French firms to visit South MS

The Mississippi Gulf Coast Alliance for Economic Development will host a delegation of French companies on Dec. 6. The tour of the Mississippi Gulf Coast will include a visit to Stennis Space Center, including Rolls-Royce and Lockheed Martin. . The goal of the event is to connect local companies with decision-makers of various French companies, including aerospace, maritime, micro-systems, defense, energy, and transportation. For more information or to RSVP, email Tiffany Aultman of the Hancock County Port and Harbor Commission (taultman@hcphc.ms) by Dec. 1. (Source: Magnolia Business Alliance/EIGS, 11/29/17)

AMB follow-on order for LCS program

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Defense and security firm Saab has received an additional order from General Dynamics for delivery of its Sea Giraffe (Agile Multi-Beam) AMB naval radar for the Navy’s Independence Class of Littoral Combat Ships’ yet-to-be-built LCS 28 and LCS 30, according to a Nov. 27 company release. Work will take place at Saab here in Syracuse and Sweden. Sea Giraffe AMB is being delivered to five classes of Navy surface ships as a part of three separate USN programs. Currently, Sea Giraffe has been installed on the Independence class USS Independence, USS Coronado, USS Jackson, USS Montgomery, USS Gabrielle Giffords, and USS Omaha. Additional systems are in various stages of manufacturing and testing to meet LCS construction schedules. Sea Giraffe AMB is a multirole, medium-range, 3D surveillance radar system for naval applications. It provides simultaneous air and surface surveillance, and is suitable for demanding naval environments from the littorals to blue-water operations. Giraffe AMB is a passive electronically-scanned array radar. Saab's naval variant of Giraffe is a version of its AMB aviation technology. It can detect air and surface targets from the horizon up to a height of 66,000 feet; and simultaneously handle multiple threats approaching from different directions and altitudes, including diving anti-ship missiles. Also, it is specialized for rapidly detecting small, fast moving targets at all , and small surface targets in clusters. Sea Giraffe AMB is installed on the Navy's Independence class of Littoral Combat Ships. v(Source: Sea Power Magazine 11/28/17) Gulf Coast Note: The Independence LCS variant ships are built at Austal USA in Mobile, Ala.

HII, unions OK contract extensions

PASCAGOULA, Miss. - Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) announced Nov. 28 that five unions at its Ingalls Shipbuilding Division here in Pascagoula have approved an extension of their collective bargaining agreements. The contract affects employees represented by the Pascagoula Metal Trades Council, local chapters of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, International Association of Machinists, United Federation of Special Police and Security Officers, and the Office and Professional Employees International Union. As part of a four-year extension, a $2,500 lump sum payment will be awarded in March 2018 to all eligible employees; a 65-cent raise on the journeyman rate will come March 11, 2019, a 67-cent raise on March 9, 2020, and an 82-cent raise on March 8, 2021. All eligible represented employees will also receive a $2,500 ratification bonus that is to be payable Dec. 14, 2017. (Source: HII 11/28/17)

Gaetz fights for SR island cut-through

Florida’s 1^st District Congressman Matt Gaetz reassured Navarre residents Nov. 27 at a town hall meeting that he would continue to fight for a cut-through of Santa Rosa Island that would allow faster boat access to the Gulf of Mexico from Navarre. The pass could infuse $1B into the regional economy, according to Gaetz (R-Fort Walton Beach). "The new investment would make Santa Rosa one of the wealthiest counties in Florida," Gaetz said. Eglin Air Force Base leaders have opposed the idea for a pass, which they claim would increase boat traffic and interfere with training along a 20-mile stretch of military-owned beach between Navarre and Destin. Gatez indicated that he was going to look at other options in the area for the military training, including Gulf Islands National Seashore. Gaetz also suggested restitution money paid by BP from the 2010 Gulf Coast oil spill could potentially be used to fund the pass. (Source: Pensacola News Journal 11/28/17)

FMC’s Doyle stepping down

U.S. Federal Maritime Commission leader William P. Doyle announced Nov. 27 that he had notified President Trump last week of his intention to leave the FMC’s top post effective Jan. 3, 2018. (Source: Maritime Link 11/27/17)

Fitz suffers loading damage

YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan - The collision-crippled USS Fitzgerald was forced to return to its homeport of NB Yokosuka on Nov. 26 after suffering further damage while being loaded onto a heavy lift vessel for its global ride to Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Pascagoula, Miss., shipyard for repairs. The destroyer was sent back from a Yokosuka ship repair facility to fix a pair of additional punctures to its hull caused by the heavy lift vessel MV Transshelf while DDG 62 was being loaded for transfer. The Navy estimates repairs will take multiple days before it begins its journal to Ingalls. Some 50 sailors from the crew of 300 will remain aboard as it travels back to the U.S. The Fitzgerald collided with a Philippine-flagged merchant ship on June 17. The accident killed seven sailors and injured three. The ship’s two senior officers and a senior enlisted were relieved of duty. (Source: Stars and Stripes 11/26/17)

Corals reveal slow-motion damage

In the years since the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spit the Gulf of Mexico, the largest in U.S. history, scientists have been monitoring the annual effects from the seafloor in a remotely operated underwater vehicle. Oil particles and chemical dispersants released hijacked phytoplankton and flecks’ ride on biological debris that would naturally fall to the bottom. Today, as the President and Congress are pushing expansion of offshore drilling, scientists are still coming to grips with the effects on deep-sea corals within the GoM’s ecosystem. Scientists are saying the story of slow-growing corals could take as long as “hundreds of years” to get back to what was lost, according to Erik Cordes, a deep-sea ecologist from Temple University who has been studying the GoM since 2010. Scientists estimate 15-to-30 percent of the spill settled on the bottom. Cordes is part of the Ecosystem Impacts of Oil and Gas Inputs group, a research consortium that has been monitoring multiple coral sites annually. Research funding has offered a rare chance to study the same corals year after year, allowing for new insights into the effects of oil contamination and the role of deep-sea corals in the GoM ecosystem. (Source: News Deeply 11/27/17)

Whitehead elected IPC president

The International Propeller Club of the United States elected and installed its leaders for the coming year at its 91st annual convention. Representatives of the IPC’s more than 75 chapters around the globe elected retired Coast Guard Rear Adm. Joel Whitehead to a two-year term as president. Whitehead is a member of the Club’s Port of New Orleans chapter. He is president of J. Whitehead & Associates Inc., a maritime and homeland security consulting firm in the Washington, D.C. area. (Source: Maritime Logistics Professional 11/24/17) Gulf Coast Note: At the close of his 34-year career, Whitehead served for three as Commander of the Eighth Coast Guard District in New Orleans. He was responsible for CG operations and oversight of the maritime and offshore oil industry in 26 states and the entire Gulf of Mexico; and 10,300 miles of inland waterways including the entire navigable lengths of the Mississippi, Ohio, Missouri, Illinois, and Tennessee River systems.

