Imagini ale paginilor
PDF
ePub

STATEMENT OF HON. GORDON L. MCDONOUGH, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA-Resumed

Mr. MCDONOUGH. Mr. Chairman, I certainly appreciate this courtesy on the part of the committee in giving me the opportunity to make a brief statement at this time.

Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, I am here principally to introduce the deputy city attorney of the city of Los Angeles, who is assigned to the job of looking after the Los Angeles Harbor Commission, and to testify or to make a statement in relation to H. R. 3806, which was introduced at the first session of this Congress, but which the committee found it did not have the time under the circumstances to give consideration to; and in turn to give the Appropriations Committee and the Congress an opportunity to act upon it.

This bill is titled, "To authorize the improvement of East Basin, Los Angeles-Long Beach Harbor, California."

The committee adopted a resolution last year stating that due to the circumstances we were up against a year ago, that the committee would give this project first consideration in connection with the present omnibus bill you are now holding hearings on. I think that the hearings of a year ago could be stipulated as containing the pertinent facts concerning this project, and if the committee will agree to including at this point in the record or at the proper point in the record the statements that were made a year ago concerning this project as part of the hearings today, together with the progressive facts that have developed that Mr. Perkins will discuss following my statement, I believe that would be all that would be necessary. Mr. ANGELL. Without objection, that may be granted.

Mr. MCDONOUGH. The project is of essential interest to the development of Los Angeles Harbor and is of particular interest to the facility of a new terminal that has been constructed, which is one of the largest of its kind in the United States. Without the improvement that this bill will provide, that terminal facility will be practically useless. The project has been thoroughly reviewed by the Army engineers. There is a House document that contains all of the facts on it. It has met with the approval of the Army engineers, and we are asking the committee to include this in their omnibus bill, so that in turn we will have the proper authorization for the Appropriations Committee to provide the funds to reimburse the city of Los Angeles for the expenses that they have been put to up to the present time.

Mr. Chairman, I ask that I have the privilege of revising and extending my remarks.

Mr. ANGELL. Without objection, that privilege may be granted. Mr. MCDONOUGH. At this time I would like to introduce to the committee Mr. Perkins, the deputy city attorney of the city of Los Angeles, who will give you additional information on the project.

Mr. ANGELL. Are there any questions of our colleague by members of the committee?

(No response.)

Mr. ANGELL. Mr. Perkins, do you desire to be heard now?

STATEMENT OF C. N. PERKINS, DEPUTY CITY ATTORNEY, BOARD OF HARBOR COMMISSIONERS, LOS ANGELES, CALIF.-Resumed

Mr. PERKINS. Yes, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. ANGELL. You may proceed then, Mr. Perkins.

Mr. PERKINS. We have appeared on two previous occasions, I believe in May and in June of last year. Some of the members of this subcommittee have been out to the coast and have viewed the location of this project. I think the committee is generally pretty well acquainted with the facts.

Briefly, we built a terminal and had it ready for operation in July of last year. Up to that time we had made our application through the usual channels for a dredging project there that would facilitate the use of this terminal. The thing dragged on to the point where the terminal was completed and we still did not have the dredging work done. So it was necessary for somebody to do something. We went ahead and did a minimum amount of work in order to make the terminal available for use by large vessels.

Beginning in April, I think on April 17, after we had introduced or had our Representatives in Congress introduce bills in the House of Representatives and one in the Senate for an authorization for the project, we started the dredging work and it was completed on July 11, 1953. That is, we completed the part of the dredging work necessary for the immediate use of the terminal which was completed, at an estimated cost as approved by the Army engineers of $896,000. We only did about 60 percent of that work, with a contract cost of $457,000 plus our own engineering expenses, estimated at approximately $500,000 for the total work done so far by local interests.

These bills which were introduced early in the first session of this Congress, which were generally revised in accordance with the suggestions offered by the Army engineers, could be used as the basis or the form of the item in the omnibus bill covering this project. I have prepared a copy of the language which I think meets with the approval of the Army engineers. It is the same language they used in the last bill, and which I would like to submit for the consideration of the committee. It provides for reimbursement to the local interests for the money which they have expended out of whatever authorization Congress makes for the entire project.

If I may offer this language for the consideration of the committee to be incorporated in the omnibus bill, I would like to do so.

Mr. ANGELL. You may do so.

