Cooperation Opens River To Fuel Barges

Tue., Feb. 27, 1996

Tom Roeder Staff writer

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reopened the Columbia River to barge traffic four days ahead of schedule, easing a possible fuel shortage in the Spokane area.

The corps closed the locks between Pasco and Portland on Feb. 14 for two weeks of scheduled maintenance.

That left oil companies scrambling to find another way to get oil and gasoline from tankers on the coast to a fuel depot at Pasco, where a pipeline carries it to Spokane.

“The first barges through were filled with heating oil,” Ray Hickey, President of Tidewater Barge lines, said after the river reopened. “It was given top priority.”

Ice and flooding closed the river to barge traffic for 10 days before the maintenance shutdown, contributing to the shortage.

The Pasco fuel depot was short 16 million gallons of petroleum products, Hickey said. The problem was complicated by problems with a pipeline from Montana that also brings fuel to Spokane.

U.S. Rep. George Nethercutt, R-Spokane, and state lawmakers petitioned the corps to reopen the river long enough to resupply the fuel depot. In response to the pressure, the corps sped up its work schedule.

“We worked seven days a week to complete this work quickly and safely because we know the importance of this river system to the region,” said Col. Tim Wood, the corps district engineer.

, DataTimes

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