GC sailors killed in C-2A crash

The Navy has identified three sailors – two from Florida and one from Louisiana – who were killed in a C-2A Greyhound crash the day before Thanksgiving on Nov. 23 in the Philippine Sea while returning to the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan. The three were identified as Aviation Boatswain's Mate (Equipment) Airman Matthew Chialastri of Baton Rouge, La.; Aviation Ordnanceman Airman Apprentice Bryan Grosso of Pensacola, Fla.; and Lt. Steven Combs of Jacksonville, Fla. Chialastri was assigned to the USS Ronald Reagan. Chialastri was valedictorian of Woodlawn High School's 2013 graduating class. Grosso was assigned to Ronald Reagan; graduated from West Florida High School; and had served a training stint at Naval Air Technical Training Center in Pensacola. Combs was assigned to the "Providers" of Fleet Logistics Support Squadron (VRC) 30 and served aboard Ronald Reagan as part of Carrier Air Wing Five, according to the Navy. (Source: Military.com, WBRZ and Pensacola News Journal 11/25/17)

DDG 62 preps for voyage to HII

The damaged guided-missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62) left the U.S. naval base at Yokosuka, Japan, on Nov. 24 to Ship Repair Facility Yokosuka where it will be loaded aboard the heavy lift transport Transshelf within a few days. The transport will deliver DDG 62 to Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Pascagoula, Miss., shipyard for more than a year of repairs. (Source: Maritime Herald 11/24/17)

Maritime commission to host hearings

The Federal Maritime Commission announced that it would host public hearings on Jan. 16-17, 2018, to receive testimony from maritime industry witnesses regarding a petition filed by the Coalition for Fair Port Practices (Petition P4-16) that raised issues associated with detention, demurrage, and per diem charges. Those interested in presenting testimony must send a request to the FMC not later than Dec. 8, 2017. Acting Chairman Michael A. Khouri stated that one question was whether the FMC could craft a general rule of universal nationwide applicability on the issues given the wide variety of commercial terms and conditions incorporated into Vessel Operating Common Carrier (VOCC) service contracts and in Marine Terminal Operators (MTO) tariffs nationwide to address various events and circumstances. The hearings will be held in Washington, D.C. The FMC decided to hold hearings after receiving analysis of 115 public comments. (Source: Federal Maritime Commission 11/16/17)

Island restoration's web of pipelines

An $11.2M East Timbalier Island, La., coastal restoration project is going to get another $2.2M to deal with an unexpected tangled web of oil and gas (O&G) pipelines. The state project plans to rebuild the island, which is part of a chain of barrier islands protecting marshlands in Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes, but it ran into a vast network of badly mapped active and abandoned oil wells and pipelines. The shallow island, located 35 miles southeast of Houma, has been eroding at a rate of some 70 feet per year over the last few decades. Its loss would expose fragile wetlands and hundreds of oil wells in Terrebonne and Timbalier bays to storm surges. The state’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) is planning to spend some $160M to rebuild and re-create some 460 acres of marsh and dune. The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based environmental non-profit, has contributed $5.6M to jump-start the project. The non-profit has agreed a CPRA request for $2.2M more to cover the engineering and design work-around of those poorly mapped O&G infrastructures. (Source: NOLA.com 11/24/17)

Iran Navy plans venture into GoM

The Iranian Navy is scheduled to leave the waters of the Persian Gulf and sail across the globe into another gulf - the one between America and Mexico - known as the Gulf of Mexico. Iran is looking to expand and modernize its military in the face of U.S. military efforts, according to its new navy commander, Rear Adm. Hossein Khanzadi. The Iranian Navy unveiled plans for dispatching military warships to Latin America, saying its Navy will soon sail into the Gulf of Mexico. Speaking at his first press conference on Nov. 22, Rear Adm. Khanzadi said Iran’s Navy will soon sail across the Atlantic Ocean, visit some South American nations, and wave the Iranian flag in the GoM. (Source: Newsweek 11/22/17)

DOD upholds conviction in Cole case

The senior Defense Department official in charge of the U.S. war court at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has upheld the USS Cole trial judge’s contempt conviction of Marine Brig. Gen. John Baker, who oversees the defense team, according to a DOD statement released Nov. 21. The statement also suggested that the three civilian defense attorneys who quit the case are still bound to litigate in the USS Cole case. The official, Harvey Rishikof, convening authority of military commissions, decided that Maj. Gen. Baker did not need to serve the remainder of 21-day confinement and fine of $1,000 placed on him by the Cole case judge Air Force Col. Vance Spath. The judge sentenced Baker to both on Nov. 2 for invoking a privilege and refusing to answer the judge's questions in court. Rishikof will forward the conviction to Baker's chain of command as an administrative and ethics matter, which keeps the issue from federal court. The general's civilian attorney said Nov. 22 that Baker and his attorneys were considering a military judicial challenge to the “erroneous contempt finding or whether to return to Judge Lamberth to ask him to overturn the contempt finding.” (Source: Miami Herald 11/22/17)

HII launches NSC Midgett

PASCAGOULA, Miss. - Huntington Ingalls Industries’ (HII) Ingalls Shipbuilding division launched the National Security Cutter (NSC) Midgett (WMSL 757) on Nov. 22 from its Pascagoula shipyard. Midgett is the eighth NSC-Ingalls built ship for the Coast Guard. It will be christened Dec. 9. Legend-class NSC are the flagships of the Coast Guard’s cutter fleet. It is designed to replace the 378-foot Hamilton-class high-endurance cutters. The Legend class is the largest and most technologically advanced class of cutter in the CG, with robust maritime homeland security capabilities, law enforcement, safety, environmental protection, and national defense missions. Huntington Ingalls Industries is America’s largest military shipbuilding company. (Source: HII 11/22/17)

Cochran offers DOD cap buster

WASHINGTON - Ahead of a bipartisan budget deal expected before the end of 2017, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) has recommended a $650.7B spending package for the military in FY 2018. The Nov. 21 proposal includes $581.3B in base Defense Department funding, $64.9B for Overseas Contingency Operations war-time funding, and $4.5B the president wanted in emergency funding for missile defense. Cochran’s draft proposal was not put to the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee, which he also heads, for a vote. It never was subject to the amendment process. It likely reflects the work product of the appropriations committee, with minority input – and as a marker for the Senate GOP’s position in ongoing budget negotiations between congressional leaders and the White House. (Source: Military Times 11/21/17)