Mr. PERKINS. May I read this language? This is the language generally of H. R. 3086 that Mr. McDonough introduced and which has been referred to before this committee:

That the project for improvement of East Basin, Los Angeles-Long Beach Harbor, California, is hereby authorized in accordance with the plan and subject to the conditions contained in the report of the Chief of Engineers, dated January 23, 1953, printed as House Document Numbered 161 of the 83d Congress, at an estimated cost of $896,500: Provided, That the Secretary of the Army is hereby authorized to reimburse local interests for such work as may have been done upon this project subsequent to April 1, 1953, at actual cost to local interests insofar as the same shall be approved by the Chief of Engineers and found to have been done in accordance with the project hereby authorized: Provided further, That such reimbursement shall be subject to appropriations

applicable thereto or funds available therefor and shall not take precedence over other pending projects of higher priority for harbor improvement: Provided further, That such payment shall not exceed the sum of $500,000.

That is what in round figures we have expended to date. I have nothing new to offer the committee except that the record is already pretty complete and we ask that be merely incorporated here as a part of the presentation before this committee at this time.

Mr. ANGELL. That has already been authorized.

Mr. PERKINS. Yes, sir.

Mr. ANGELL. Are there any questions from Mr. Perkins from the committee?

(No response.)

Mr. ANGELL. If not, we thank you.

Are there any further witnesses to be heard on this project? (No response.)

Mr. ANGELL. If not, we will proceed to the next project.

TURTLE COVE, TEX.

Mr. ANGELL. We will proceed to the next project, which is Turtle Cove, Tex., House Document No. 654 of the 81st Congress.

I note we have with us our colleague, Mr. John E. Lyle, Jr., of Texas. We are very happy to have you here, sir. I will ask you if you desire to be heard first, or shall we hear the report of the Corps of Army Engineers?

Mr. LYLE. I think it would be much more helpful to have Colonel Milne proceed first.

Mr. ANGELL. Very well. Colonel Milne, you may proceed, if you will.

Colonel MILNE. Mr. Chairman, the report on Turtle Cove, Tex., is contained in House Document No. 654 of the 81st Congress, 2d session, as authorized by the River and Harbor Act of July 24, 1946.

Turtle Cove is a natural channel in the vicinity of Port Aransas, and connects the inner end of Aransas Pass with Corpus Christi Bay. The existing Federal project at Port Aransas provides for a channel 12 feet in depth, 100 feet wide, and 800 feet long, extending off the deep ship channel and terminating in a small turning basin at the town Port Aransas.

In the year 1951 there were approximately $25 million tons of commerce handled on the Port Aransas-Corpus Christi waterway, the commerce being gasoline and general supplies.

Local interests indicated the existing turning basin is altogether too small for the sizable fleet moored there on a permanent basis, in addition to the transient fleet that would like to use that area. Accordingly they have requested that consideration be given to the provision of a larger anchorage basin.

The Chief of Engineers investigated the requirements of the area and has come to the conclusion that a larger anchorage basin is definitely needed. He recommends that a basin 400 feet in width tapering to 300 feet at the entrance, and 900 feet long and 12 feet in depth be provided as an extension to the existing small anchorage basin. Those recommendations have been furnished to the State of Texas and they indicated their concurrence. Likewise the Bureau of

the Budget indicated they have no objection to the submission of the project to the Congress.

Based on our project document we estimated that the Federal cost of this project would be $30,000. Those costs, revised to the fall of 1953, are $40,000.

The annual charges based on the revised costs are $2,450, of which $1,020 represents a maintenance charge.

The benefit-ratio is 3.2 to 1.

Local interests will be required to furnish lands, easements, rightsof-way, and spoil-disposal areas for the construction and maintenance; hold and save the United States free from damages; provide and maintain mooring facilities and public landings open to all on equal terms. Local interests have indicated a willingness to comply with those items of local cooperation.

At the present time there are approximately 100 fishing vessels that permanently moor at Port Aransas. Those vessels engage in both commercial and recreational fishing, and about 10,000 round trips a year are made from the Port Aransas basin.

In addition to the fleet that is based there permanently, there are approximately 150 vessels that are purely commercial-fishing vessels from Corpus Christi and Aransas Pass that make use of the waterway adjacent to Port Aransas. Those vessels run about 27,000 vessel trips during every fishing season. When they need supplies, or when they get caught in a storm, it is necessary for them to return all the way back to their base of operations at Corpus Christi, Aransas Pass, or, in some cases, Rockport.

