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land security and the great training and professionalism of our State Police," the

Acting Governor continued.

Acting Governor Codey has pointed out the need for greater homeland security funding for the ports. President Bush's fis- cal year 2005 budget includes only $46 million for port security grants nationwide - far less than the $400 million America's ports have identified as a minimum level of needed support.

USACE Plan for

Waterways

The Army's Chief of Engineers, Lt.

Gen.Carl A. Strock, approved a Chief of

Engineers Report that offers a framework for ecosystem restoration and navigation improvements on the Upper Mississippi

River and Illinois Waterway. His report has gone to the Secretary of the Army for review and submission to Congress. "We have benefited from a collaborative approach with other federal and state agencies, non-governmental organiza- tions and the public in developing our rec- ommendations," Lt. Gen. Strock said. "I am especially pleased that the study results enjoy the solid support of our non- federal sponsors, and I believe the inde- pendent review from the National

Research Council has strengthened our effort. I am confident that our plan bal- ances the need for economic growth and environmental sustainability."

The recommended plan includes a pro- gram of incremental implementation and comprehensive adaptive management to achieve the dual purposes of ecosystem restoration and navigation improvements.

Its first costs are the $5.7 billion frame- work for ecosystem restoration and a $2.6 billion for the navigation efficiency improvements. The details include:

An initial 15-year increment of ecosys- tem restoration actions with continuous analysis and review to shape the next increment at an estimated cost of $1.58 billion.

Immediate implementation of non- structural and small-scale structural navi- gation measures, together with monitor- ing and reporting of traffic and economic conditions at an estimated cost of $235 million. Pre-construction engineering and design of seven new locks, together with further analysis, with initiation of con- struction subject to congressional review.

The estimated cost of the seven new locks is $1.79 billion.

The plan, if approved, will be imple- mented in a phased manner with future checkpoints for the Administration and the Congress.

The Corps believes that the recom- mended plan contains actions for manag- ing the river for dual purposes. For exam- ple: • Integrating channel maintenance activities with island building and back- water restoration can provide better syner- gy of management practices. Managing water levels to restore plant habitat and consolidate sediment can be achieved with little or no impacts to navigation. The placement of mooring facilities for waiting tows can also remove tow traf- fic from environmentally sensitive areas. Institutional arrangements involving both economic and environmental inter- ests can ensure sustainable operation and maintenance of the waterway system.

Northrop Grumman

Unveils New Harbor

Surveillance

Enhanced maritime security in major ports across the nation may soon become a reality, thanks to a new harbor defense system being developed and tested by

Northrop Grumman Corporation to iden- tify and track potential underwater and surface ship threats.

U.S. Navy officials were among the special guests gathered at Naval Base

Ventura County recently to witness a demonstration by Northrop Grumman of the capability to provide an integrated view of a harbor, based on information gathered from a variety of already-proven military and commercial sensors and sys- tems, including underwater fiber-optic sonar sensors, a marine radar, and a ship- board identification system.

Called Centurion, the integrated sensor and display product, developed by

Northrop Grumman engineers, showed the harbor vicinity and potential threats on a standard Navy display system located at the test site. During the demonstration, divers with a battery-powered underwater propulsion device were easily detected attempting to penetrate the harbor. Sur- face craft traveling in the test area, and entering the restricted Port of Hueneme, were also detected and tracked. "Integration of the radar, shipboard identification system and the fiber-optic arrays exceeded the objectives for this phase of the program," said Mary Ann

Benischek, vice president of Situational

Awareness Systems at Northrop Grum- man's Navigation and Space Sensors

Division. "Future program objectives include integration of additional sensors and further system optimization."

The proof-of-concept demonstration was completed within three months of the contract award by the Navy's Maritime

Surveillance Systems Program Office, uti-

News 6 • MarineNews January, 2005 400 Walnut, P.O. Box 377, Greenwood, MO 64034-0377 USA 1-800-821-3508 • 816-537-6777 • Fax: 816-537-6162

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