More LCS, EPF Asia engagements

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – The U.S. Navy is planning to enhance naval engagement with nations across South Asia in 2018, according to Rear Adm. Don Gabrielson, commander of Logistics Group Western Pacific/Task Force 73. The command intends to build upon this year’s engagements, which were carried out by the Littoral Combat Ship USS Coronado (LCS-4) and the Expeditionary Fast Transports (EPF) USNS Millinocket (EPF-3), USNS Fall River (EPF-4) and USNS Brunswick (EPF-6) – all built at Austal USA’s shipyards in Mobile, Ala. The new engagements will be paired with a more flexible framework to allow the Navy to develop opportunities for training with regional nations’ navies. The engagements are intended to complement the long-standing exercises. “We benefit greatly from year-long planning engagements with our partners in exercises like CARAT (Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training) and SEACAT (Southeast Asia Cooperation and Training),” Gabrielson said. The Navy has been using these exercises to build with partner-nation navies the past 20-to-30 years to train at sea. The mid-2018 plan has two LCS deployed, but a gap with LCS will be covered by three EPFs. The 14-month deployment of Coronado marked a milestone in validating the ability to operate the LCS in the region while paving the way to operate greater numbers of LCSs simultaneously,” the admiral said. (Source: USNI News 11/21/17)

La. researchers, oystermen at odds

In the last several years, the BP oil spill and diversions of water from the Mississippi River have compromised the balance of water and salt needed to sustain oysters off Louisiana’s southeast coast, according to a research study by the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation. Those scientists say they have identified areas where the water is just salty enough for oysters to flourish. The research study’s conclusions help oystermen shift harvesting production away from coastal areas that have been depleted; and could help the industry adapt elsewhere as the state tries to rebuild its coast with massive river diversions that would send freshwater and sediment into eroding wetlands, likely would kill more oysters. But, the state is “trying to create diversions, not to optimize oysters but to build land,” said John Lopez, director of the foundation’s coastal sustainability program. Oystermen aren’t buying it. Based on the locations of the state restoration projects, and this research, Lopez said oystermen should start harvesting in the Biloxi Marsh, closer to Bay St. Louis, Miss., than the Bird’s Foot Delta. The state’s plan to rebuild the coast calls for cutting holes in levees along the Mississippi River south of New Orleans, which will fill nearby bays with sediment-rich water from the river. Proponents of diversions say it’s a cost-effective way to rebuild land. Oystermen say the research should focus on controlling the amount of freshwater entering those bays. (Source: New Orleans Advocate 11/20/17)

GC scientists’ red snapper study

OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. - A team of university and government scientists, selected by an expert review panel convened by the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium, will conduct an independent study to estimate the number of red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico. The research team, made up of 21 scientists from 12 institutions of higher learning, a state agency and a federal agency, was awarded $9.5M in federal funds for the project through a competitive research grant process. With matching funds from the universities, the project will total $12M. Greg Stunz is the project leader and a professor at the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. Some of the other team members include Sean P. Powers, University of South Alabama’s Dauphin Island Sea Lab; James Cowan of LSU; Marcus Drymon of Mississippi State University; Brett Falterman, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries; Robert Leaf and Eric Saillant of the University of Southern Mississippi. The team will determine abundance and distribution of red snapper on artificial, natural and unknown bottom habitat across the northern Gulf of Mexico. Recreational anglers and commercial fishers will be invited to play key roles in collecting data by tagging fish, reporting tags and working directly with scientists onboard their vessels. (Source: Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium 11/17/17)

COBRA mod pact for Panama City

Arête Associates of Tucson, Ariz., was awarded a $7,455,192 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to a previously awarded contract (N61331-11-C-0007) to provide Coastal Battlefield Reconnaissance and Analysis (COBRA) program systems support for the AN/DVS-1 COBRA Block 1 system and support equipment. The primary mission of AN/DVS-1 COBRA program is to conduct unmanned aerial tactical reconnaissance in littoral battlespace for detection and localization of mine fields and obstacles in the surf zone and beach zone prior to amphibious assault for Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City , Fla. For the base contract, statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition used was 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(5) (authorized or required by statute (PL 106-554 SBIR)). Work will be performed in Tucson, and is expected to be completed by December 2018. FY 2016 Navy research, development, test and evaluation funding in the amount of $2,625,005 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division, Panama City, Florida, is the contracting activity.

Bill threatens GC bases, maritime

WASHINGTON – Florida Congressman Francis Rooney (R-Fla.) is raising alarm about a House Natural Resources Committee’s go-ahead of a bill last week threatens Florida’s long-standing moratorium of drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. Rooney, who represents the Naples-area district, and others in the state are worried the bill will pass a full congressional vote without extending the ban on drilling within 125 miles of Florida’s Gulf Coast when it expires mid-2022. Unable to convince the committee to extend the ban, Rooney is rallying support among members of the Florida delegation to back an amendment making the moratorium permanent. "We cannot have drilling in the eastern Gulf,” he said. “It will destroy our tourist economy." Florida lawmakers have fought against attempts to open up energy drilling off the Gulf Coast to protect the tourist-rich beaches, and the maritime industry, but lawmakers from other Gulf states, primarily Louisiana, have tried to help the industry expand in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and other parts of the country. (Source: Naples [Fla.] Daily News 11/20/17) The eastern Gulf is important to national security due to the flight training at NAS Pensacola and Whiting Field, and Eglin and Tyndall AFBs, and testing that takes place from multiple military bases in the Tampa area to NAS Key West. The eastern Gulf is the largest training ground for the U.S. military in the world, according to Rep. Rooney’s commentary in the Naples Daily News of Nov. 18.

Eastern-built hopper dredge, tug

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corp., a provider of dredging services in the U.S. and environmental and infrastructure services has taken delivery of its Eastern Shipbuilding-built ATB hopper dredge Ellis Island and tug Douglas B. Mackie following completion of Coast Guard (CG) and American Bureau of Shipping regulatory sea trials. The Ellis Island will be the largest hopper dredge in the U.S. market. Great Lakes Dredge & Dock will next perform CG emergency crew drills and expects to receive the Certificates of Inspection. Afterwards, the hopper dredge and tug will depart Panama City, Fla., for the Mississippi Coastal Improvement Program project and commence operations on a long haul coastal restoration project. (Source: Marine Link 11/20/17) Eastern Shipbuilding Co. is located in Panama City.

