but a further word of appreciation to the committee for sitting on this holiday and hearing these witnesses and the very courteous hearing you have given them. Mr. ANGELL. We thank you gentlemen for the presentation and the committee will take it under consideration. If there is nothing further we will stand adjourned. (Thereupon at 10:45 a. m. the subcommittee adjourned.) RIVERS AND HARBORS OMNIBUS BILL WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1954 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC WORKS, Washington, D. C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to adjournment, at 1:10 p. m., in room 1302, New House Office Building, Hon. Homer D. Angell, chairman of the subcommittee, presiding. Mr. ANGELL. The committee will come to order. The first project on the agenda today is the Sheboygan Harbor of Wisconsin, House Document 554 of the 82d Congress. SHEBOYGAN HARBOR, WIS. Mr. ANGELL. We have with us the Honorable William K. Van Pelt, our colleague of Wisconsin, who is very much interested in that project and who was very helpful to us in showing us around Wisconsin when the committee was up there last summer. The usual procedure is to have the Corps of Engineers make their presentation first. Is that agreeable? Mr. VAN PELT. That is fine. Mr. ANGELL. Very well. Colonel Milne, you may proceed with your presentation of this project, if you will. STATEMENT OF COL. W. D. MILNE, CORPS OF ENGINEERS, DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY-Resumed Colonel MILNE. Mr. Chairman, the report on Sheboygan Harbor is contained in House Document 554 of the 82d Congress, 2d session, as authorized by a resolution of the House Public Works Committee dated October 15, 1949. Sheboygan is located in the southeastern part of the State of Wisconsin on the shores of Lake Michigan. The city of Sheboygan is primarily devoted to industry. The existing Federal project for Sheboygan Harbor provides for an entrance channel 25 feet in depth from that depth of water in Lake Michigan, extending for about 700 feet, and then reducing to a depth of 21 feet inside the mouth of the Sheboygan River. In the year 1952 in excess of 500,000 tons of commerce were handled on this waterway. The commerce was predominantly coal. Local interests have indicated difficulty with navigation due primarily to restricted width at the harbor entrance and lack of depth from the end of the existing Federal project. I might point out that local interests have over the past several years maintained a channel extending from the end of the Federal project to approximately the highway bridge at Eighth Street, varying in depth from 15 to 19 feet. They feel that that depth is inadequate for existing commerce and request that consideration be given to deepening the entrance channel to 28 feet, and widening the entrance channel and deepening the approach channel to 23 feet, and then providing a depth of 21 feet from the end of the Federal project to 800 feet above the Eighth Street Bridge; and also to provide a channel 15 feet in depth above that point. The Chief of Engineers has investigated the area very thoroughly and has come to the conclusion that certain modifications to the existing Federal project are justified. He does not feel that deepening the entrance channel to 28 feet is justified. However, he does recommend that it be widened to provide for a better approach and that the 25-foot depth be extended some 500 feet, that the 21-foot channel, 165 feet wide be extended from its present limits to 800 feet above the Eighth Street Bridge; and that a channel 15 feet in depth and 100 feet wide be provided above that point. Based on those recommendations and the cost at the time that the project document was prepared, it was estimated that the cost of this project would be $199,100 Federal and $75,000 non-Federal, for a total of $274,100. Those costs revised to the fall of 1953 show a Federal cost of $217,200, and a non-Federal cost of $80,000, for a grand total of $297,200. Based on those revised costs the annual charges are estimated at $17,260 Federal and $2,820 non-Federal, or a total of $20,080. Again based on the revised costs, the benefit-cost ratio is estimated to be 2.44 to 1. The recommendations of the Chief of Engineers were furnished to the State of Wisconsin and they indicated their concurrence. Likewise the Bureau of the Budget indicated that they had no objection to the transmittal of this project to the Congress. The difficulties are due entirely to lack of width at the approach channel and lack of depth in the existing Federal project. There are several types of commodities that would make use of this improved waterway. One is a rather substantial movement of crude oil to a refinery located in the city of Sheboygan. That refinery has a capacity of something in excess of 250,000 tons of petroleum products a year. At the present time they are operating at a capacity of 168,000 tons. Due to the inadequate channel depth they are unable to bring petroleum in by water. If this channel were improved to a 21-foot depth all of the petroleum would move by lake carriers into Sheboygan. We have estimated that the savings due to that movement of 168,000 tons would total $20,000 annually. In addition to the movement of petroleum, fertilizer and limestone products would be transported over the improved channel. That could move at a rather substantial savings. Finally, in the 15-foot section we estimate that lumber products for several furniture manufacturers would move by water. At the present time the lumber comes in to the end of the existing Federal project and is unloaded and then transported overland to the users. With the improvements we have recommended the lumber would move to its