In recent news of interest to Lake Ontario boaters, the Bush administration is attempting to enlist the 80 million boaters it says use America’s 95,000 miles of waterways each year as potential eyes and ears in the fight against terrorism. According to a report by the Associated Press, the government believes small boats remain the most likely weapon al-Qaida might employ during an attack in a maritime environment.

While seeming to lament the fact that small boats exist by the million and are not nationally regulated, the Bush administration is considering creating a federal licensing program that would change all that. Coast Guard and Homeland Security representatives have toured the country over the past year, testing the waters to see how much resistance such a program would encounter.

The latest step toward regulation, effective April 28, asks states to develop safety standards for recreational boaters, and once again asks boaters to look for and report suspicious behavior on the water (the Coast Guard has had it's "waterways watch" program going four years now). Of course, no state is likely to implement such a plan. It would first need to establish a regulatory infrastructure (read expensive) which in a weak economy simply doesn't seem likely to happen. This would open the door to a federal program. The spin the administration is trying to give this thinly disguised first step toward federal regulation is that it would be much like a neighborhood watch program.

According to the government’s long range plan, the strategy is to create a layered defense based on radiological and nuclear detection equipment deployed with harbor patrols and police departments, and in addition to the above “suspicious behavior watch,” would include national federal standards to operate a small boat. The Coast Guard will be detailed to work with states in establishing minimum safety standards and to enforce the new laws. This could include requiring boat operators to have a current safety certificate on board with them, and a piece of identification that links to the certificate.

Among the suspicious behaviors detailed are boaters taking photos of a bridge or measurements of a dam, a boat lingering near a piece of critical infrastructure, people who seem strangely unfamiliar with boats, any person or watercraft that appears to be loitering or has no specific reason to be in the area, unattended vessels in odd locations, unusual night operations, lights flashing between boats, or anyone recovering or tossing items into waterways or onto shorelines.

Hey, I just realized the suspicious actor is me. In the last year, I have committed most of the above suspicious acts.

Combined with the other measures implemented by the Department of Homeland Security; the hostile new attitude of the Coast Guard, the fencing in of government structures and facilities, this new program has further ominous overtones. It sure feels like in the name of “security,” big brother is standing a lot closer to our backs than ever before. Almost close enough to reach around and eat our lunch for us. And you know what? If we let him know he can, he’s almost certain to go ahead and eat.

What did they say?

 "Riveting...Rhapsodic...Accomplished"

 Read the full review below.

 ForeWord Magazine

 Art Tirrell

The Route 104 bridge in the heart of historic Oswego has now been closed for two weeks, and will remain closed for several months. At Oswego, Route 104 spans the Oswego River, second in volume only to the Niagara River as a tributary to Lake Ontario. During the summer, Route 104 carries a good portion of New York State’s Seaway Trail traffic, so the closing and resulting detours should be considered in making overland travel plans. The closing will not impact recreational boaters, other than during certain periods when Lock 8, adjacent to the eastern side of the bridge, will be temporarily closed. The project is expected to be complete late this year.

The bridge on Sunday, April 13

To date, the traffic plan devised by state and local authorities has been working well. The plan diverts local traffic to the Utica Street bridge (a half mile south). Delays have been short and confined to the busier morning and afternoon drive times.

Not without a certain amount of tongue in cheek, local observers say that because local police officers stationed at either end of the Utica Street bridge haven’t tried to help too much, they’ve made major contributions to smooth traffic flow. The officers will step in and direct traffic to expedite things for emergency vehicles, but otherwise they haven’t interfered.

This is a variation on the long-time local joke that has its origins in the huge annual traffic snarls that follow the Harborfest fireworks display each summer. With an officer ignoring the traffic control signals and directing traffic at every important intersection, it seems as if essentially, you can’t get where you’re going from where you are for at least an hour after the fireworks end. If police would only stop trying to help, things would go a heck of a lot better.

Progress update: 

It appears that whole sections of the old bridge will be lifted out one by one. Today, the crew is using a Komatsu Shovel to pick out the guard fence and crews are jackhammering through the concrete sidewalks over each bridge support.