CG medevacs trio after barge collision

NEW ORLEANS – The Coast Guard medevaced three of four people whose 22-foot recreational craft was involved with a collision with a barge near Bayou Segnette, La., early Sunday (Nov. 19) morning. A Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans MH-65 helicopter arrived on scene at 6:18 a.m. and medevaced three passengers to West Jefferson Medical Hospital. One of the passengers is confirmed dead. The trio delivered to the hospital is reported in serious and critical conditions. The recreational craft veered off course and ran around after the collision. One person was ejected from the craft. The barge launched a small boat and recovered the ejected individual and brought that person to emergency services. Bayou Segnette is located south of Westwego, which is some 15 miles southwest of New Orleans. (Source: Coast Guard 11/19/17)

Illegal fishing & national security

Illegal and unregulated fishing supports transnational crime should be treated as a national security issue, according to a report from the National Geographic Society and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Although illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing provides pathways for a host of criminal activities, “it doesn’t have the consciousness of government imagination” in the U.S. or world, according to John Hamre, CSIS chief executive. Lt. Jessica Conway of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Living Marine Resources Enforcement office says transnational criminals and illegally fishermen “exploit the gaps in government structures.” Those gaps exist in the U.S. , too. The 42,000-member Coast Guard force is smaller than NYC’s police department, with multiple missions spread across the world. Eleven percent of the GC’s time is “devoted to various fishing protection and enforcement,” says Conway. Illegal and unregulated fishing “has the potential to become the crisis of the next century,” she says, because stocks are dwindling and populations demand it. Compounding the problem of what is legal or illegal is the direct impact on local communities and governments losing livelihoods and revenue from illegal fishing. (Source: USNI News 11/16/17) Gulf Coast Note: Coast Guard Sector Corpus Christi, Texas, has detected 18 lanchas, six of which were interdicted, that was north of the U.S./Mexico Maritime Border since Oct. 1, 2017.

FY-18 bill adds 2 more LCS

WASHINGTON - In a voice vote Nov. 16, the U.S. Senate okayed a nearly $700B defense spending bill for FY 2018 designed to enact 2.4% raises for servicemembers, increase the size of the military, fund new ships and aircraft and authorize new spending on missile defense, to the president’s desk ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday. The plan passed a major hurdle, but sets up a new fighting on how to pay for it. The plan surpasses the budget cap of $549B, and needs special legislative action to fund all new priorities. The FY-18 measure covers repairs for the two ships, USS John S. McCain and USS Fitzgerald, which were involved in deadly collisions this year. HII-Pascagoula, Miss., was awarded a $29.4M contract in October for the initial planning work to repair USS Fitzgerald. It directs $26.2B for 14 new ships, including $1.5B for Littoral Combat Ships, which is $900M and two LCS more than the administration’s request. It also includes $10.1B for the purchase of 90 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters - 20 more than the White House’s request - 56 F-35A, 24 F-35B, and 10 F-35C fighters. It directs another $5.6B for Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, which is $2B more than the administration’s request, including funds for one more destroyer. (Source: Stars and Stripes 11/16/17) Gulf Coast Note: Austal USA builds the Independence class of LCS at its shipyard in Mobile, Ala. The bill also includes $299M for improvements to Florida’s military bases, including a special operation simulation center at Eglin AFB, a special operations simulator and fuselage training center at Hurlburt Field, and a fire station at Tyndall AFB near Panama City.

GC NGIS earn Zumwalt awards

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Navy Region Southeast headquarters announced the “best of the best" bases for receiving the Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt Award for excellence in lodging management: Navy Gateway Inns & Suites (NGIS) at Naval Construction Battalion Center Gulfport, Miss.; Naval Air Station Pensacola, Naval Air Station Whiting Field, and Naval Support Activity Panama City, Fla.; and Naval Air Station/Joint Reserve Base New Orleans. The award recognizes lodging operations that exceed the highest standards of excellence. (Source: Navy Region Southeast 11/15/17)

Carnival swapping ships in 2019

Carnival Cruise Line will swap out its local ships in New Orleans and Galveston, Texas, in 2019, including bringing in a larger ship to sail short cruises throughout the year. Starting in May 2019, the NOLA-based Carnival Triumph will be replaced by Carnival Valor, which currently sails from Galveston, according to a Carnival news release of Nov. 16. Carnival Glory, which is now based in Miami, will move to New Orleans, replacing Carnival Dream, which will move on to Galveston. The Valor will sail a year-round schedule of four- and five-day cruises from New Orleans to Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. (Source: NOLA.com 11/16/17)

Insect plague killing La. marsh

A plague of Asian insects is killing a critical coastal marsh grass in Louisiana. It will likely worsen in 2018, according to Louisiana State University scientists studying the issue. Over the past 12 months, the tiny Asian scale insect has decimated vast stands of roseau cane, a flood- and erosion-resistant marsh grass, that holds large portions of the lower Mississippi River Delta together. As the plant dies, the landscape will unravel, exacerbating the state's land loss crisis, the scientists say. (Source: NOLA.com 11/16/17)

Comb jellies and the evolutionary tree

An assistant professor in biological sciences at The University of Alabama was part of a new research study that provides some evidence to support a hypothesis that a group of marine animals, commonly called comb jellies (Ctenophora) were the first to break away from all other animals, making it the oldest surviving animal lineage. UA’s Dr. Kevin M. Kocot, who is also curator of invertebrate zoology at the Alabama Museum of Natural History, is a co-author on the findings of a paper published in Nature Ecology & Evolution. The work was led by Dr. Nathan Whelan as a post-doctoral researcher in the laboratory of Dr. Ken Halanych, professor of biological sciences at Auburn University. Ctenophora is a group of invertebrates who swim with rows of cilia, often referred to as combs. Found worldwide, they are a crucial part of marine food chains. (Source: University of Alabama 11/16/17)

$30M for AF test range promise

U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) is touting the presumable inclusion of $30 million in a defense act conference report to fund the Air Force for Eglin AFB, Fla.'s Gulf of Mexico Test Range. The report, drafted by members of both the U.S. House and Senate, has been approved by the full House. The report still must be approved by the Senate, and signed by President Trump. A spokesman for Gaetz, Jillian Lane Wyant, said the $30M was not earmarked for the Eglin AFB range, but the service has assured the Florida 1st District congressman that the money will be spent for improvements to the range. (Source: Pensacola News Journal 11/15/17)