ultimate destination by water at an estimated savings of about $1.25 a ton. We have conservatively estimated some 12,000 tons of lumber would be received by water. Then there is a factor of safety involved which is not susceptible to a dollar analysis, but which nevertheless we feel justifies the widening of the entrance channel. So all of those benefits-the safety feature and the real and tangible savings to commerce-we believe warrant the modification of this project as recommended by the Chief of Engineers. Mr. ANGELL. Colonel Milne, is there any additional annual maintenance involved? Colonel MILNE. I do not have that figure, Mr. Chairman. There would be some and I can furnish the exact figure for the record. However, it would be rather nominal. Mr. ANGELL. What is the dark area shown on the map, Colonel? Colonel MILNE. That is the outline of the existing Federal project. Mr. ANGELL. Explain that, please? Colonel MILNE. That is a dredged channel from Lake Michigan 25 feet in depth, and then dropping down to the depth of 21 feet and extending just inside the mouth of Sheboygan River. That work has been accomplished under a previous Federal authorization. Mr. ANGELL. You mean to say all of that dark area would be navigable. Colonel MILNE. It is now. Mr. ANGELL. And the depth? Colonel MILNE. 21 feet in the main channel and 20 feet in the turning basin. Mr. ANGELL. What is the width at the widest part, Colonel? Colonel MILNE. The width of the entrance is about 500 feet, and 400 feet in the 20-foot section. Mr. ANGELL. Dr. Neal, do you have any questions of Colonel Milne? Mr. NEAL. No, sir. Mr. ANGELL. Are there any questions of the Colonel, on the right? Mr. MACHROWICZ. No questions, except I think your report shows, in answer to the question of Mr. Angell, that it will require a sum of $8,300 annually for maintenance in addition to the requirements. Colonel MILNE. That is correct. Mr. ANGELL. Thank you, Colonel. We have our colleague. Congressman Van Pelt, here from Wisconsin. We will be very glad to hear you, sir. You may make your presentation at this time, or call your witnesses, as you desire. STATEMENT OF HON. WILLIAM K. VAN PELT, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF WISCONSIN Mr. VAN PELT. Fine. Mr. Chairman and members of the Rivers and Harbors subcommittee, I deeply appreciate this opportunity to appear here today to express my interest in the Sheboygan, Wis., harbor improvement project, and to introduce to you the representatives of the city of She boygan, who have come to Washington to give testimony regarding the necessity for these improvements. Before presenting the witnesses I want also to again thank you, Mr. Chairman, and the other members of your subcommittee, for taking the time to visit Sheboygan last September 14 and personally inspecting this harbor. The citizens of Sheboygan are most grateful for the opportunity they had to point out the urgent need for the proposed improvements. No doubt you observed that the people of Sheboygan are justly proud of the strategic location of their community on the Great Lakes and are intensely interested in making their harbor one of the finest on Lake Michigan. This interest is further reflected in the appearance of this representative committee of citizens here today. It was also demonstrated on April 10, 1952, when a delegation of 12 men from the city of Sheboygan came to Washington and appeared with me on this project at a hearing before the Board of Engineers of Rivers and Harbors at Gravelly Point. That delegation included the mayor and other officials of Sheboygan, members of the Sheboygan Association of Commerce, and representatives of both labor and management. Still further evidence of the good faith of the community is the fact that the city has approved the required legislation to provide the municipality's share of the cooperative funds needed to complete the project. At this time I would like to present the representative of the city of Sheboygan who will testify in favor of this project. I understand that at the conclusion of their testimony a number of statements prepared by civic, industrial and union leaders of Sheboygan will be submitted. Mr. Chairman, there will be three men who are prepared to testify, Mr. Matthew M. Shook, Jr., executive vice president of the Sheboygan Association of Commerce; Mayor Edward C. Schmidt, of Sheboygan; and Nathan Heffernan, city attorney of Sheboygan. There is also in the delegation Mr. Milton Kummer, representing the C. Reiss Coal Co.; Marvin H. Busse, representing the Optenberg Iron Works; E. F. Klozotsky of the Wisconsin Telephone Co., and former president of the Sheboygan Association of Commerce; Foster Nelson, of the Wisconsin Oil Refining Co.; George Arenz, representing the Central Labor Council of the American Federation of Labor; and Emil Schuette, representing the Independent Union Council. They are here and are willing to subject themselves to any questions that the committee may desire to ask after the three gentlemen I mentioned first have testified. At this time I will present Mr. Matthew Shook of the Association of Commerce of Sheboygan. Mr. ANGELL. Mr. Van Pelt, may I say that the committee was certainly very happy to have had the opportunity to visit this area and receive the very fine reception we did receive there. I was happy as an individual to be among the members of that committee, and I think the committee received a very favorable impression as to the necessity for this project. We have a number of projects before us this afternoon. Unfortunately, our main committee met this morning in a full committee session and they are going to meet in executive session again at 3 o'clock, so that those of your witnesses who have prepared state |