A Kobatsu PC2000 Shovel plucks a section of guard rail. What a machine: 430,000 lbs and can grab 14.4 Cu yds with one bite.

The red steel underneath the spans was put in position last fall, mostly at night. It appears to be the framework for the lifting slings. We're looking forward to seeing the actual lifting of the spans.

Billing it's announcement as a service to recreational boaters, the Department of Homeland Security(DHS) today revealed that it will use special dyes on the surface of Lake Ontario to mark the official border between the US and Canada. The program, which will utilize a fleet of satellite-guided helicopters equipped with 200-foot-long delivery tubes that can be lowered to within one foot of the surface, has been funded through a new program named "Just Envision 2020" by the Bush administration, and will commence upon the opening of the charter fishing season May 1.

“Wind, waves, and current would quickly dissipate normal dyes,” said Rhea L. Ziel, official spokesperson. “Fortunately, our two-year $66 million study identified a group of long chain polymers that will allow the dye to remain substantially in place for a minimum of one hour before sinking. This 'hang time', as we call it, will permit an hourly schedule of over-flights to maintain the presence of the line.”

An example of what the line will look like from space. Helicopters will be based in Watertown and Buffalo.

The plan is seen as a response to vocal criticism of the recent DHS announcement that it intended to begin enforcing passport reporting requirements for charter fishing vessels operating out of New York State.

Ziel defended the need to strictly enforce Border policy. “If we let US citizens go out and come back in without reporting, how can we expect foreigners not to think they can do the same,” she said. “We do have monitoring satellites in place over the lake, but until we're fully deployed in 2015, it will be impossible to observe every boat all the time. For all we know, the fishing derbies they hold might be little more than cover schemes for Canadian fishermen to collude with Americans and smuggle in cheap Chinese laborers while sending tax free cigarettes to Canada. Why do you think they call those boxes on their boats “live” wells, anyway?”

Under the new rules, charter operators will be required to:

1. One hour before they leave shore, fax in passenger’s personal information – name, date of birth, and government ID # - to Customs and Border Protection office. The names will be run against an anti-terrorist watch list.
2. Make sure passengers carry either a passport or a government ID and a proof-of-citizenship document.
3. Send the passengers to a local border protection reporting station after landing, so they can call in on a videophone.

A cadre of 3,500 new Customs officers will be required when the plan is fully implemented. They will use newly purchased patrol boats and government aircraft to spot check and back up satellite feeds. Suspicious behavior would be any two boats approaching within five feet, individuals in the water (swimmers), the presence of personal watercraft, semi-submerged objects, suspicious buoys or markers, and people urinating over the side, among others.

“Our concerns are anything from terrorists and terrorist weapons to polluters, drugs and undocumented aliens,” said Ziel.

Charter captain Randy Randell, who fishes out of Oswego, NY, could only shake his head. "This proves that the only thing worse than a zealot is a zealous bureaucrat," he said. "So what if we stray over the line? There's no way they'll be able to keep track of everyone.”

"That's what he thinks," said Ziel. "We didn't spend $66 million on nothing. The new dyes have special molecules designed to be absorbed by fiberglass. Any boat that passes through the line will be dyed pink. The pink dyes also function as reflectors, which the satellites are programmed to home in on."

Customs officials will patrol dock areas, looking for pink boats. Chemicals required to remove the dye will be available exclusively at Customs offices. The introductory price will be $49.95 per ounce and will be sold only in 12 oz bottles.

Ziel did not think the price excessive. “Pink is now the official DHS color. It will be illegal to paint an entire boat pink to circumvent the dye. We mean business. As of next month, we’re putting a stop to all illegal activities out there. The data will show very quickly if we’re successful or not.”

Ziel would not reveal the number of charter fishing customers arrested over the last five years, but said the number exceeded ten, with public urination a prominent offense. When asked how the dye will affect the habitat, she said, “Environmental impact fades to insignificance when compared to the very strong and visible benefits. For the first time ever, we'll have a clearly visible border on the surface of the lake. Before, it was very difficult to establish whether a boat was in American or Canadian waters. Now, it no longer will. Just think, we will now be able to identify everyone who illegally leaves the country. We see that as a major advance toward the future security of all our citizens.”