Dynamic ships out Shell modules

NEW IBERIA, La. Modules fabricated in New Iberia for Shell Oil’s largest project to date recently sailed off from the Port of New Iberia. Over the past two years, Dynamic Industries has employed between 200-400 workers for the project, according to NI port executive director Craig Romero. They have been building modules to be attached to larger hulls being built in South Korea, and will then be stationed 80 miles off Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico, at Shell Oil’s Appomattox project. The Appomattox project cost about $17M. Once on the barge, the modules began the journey to Ingleside, Texas, where they’ll be connected to their counterparts from South Korea. Within a year, said Romero, they’ll be towed to the production facility in the GoM. Shell’s 2,255-metres-deep wells should have their first oil by the end of the decade. (Source: Daily Iberian 11/16/17) Dynamic has both heavy and light fabrication capabilities, from fabrication of offshore jackets, drilling and production decks and associated process modules to onshore process and pipe-rack modules. There are two U.S.-based fabrication facilities in New Iberia and Lake Charles, La.

Merger of Pontchartrain, Maurepas?

NEW ORLEANS - A coalition of environmental groups have called on Louisiana to prioritize projects in the state’s wide-ranging plan for coastal restoration and storm protection. The groups, called Restore the Mississippi River Delta, chose 17 best-dollar projects in the state’s 2017 Coastal Master Plan. The groups point to critical pieces of real estate, such as the Manchac land bridge, which separates Lake Pontchartrain from Lake Maurepas. Scientists warn that a worst-case scenario is from rising sea levels and subsidence wiping out the marshy areas that protect inland communities. Restore the Mississippi River Delta warned the loss of the land bridge would pose a threat to both sides of the lake in north New Orleans and the southern part of Baton Rouge. The list of 17 projects includes four diversions of various sizes that would feed fresh water from Mississippi River into the Manchac Swamp. (Source: WVUE 11/15/17)

HII delivers DDG 114 to Navy

PASCAGOULA, Miss. - Huntington Ingalls Industries’ (HII) Ingalls Shipbuilding division in Pascagoula delivered the guided missile destroyer Ralph Johnson (DDG 114) to the Navy on Nov. 15. The signing of a (DD 250) document officially transfers custody of the ship from HII to the Navy. The ship is scheduled to leave from HII-Pascagoula’s shipyard in February 2018, and be commissioned March 24, 2018, in Charleston, S.C. “The crew can sail with confidence that this ship will bring the fight to the enemy and take care of her team just like Ralph did,” said Cmdr. Jason P. Patterson, the ship’s prospective commanding officer. DDG 114 is named in honor of Marine Pfc. Ralph Henry Johnson, who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroic actions that saved lives during the Vietnam War. Johnson, a Charleston native, had only been in Vietnam for a little more than two months when he was killed at age 19. Ingalls has now delivered 30 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers to the Navy. (Source: HII 11/15/17)

Navy: No decision on Perry frigates

The Navy has made no final decision on reactivating decommissioned Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates for the purpose of expanding the Navy’s fleet to 355 ships. Yet, an internal draft report prepared in October for the Chief of Naval Operations indicates the decision to reactivate 10 Perry frigates could cost about $4.3 billion. Earlier this year, both CNO Adm. John Richardson and Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer was examining bringing back up to seven Perry frigates to fill the gaps in small surface combatants, primarily for low-intensity regions like U.S. Southern Command. “No decisions have been made regarding the Perry-class frigates,” according to a statement provided to USNI News on Nov. 14. “The Navy is exploring all options … (A)t present, the Navy is simply exploring the possibility and measuring the costs,” the statement read. Instead of reinvesting in the frigates, the draft memo recommends putting money into modernizing Ticonderoga-class cruisers and the new guided-missile frigate (FFG(X)) that is set to supersede the Littoral Combat Ship. Naval Sea Systems Command has released the final Request For Proposal for the future frigate design. (Source: USNI News 11/14/17) Gulf Coast Note: Austal USA of Mobile, Ala., currently builds the Independence class of LCS.

La. delegation split on NFIP vote

The U.S. House of Representatives voted 237-189, with the Louisiana delegation split 3-3, to approve amended legislation that will increase flood insurance costs for some property owners, and help sustain a National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) battered by payouts for hurricanes over the last 17 years. The vote took place Nov. 14 after sponsors altered it after some complaining lawmakers, who claimed a previous version would have made for higher premium or made some property owners ineligible NFIP. Congress has been talking about an overhaul for years, which in October needed a $16 billion bailout to pay for claims for this year’s hurricanes. Because private insurers generally won't write flood policies, the federal program is the only one available for most property owners. (Source: NOLA.com 11/15/17) See link for Louisiana’s delegation vote.

DDG 123 keel authenticated

PASCAGOULA, Miss. -- Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Ingalls Shipbuilding division authenticated the keel of the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer Lenah H. Sutcliffe Higbee (DDG 123) Tuesday. The ship is named in honor of the first woman to receive the Navy Cross. DDG 123 will be the second ship named for Higbee. The first was a destroyer commissioned in 1945 and was the first U.S. Navy surface combatant named for a female member of the Navy. The Canadian-born U.S. Navy nurse served as Superintendent of the U.S. Navy Nurse Corps during WWI. She was among the first 20 nurses - "The Sacred Twnety" - to serve in the Navy. Ingalls has delivered 29 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers to the Navy. Other destroyers currently under construction at Ingalls includeRalph Johnson (DDG 114), Paul Ignatius (DDG 117), Delbert D. Black (DDG 119) and Frank E. Petersen Jr. (DDG 121). (Source: HII, 11/14/17)

CG rescues trio from capsized boat

NEW ORLEANS – The Coast Guard rescued three people from the water after their 22-foot boat, the Fixer Upper, had capsized near Venice La., on the morning of Nov. 11. The trio was extracted and transferred to the Venice Marina by a CG Venice response boat and crew. The owner of the Fixer Upper has arranged for the boat’s salvage. (Source: Coast Guard 11/11/17)

Refineries struggle to meet demand

U.S. stocks of gasoline and diesel continue to fall, despite record refinery runs. It’s a sign of major demand at home and abroad. U.S. refineries processed a record 16.3 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude through Nov. 3, according to the Energy Information Administration, despite Hurricane Harvey hitting Gulf Coast refineries. Refineries are struggling to meet demand in the U.S. and Latin America. The boost to gasoline consumption is being driven by moderately cheap fuel, strong economic growth, job creation, rising traffic volumes and the purchase of larger carriers. Stocks of both were being pressured even before Hurricane Harvey. Stocks of both, from an operationally perspective, are becoming uncomfortably low once inventories are adjusted for rising demand. (Source: Hellenic Shipping News 11/11/17)