Mr. MACK. How far is Corpus Christi from Aransas, Colonel? Colonel MILNE. The distance is about 20 miles. The shortest distance those vessels have to go for supplies or to seek refuge is 6 miles; on a round-trip basis, it would be 12 miles. We have estimated on the basis of 27,000 vessel trips that if an anchorage basin of sufficient size were provided at Port Aransas, about 2,000 of those vessel trips would actually utilize Port Aransas both for periods of emergency and to gather supplies that have been depleted during their fishing trips.

On the basis of a 12-mile round trip, which is wasted for those 2,000 vessel trips, and assuming that the average cost for the operation of these vessels is $2 an hour, you can soon get appreciable savings if there were a basin of sufficient size provided at Port Aransas. Based on the savings that would accrue to the sizable fishing fleet operating in the general area, we feel that the provision of a basin there is economically justified.

Mr. ANGELL. Did you give the costs?

Colonel MILNE. Yes, sir. The cost of the project as a revised cost
is $40,000. That is the complete Federal cost.
Mr. ANGELL. What about non-Federal cost?
Colonel MILNE. There is no non-Federal cost.

Mr. ANGELL. What about annual maintenance?
Colonel MILNE. It is estimated at $1,020.

Mr. ANGELL. Are there any questions of Colonel Milne from members of the committee?

Mr. MACK. Is this a waterway, or a river, or a canal?

Colonel MILNE. It is the main ship canal to Corpus Christi, Mr. Mack. It is 36 feet in depth and some 800 feet wide.

Mr. ANGELL. Is it in an existing waterway?

Colonel MILNE. No. This is an artificial waterway. It has been cut across this island.

Mr. MACK. How far inland does it go?

Colonel MILNE. It extends to Corpus Christi about 27 to 30 miles. Mr. MACK. The gasoline that is carried on it is going to sea? Colonel MILNE. On the project we have been discussing?

Mr. MACK. You spoke of heavy traffic in gasoline on the ship canal. Does it go out to sea?

Colonel MILNE. On the Corpus Christi Ship Canal I would estimate that there must be twenty to thirty million tons handled each year, predominantly of gasoline. But the commerce that goes off this small channel, which is only 12 feet in depth and 100 feet wide, is only the gasoline required for the use of the Port Aransas area, which runs about 1,300 tons a year. The rest of the supplies using this small channel would be general supplies for the fishing fleet that utilizes the area. The 27,000 vessel trips I was talking about has no connection with the oceangoing commerce on the Port Aransas Waterway. They are purely the small fishing craft that come from Aransas Pass, Corpus Christi, and Port Aransas and Rockport, and come by this area on their way out to the sea. They do use in some cases the main ship canal and in other cases the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway.

Mr. TRIMBLE. Colonel Milne, I am a little confused. I am unfamiliar with the territory. Unfortunately I have never been to Corpus Christi. You said it is 27 to 30 miles up to Corpus Christi. The 6 miles you referred to a moment ago was from the main channel out to this anchorage basin. Is that right?

Colonel MILNE. No, sir. The existing small project-it might be well if we could divorce our thinking entirely from this oceangoing channel-the small channel going into Port Aransas is less than a mile in length.

Mr. TRIMBLE. Where are the 6 miles you mentioned a while ago? Colonel MILNE. That must be on the other project.

Mr. TRIMBLE. No, it was on this project.

Colonel MILNE. I beg your pardon. The 6 miles is an increased distance that the fishing fleet would have to travel to get to their base at Aransas Pass if there were no provision made for an anchorage basin at Turtle Cove.

Mr. MACK. Where are the fishing banks? Off the coast of Corpus Christi?

Colonel MILNE. Yes, sir. In the gulf off the coast of Corpus Christi.

Mr. ANGELL. How far do fishing craft have to go out?

Colonel MILNE. About 15 miles off the gulf-no farther that that. Mr. ANGELL. Do they fish the season round?

Colonel MILNE. A great portion of these vessels are the shrimpers, and of course they follow the shrimp. These vessels do not fish in a a bank the year round. They tend to follow the coastline during the shrimping season.

Mr. ANGELL. Are there fishing operations going on the year round? Colonel MILNE. Yes, sir.

39263-54-vol. 1—37

« ÎnapoiContinuă »