This Technical Working Group (TWG) will improve our understanding of the relationships between transportation costs and water levels and flows. For example, ships carry lighter loads in order to compensate for low levels in connecting channels, requiring additional trips and increasing costs. Likewise, higher levels allow for deeper draft vessels carrying heavier loads. Flow variations at the Sault Ste. Marie power plans also affect commercial shipping interests, with high flows during the day benefiting navigation and lower flows at night and on weekends potentially delaying ship transits and affecting cargo capacity. This TWG will examine such issues as “peaking and ponding” and work with other TWGs to determine system-wide benefits and detriments and identify changes to regulation plans or criteria that might improve operations for navigation interests. A key focus will be climate change and variability and how commercial navigation may need to adapt to respond to more extreme conditions than experienced in the recent past.
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Ralph Moulton Co-lead Engineer, Boundary Waters Issues Environment Canada 867 Lakeshore Rd. Burlington, ON L7R 4A6 Email: ralph.moulton@ec.gc.ca |
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David L. Wright Co-lead Senior Project Manager U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District 477 Michigan Avenue Detroit MI 48226 Email: David.L.Wright@usace.army.mil |
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