Bollinger delivers CG cutter

Bollinger Shipyards of Lockport, La., delivered the U.S Coast Guard Cutter (USCGC) Joseph Gerczak, the 26th Fast Response Cutter, to the Coast Guard on Nov. 9 in Key West, Fla. The vessel’s commissioning is scheduled for March 9, 2018, in Hawaii. (Source: Marine Link 11/09/17)

ASC 4 Det heralds SSC arrival

PANAMA CITY, Fla. – Ten sailors from Assault Craft Unit Four (ACU 4), based in Little Creek, Va., have arrived at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City (NSWCPC). The sailors will spend the next few years in Panama City as ACU 4 Detachment Panama City to make preparations for the arrival of the Navy’s next-generation Landing Craft Air Cushion - the Ship to Shore Connector (SSC) – and conducting various types of testing, according to Officer in Charge, Master Chief Stephen Lowe. The first wave of temporarily-assigned ACU 4 DET sailors’ came in August in preparation for 20 more sailors in the coming months. These personnel are the advanced team preparing to accept the SSC crafts in December, and the arrival of more civilian and contract support. The DET will also serve as the operational and maintenance crew for SSC’s acceptance and operational trials to be conducted in the Gulf of Mexico within test ranges off the coast of Panama City Beach and Eglin AFB, Fla. (Source: NSWC Panama City 11/09/17)

SECNAV visits HII-Pascagoula

PASCAGOULA, Miss. - Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) hosted Secretary of the Navy Richard V. Spencer at Ingalls Shipbuilding division Nov. 9. Spencer received his first tour of Ingalls since being sworn in as the 76th SECNAV in August. Spencer toured the shipyard with HII President/CEO Mike Petters, Ingalls Shipbuilding President Brian Cuccias, and Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant. HII has done “an amazing job of really bringing the art form of shipbuilding to a science,” Spencer said. “If the U.S. Navy has a heart, I would say the shipyards are the blood pumping through that heart.” SECNAV later visited the amphibious assault ship Tripoli (LHA 7) and the amphibious transport ship Portland (LPD 27), both under construction at HII. (Source: HII 11/09/17)

HII earns LGBTQ equality marks

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) announced Nov. 9 it had received a score of 100 percent on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s 2018 Corporate Equality Index, a national benchmarking survey and report on corporate policies and practices related to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) workplace equality. HII is among 609 major American businesses to have earned top marks. “HII is honored to receive recognition as an LGBTQ-friendly workplace from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation,” said HII President/CEO Mike Petters. The Human Rights Campaign Foundation is the educational arm of America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for LGBTQ people. HII is America’s largest military shipbuilding company. HII’s Newport News, Va., and Ingalls-Pascagoula, Miss., shipbuilding divisions have built more ships in more ship classes than any other naval shipbuilder. (Source: HII 11/09/17)

UM study: At-risk ports

This year’s hurricanes that hit the U.S. and its territories served as a devastating reminder of the vulnerability of many coastal communities and the need to build up protection and preparedness plans. A new study from the Center for Advanced Infrastructure Technology (CAIT) at the University of Mississippi looked into aspects of at-risk ports along the Gulf Coast and globally to understand how they can prepare for tsunamis and rising sea levels. The research team used computer modelling and geospatial analysis of natural disaster risks to identify the priority measures that ports can take to build a comprehensive resilience management strategy. “To me, sea level rise isn’t of particular concern ... It would take over 100 years to see any kind of significant sea level rise,” says Dr Waheed Uddin, lead UM researcher. However, coastal disasters such as hurricanes and extreme rainfall are of far more immediate concern and have devastating consequences for port infrastructure, disruption of trade and preventing emergency resources from reaching the affected inland areas. In the study, Dr. Uddin and his colleagues looked at the Port of Miami, Gulf of Mexico and the Mississippi Coast, Karachi Port in Pakistan, and Hai Phong in Vietnam. “There is no band-aid solution,” he says. The best way to protect ports is to make sure “all natural protection remains there and will not be jeopardised by development,” says Uddin. “That means areas of mangrove, similar to underwater forests, which reduce the effects of waves and tide. Plans need to be put in place not to destroy these through development.” (Source: Ship Technology 11/09/17)

Navy releases final FFG(X) RFP

The Navy released the final conceptual design (CD) request for proposals (RFP) Nov. 7 for its new future frigate program, the Guided-Missile Frigate (FFG(X)), in a post on the FedBizOpps website. In October, Naval Sea Systems Command issued a pre-solicitation notice outlining the uses and capabilities for the new frigate. A summer Request for Information (RFI) named the capabilities the Navy is seeking and what it is looking to divide ship operations into three phases from lower level missions to high-end ship demands. Frigate construction will occur in American shipyards. Potential contractors must have an initial parent design to begin. “The parent design is a really interesting thing, because that means you're not going to a white board with a wish list of requirements, you're starting out with stuff that’s already been proven,” said Huntington Ingalls Industries’ President/CEO Mike Petters. The parent design is “pretty exciting for us,” he continued. “We know how to do that.” In August, Petters said HII may compete for the FFG(X) using the Coast Guard National Security Cutter (NSC) depending on how requirements work out. The program Executive Office for Littoral Combat Ships’ Frigate Program Office will host an unclassified Industry Day on Nov. 17 at Alion Science and Technology’s office in Washington, D.C., to provide information related to the FFG(X) CD phase requirements and objectives to interested contractors, the notice noted. The FFG(X) was originally a follow-on step to the LCS, but is now open to a wider set of domestic and international hulls. The frigate is expected to have a service life of 25 years, and a crew of up to 200. (Source: Defense Daily 11/08/17) Gulf Coast Note: HII-Ingalls’ shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss., has built multiple Coast Guard National Security Cutters, Amphibious Transport Docks and Amphibious Assault ships. Austal USA’s shipyard in Mobile, Ala., builds the Independence variant of LCS.

