A 36-mile-long canal used by the oil and gas industry to move equipment and materials offshore requires dredging after Hurricane Barry brought in four to five feet of sediment, the Houma Courier reports.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to spend roughly $5 million to fully dredge the silted section of the Houma Navigation Canal to a depth of 15 feet. The corps had already allocated about $4 million to dredge the inland reaches of the canal this year in its 2019 Work Plan.
The canal requires a depth of 14 to 18 feet so offshore vessels can pass through the waterway, the newspaper reports. Portions along a 10-mile stretch have been reduced to 11 feet deep, inhibiting its use. The 36-mile-long canal stretches from Terrebonne Bay to the Intracostal Waterway in Houma.
“The industry needs every bit of that 15 feet,” Terrebonne Port Commission Director David Rabalais told the Houma Courier.
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