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| FishTails: July
2000 |
Lock Times on Monongahela Could be Cut Further
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| Morgantown Lock and Dam during Mon River spring 2000 flood. |
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Lockingthrough: Members of the WVBF Lock through the Opekiska Lock and Dam on the Monongahela
River, 8:00 am June 18, 2000.
By Chris Lawerence. |
Financial belt tightening in Washington is threatening to cut into some of West Virginia's best bass fishing.
The U-S Army Corps of Engineers says future cutbacks may scale back locking times on the Monongahela River even
more in the next few years.
Corps officials met with a group of pleasure boat enthusiasts earlier this year for an informational session.Tom
Flynn, Corps of Engineers Operations Manager for the Mon River says a reduction in commercial traffic on the Upper
Monongahela River is forcing cutbacks in their budget, which could scale back lock and dam hours.Flynn says the
formulas used to set lock times are the culprit.
"It takes 1.5 million tons a year of commodities to keep a lock open three shifts. It doesn't say how many
motorboats it takes to go through to keep the lock open."
Presently the Opekiska and Hildebrande Locks are limited to the hours of 8am to 4pm. Morgantown, for now, is a
24-hour facility. However, Flynn says that could change soon.
"If funding doesn't change in the operations part of our budget, there's going to be future cutbacks on the
river, beginning in Morgantown in a couple of years."
Flynn couldn't say if those suspected cuts could scale back locking at the Hildebrande or Opekiska Locks any further.
The obvious disadvantage for anglers is that large tournaments must originate from Prickets Fort on the Opekiska
Pool for logistical reasons. The best fishing of the day, early in the morning and late in the evening are lost
in the upper three pools for those tournaments. Scaling back lock times at Morgantown would make the Morgantown
and Hildebrande pools virtually inaccessible during the most prime fishing hours.
Congress sets the Corps budget and is the key to keeping the lock times status quo. Federation Members would be
wise to contact the offices of Senators Robert Byrd and Jay Rockefeller and Congressmen Alan Mollohan, Bob Wise,
and Nick Rahall and seek additional funding for Corps operations on the upper Monongahela. |
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