Mod contract: Lockheed, $60.2M

Lockheed Martin Corp.'s Rotary Mission Systems of Moorestown, N.J., was awarded a $60,196,236 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to a previously awarded contract (N00024-14-C-5104) to exercise options for ship integration and test of the AEGIS weapon system (AWS) for AWS baselines through Advanced Capability Build 12. Work will be performed in Camden, N.J. (35%); Norfolk, Va. (19%); Pascagoula, Miss. (12%); Moorestown (10%); San Diego (9%); Bath, Maine (8%); Deveselu, Romania (3%); and various places below one percent (4%), and is expected to be completed by November 2018. FY 2012-13 Navy shipbuilding and conversion; FY 2017-18 other Navy procurement; and FY-18 Navy operations and maintenance funding, in the amount of $16,886,684, will be obligated at the time of award. Funds in the amount of $3,866,193 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Naval Sea Systems Command of Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. (Source: DOD, 11/08/17)

Fire on Shell platform injuries 2

Two Shell oil workers were injured as a result of a 1:30 a.m. Wednesday (Nov. 8) fire aboard the company’s Enchilada platform at Garden Banks about 112 miles south of Vermillion Bay, La., in the Gulf of Mexico. (Source: NOLA.com 11/08/17) The Coast Guard and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) are responding to the platform fire. Forty-six crewmen were transferred to the nearby Salsa platform by the offshore supply vessel C-Liberty. The two injured include a 54-year-old male with flash burns and a concussion, and a 29-year-old male with a sprained wrist and concussion. Shell launched an emergency helicopter and medevaced both to the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, Texas. The platform and all associated production have been shut in. The fire has been reduced to a small flame coming out of a pipe on the platform., according to the Coast Guard.

Air-bomb seedlings for La. marshlands

PORT FOURCHON, La. - A crop duster took aim at Sarah Mack's boat across a salt marsh near Port Fourchon. The aircraft swooped low, dropping thousands of little green pods, which plopped into the marsh and shoreline. Tierra Resources, a wetland restoration company, is trying a new tactic in the fight against coastal land loss – dropping mangrove seedlings into the marshland. Mack, Tierra's founder, led crews that spent last week gathering a half-million of propagules seedlings, to spread across the marshes, a hub for oil shipping in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Unlike the grasses dominating the marsh, mangrove trees put down sturdy roots that are more resistant to erosion. Planting by hand would have been too costly and time-consuming in the marshes of Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes. Over the last 80 years, Louisiana has lost about 2,000 square miles of coastal marsh. The reasons are numerous: Erosion and saltwater intrusion caused by oil and gas exploration, hurricanes, and the Mississippi River's extensive levee system, which blocks wetland-building sediment. Air-seeding mangroves cost about $3,000 per acre. Other methods of restoration could be as much as $150,000 per acre. Tierra began planting mangroves in 2012 at the invitation of ConocoPhillips. The company owns about 640,000 acres of marshland in Louisiana. Much of ConocoPhillips' marsh is receding, putting its sizeable investments - oil and gas wells, pipelines, refineries and port facilities - at risk. ConocoPhillips provided much of Tierra Resources' startup costs. Funding expanded to include Entergy Corp. and other partners after air seeding showed positive results last year. (Source: NOLA.com 11/08/17)

Deputy IW chief tours Stennis

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. – The Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Information Warfare (IW) and Director of Naval Intelligence, Vice Adm. Jan Tighe, got a first-hand look at five of the 14 naval meteorology and oceanography commands based at the Stennis Space Center here Nov. 6. She toured the Glider Operations Center that includes a fleet of more than 100 gliders manned 24/7 by civilian and military pilots while deployed. The tour also included a visit with the Undersea Warfare Reachback Cell and Fleet Survey Team. "It's a privilege to showcase how the oceanography community's critical war-fighting capability ensures the IW community's success," said Rear Adm. John Okon, Commander of Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command (COMNAVMETOCCOM) headquarters. (Source: Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command 11/06/17)

First of kind LNG bunker barge

HOUSTON - Shell Trading Company announced Nov. 7 that it had finalized a long-term charter agreement with Q-LNG Transport LLC of New Orleans for an LNG bunker barge with the capacity to carry 4,000 cubic meters of LNG fuel. It will be the first of its kind to be based in the U.S. The ocean-going bunker barge will supply LNG to marine customers along the southern East Coast, and support growing cruise line demand for LNG marine fuel. The LNG bunker barge will be owned and built by Q-LNG Transport LLC and operated by Harvey Gulf International Marine of Louisiana. Harvey Gulf CEO Shane Guidry separately announced the formation of the new marine transportation company, Quality Liquefied Natural Gas Transport LLC (“Q-LNG”), owned 70 percent by Guidry and 30 percent by Harvey Gulf. (Source: PR News Wire 11/07/17) Q-LNG has contracted with VT Halter Marine of Moss Point and Pascagoula, Miss., for construction of America’s first offshore LNG Articulated Tug and Barge (“ATB”). The project will rely heavily on the collaboration between VT Halter and the Finnish firm Wärtsilä, who will be delivering a large scope of equipment to the project.

LCS 4 departs from Southeast Asia

YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan - The Navy’s only overseas Littoral Combat Ship, USS Coronado (LCS 4), is heading home to San Diego after a 14-month rotational deployment to Southeast Asia. The ship departed Singapore’s Changi Naval Base on Nov. 4 after participating in 11 exercises and conducting 10 port visits in the region. Coronado was the third LCS to conduct a rotational deployment to Southeast Asia. An unnamed LCS has been chosen to replace the Coronado in mid-2018, according to Task Force 73 spokesperson Arlo Abrahamson. (Source: Stars and Stripes 11/06/17) Gulf Coast Note: USS Coronado, and all even-numbered LCS hulls, was built at Austal USA’s shipyard in Mobile, Ala.

2004 Gulf oil leak remains unresolved

BATON ROUGE – New Orleans- owned Taylor Energy Company’s oil platform toppled during Hurricane Ivan in 2004 in the Gulf of Mexico. Since then, TEC has failed to stop the 13-year-old leak and is asking a federal court for more time to negotiate a settlement with the U.S. government that could allow the company to recover millions of dollars it set aside for work to end the leak. Taylor Energy and U.S. officials have met four times in 2017 to discuss possible terms of a settlement that would resolve the firm's lawsuit against the government. In May, U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Nancy Firestone ordered both parties to provide an update last week. On Nov. 2, Justice Department attorneys joined the TEC in asking for more time. TEC sued in January 2016, claiming regulators violated a 2008 agreement requiring the company to deposit approximately $666 million in a trust to pay for leak response work. The company argued the government must return the remaining $432 million. The firm claimed nothing can be done to completely eliminate chronic sheens at the site. Regulators have warned that the leak could last a century if left unchecked. (Source: The AP 11/06/17)

