The Jasper Ocean Terminal Joint Project Office (JPO) Board of Directors met yesterday and received updates from its Project Manager, which included an “opportunity plan” detailing how SHEP dredge materials can benefit construction of the Jasper Ocean Terminal, defined a path to easement release and permit approval, and appointed a team to scope a channel capacity and navigation study.
The report made to the Board details how approximately 13.5 million cubic yards of material produced from the SHEP and needed to raise the site to the elevation required for terminal development can be used to save the Jasper Ocean Terminal time and money. If the Jasper port were required to truck fill material into the site, Moffat & Nichol estimates the cost would be more than $300 million and take an additional two to three years of time to construct.
“ I would like to thank the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) for assisting the JPO’s Project Manager to better understand how together we can save a great deal of time and money in our goal to build the Jasper port, ” said Jim Balloun, Chairman, JPO.
At the last meeting of the JPO, July 25, 2011, the Board approved the Moffatt & Nichol work plan for a Dredge Material Management Plan Alternatives Analysis and Sponsor Plan. At the meeting today, Moffat & Nichol briefed the Board on its findings from that study, which included a roadmap to the release of easements on the JOT site currently held by the USACE.
“The study clearly shows that the easements held by the USACE can and will be released well before the time for finance and construction of this project,” said Balloun. “Once again, I would like to personally thank the USACE for working with the JPO to develop an Easement Release Plan that defines the actions necessary to release the easement, and the timing of when various easements can be released. ”
In addition, Balloun noted that the collaborative work between the Corps and the JPO had not only shown that the placement of SHEP dredge material on the future JOT site would result in more than $335 million in savings for the project, but that the natural deposits of cadmium in the Savannah River basin posed no threat to the project, Georgia or South Carolina. “ The Corps along with the JPO’s Project manager have clearly demonstrated that the naturally occurring cadmium is at concentrations well below EPA tolerance levels.”
According to the Corps, tests indicate concentrations average 21.42mg/kg of soil which is well below the EPA tolerance levels of 800 mg/kg for industrial sites and 70mg/kg for residential. The fill on the Jasper site will be capped with a layer of clean sand at least two feet thick, keeping the soil moist and preventing the possibility of airborne transport.
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Dredging Today Staff, March 20, 2012; Image: jasperoceanterminalinfo