CoE abandons jobs to open Tenn-Tom

Okaloosa County, Fla., officials were scrambling for answers March 7 when word filtered down that a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contracted dredge, believed to have been on the way to Destin’s East Pass, has been diverted to the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway. The CoE confirmed to U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) in a memo that the waterway was completely blocked in one area hindering barge traffic in northern Alabama and Tennessee. Okaloosa had finally nailed down a solid agreement with the COE after the Condo Alliance of Okaloosa Island temporarily set aside a legal challenge that had been preventing the dredging. Three weeks ago, the county was at the CoE obtaining permits, however, the CoE laid out its case for delaying the Destin project in the memo to Gaetz. The dredge destined for Destin was the lone dredge under contract with CoE for use, and that the Corps made a higher-priority change to reopen Tombigbee for traffic affecting multiple industries. CoE stopped a dredge job at Perdido Pass, Ala., because of the critical need in north Alabama. Depending on what type of equipment/bids the CoE gets, it would be “three to four months at best before a dredge could mobilize for the East Pass work,” the memo read. (Source: NW Florida Daily News 03/07/19)