Schorr to lead reserve unit at SSC

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. - Capt. Sueann Schorr became the new commanding officer of Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Reserve Activity (NMORA) 0282 following a change of command ceremony Nov. 4. NMORA is headquartered at Stennis Space Center and oversees nine reserve units from Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, to Norfolk, Va., that each support Commander, Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command (COMNAVMETOCCOM), also HQ’d at SSC. Outgoing commander, Capt. Diane Boettcher had taken command in 2015 and will be going to the Naval Information Reserve in Fort Worth, Texas, as the senior inspector. In her civilian capacity, she is a practice manager at Microsoft. COMNAVMETOCCOM directs and oversees more than 2,500 globally-distributed military and civilian personnel who collect, process and exploit environmental information to assist Fleet and Joint Commanders in all warfare areas. (Source: Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command 11/06/17)

Eastern delivers MPSV to Harvey

Harvey Gulf International Marine (HGIM) of Harvey, La., has taken delivery of M/V Harvey Blue-Sea, a large capacity, Jones Act qualified, multipurpose support vessel (MPSV) from Eastern Shipbuilding Group of Panama City, Fla. The delivery of the 340-foot ship was the second MPSV Eastern has delivered to Harvey in the last four months. Sister vessel M/V Harvey Sub-Sea was delivered in July. HGIM now operates the two largest U.S.-flag constructed vessels in the Gulf of Mexico. (Source: Marine Link 11/03/17)

Navy to christen DDG 119

The Navy will christen the newest guided-missile destroyer, the future USS Delbert D. Black (DDG 119), during a 10 a.m. CT ceremony Nov. 4 at Huntington Ingalls Industries' shipbuilding division in Pascagoula, Miss. It will be the 69th Arleigh Burke-class destroyer and is the fifth of 13 ships currently under contract for the DDG 51 program. The ship will be configured as a Flight IIA destroyer. Delbert D. Black will be equipped with the Navy's Aegis Combat System, and will incorporate Cooperative Engagement Capability that when combined with the Aegis Combat System will permit groups of ships and aircraft to link radars to provide a composite picture of the battle space effectively increasing the theater space. The capability is designed to provide the Navy with a 21st century fighting edge. The nearly 9,500-ton Delbert D. Black is 509.5 feet in length, has a waterline beam of 59 feet and has a navigational draft of 31 feet. Four gas turbine engines will power the ship to speeds in excess of 30 knots. (Source: DoD, 11/02/17)

NASP earns water management gold

PENSACOLA, Fla. - Naval Air Station Pensacola (NASP) was selected among several commands as the 2017 recipient of the Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) Energy and Water Management Gold Award. SECNAV recognizes Navy-Marine Corps bases, ships, and squadrons for outstanding commitment to energy and water management. Awards are presented to commands that have made notable progress toward the Navy’s goals to reduce energy and water consumption, increase use of renewable energy sources, and construct sustainable facilities. "Earning the SECNAV Energy and Water Gold Award is a wonderful feeling," said Sabrina Williams, NASP’s national energy manager. Awardees are categorized as platinum, gold and blue level achievers. Since Williams assumed the role as energy manager in 2012, NASP has received the Gold Award five times. In 2015, the command received the Platinum Large Shore Award. (Source: NAS Pensacola 11/02/17)

UPDATE: Gitmo lawyers to defy judge

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba – One of the three death-penalty civilian lawyers who quit the USS Cole case over a secret ethical dilemma said Nov. 2 that he and his colleagues will defy the military court judge's order for a second time to appear before the court on Nov. 3. "Nobody's going," said Rick Kammen. The hearing was set for 9 a.m. today in which the judge, Air Force Col. Vance Spath, ordered the trio to appear via teleconference from Virginia. Kammen, Rosa Eliades and Mary Spears, until last month, willingly defended Abd al Rahim al Nashiri, who is accused of plotting al-Qaida's suicide bombing of the USS Cole in the port of Aden, Yemen, in October 2000. Seventeen U.S. sailors died in the attack. Nashiri could face execution if convicted. (Miami Herald 11/03/17)
EARLIER THIS WEEK: The case judge in the USS Cole case found Marine Brig. Gen. John Baker, who is in charge of the military court’s defense teams, guilty of contempt for refusing to follow orders. The general was sentenced Nov. 1 to 21 days confinement and fined $1,000. Air Force judge Col. Vance Spath declared "null and void" Baker’s decision to release three Pentagon-paid civilian defense attorneys, in the case against defendant Abd al Rahim al Nashiri, and order the trio to appear before him or via video feed next week. At issue was Baker's authority to excuse the civilian lawyers because of a secret ethics conflict involving attorney-client privilege. Baker had refused a day earlier to testify in front of Spath or return the three lawyers to the case. Baker attempted to protest that the war court had no jurisdiction over U.S. citizens (lawyers or himself). The judge refused to allow Baker to speak. Spath ruled that the chief defense counsel was out of order to invoke a privilege in refusing to testify about both the decision to release, and the absence of, the three attorneys who refused to return to ‘Gitmo’ this week. Privilege, the Spath declared, is a judge's domain to weigh and review privilege. Without it, he said, there would be "havoc in any system of justice." (Source: Miami Herald 11/01/17) Gulf Coast Note: One of the 17 sailors killed in the attack on USS Cole was Ensign Andrew Triplett, 31, of Macon, Miss. Two senior enlisted personnel with ties to Naval Hospital Pensacola, Fla., were also aboard the ship: Now-retired master chiefs James Parlier and Eric Kafka.

BP funds not solution for MS coast

BILOXI, Miss. – John Hairston, chairman of the Gulf Coast Business Council and CEO of Hancock Whitney Corp. painted a picture of a “decade lost” since Hurricane Katrina and the 2010 BP oil spill: Fewer jobs, slow age growth and a widening economic gap between South Mississippi and the state and nation. Hairston challenged some 500 people at the IP Casino Resort on Oct. 31 to develop an annual State of the Coast Economy plan to restore prosperity to the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Since Katrina and the BP spill South Mississippi, the area has lost 11,265 jobs since 2005’s Hurricane Katrina, according to Hairston. While the narrow and short-term focus is on the BP funds, the Business Council is going to lead the chambers of commerce to develop a 20-year plan “with passion, vigor and tenacity,” Hairston said. The first steps are to improve the coast’s economy by learning the facts, debating ideas, developing a plan and getting behind it, he said. Most communities the size of South Mississippi don’t have an oil refinery, NASA or Navy shipbuilding yard. “That’s our base,” Hairston said. “We got the golden goose. We just got to squeeze her a little bit to get some eggs.” (Source: Sun Herald 10/31/17)