The govenrment of Canada was quick to respond. Prime Minister Sue Yu issued a terse statement. "We fully support and endorse the actions of the US Government in its attempt to secure its borders. However, we strongly object to the red and white striped colours of the proposed line. Red and white are our national colours. Any government with the resources to establish a line in the first place should be capable of adding a third colour, blue, to make the line distinct from the line we will no doubt be establishing ourselves in near future."

If the Lake Ontario deployment is a success DHS plans to immediately expand the program to include the other three great lakes sharing borders with Canada.

Note:

This has been an April fool’s story. The dye line is a fabrication, but the new reporting information is not. Rules go into effect in May.

"Seven with one blow"

Taking a page from the classic Grimm Brothers fairy tale, the International Joint Commission (IJC), which oversees the St. Lawrence Seaway and controls Lake Ontario water levels, has proposed the adoption of new discharge management plan D+(as revised) to become effective next year. In doing so, the commission promised that in two years environmental groups and recreational boaters could have the plan they favored (plan B+), but only if they first successfully complete three rather daunting tasks.

The tasks are mitigation measures IJC says will be needed if B+ is implemented:

1 - Create and implement shoreline protection (high water) for all at-risk areas, and demonstrate that the measures are in place and working as designed. Among these measures are breakwaters, beach nourishment and other habitat restoration measures.

2 - Deepen channels that would be at risk during low water conditions by dredging and other measures.

3 - Convince federal, state, provincial and local governments to act as follows: public acquisition of properties that can not be otherwise protected from high water; low interest loans where at-risk properties can be protected; institute stricter floodplain and land use programs; zoning changes.

Both plans D+ and B+ are descended from a five-year $20 million study commissioned by the IJC and completed in 2005. The study recommended three possible plans of action; plans A, B, and D. All three represented a distinct departure from the plan then in effect (plan 1958DD).

The study clearly stated any of the new plans could be implemented without the prior implementation of mitigatory measures.

The commission did accept the final report, but promptly appointed another group to review it and suggest better alternatives. This second very distinguished group of scientists and researchers produced revisions; plans A+, B+, and D+, all of which came closer to the IJC’s plan (1958DD) and were thus more acceptable to the commission – but apparently not yet close enough to be totally so.

Additional study and consideration commenced, resulting in last week’s March 28 introduction of proposed “Plan 2007.” Although nominally a derivative of plan D+, plan 2007 is virtually identical to plan 1958DD. This is not surprising as both were developed with the interests of commercial shipping and power generation in mind. It appears the commission – from the tone of its documents reluctant to undertake the study process in the first place – has managed for the most part to deflect change.

Plan B+ is favored by environmentalists and boaters because it results in both higher and lower extreme water levels than the other plans. Plan B+ would favorably impact wetland areas adjacent to Lake Ontario proper by narrowing the transition line from submerged to upland plant species, thus improving spawning habitat and the diversity of marshlands. Specifically, occasional very low water levels would dry out marshes and reduce the dominance of cattails that crowd out aquatic grasses and other plants. Boaters supported this concept, even though the same low water conditions could make things difficult for them.

Last week’s decision was not unexpected. The Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909 established an order of precedence in the IJC’s management of its assets: uses for sanitary and domestic purposes; uses for navigation; and uses for power generation, and the commission is bound to uphold its responsibilities under the treaty. This it has done, stating that it is now the responsibility of the governments of New York State, the Provinces of Ontario and Quebec, the joint federal governments, and the governments of waterfront cities and counties to implement whatever mitigation processes they please.

Like the little tailor in Grimm’s fable, who after having miraculously swatted seven flies with one blow, cried “I killed seven with one blow” - just as the king asked who in his kingdom could kill the two giants - environmentalists, boaters, and shoreline communities stood up and were counted when invited, only to be handed the task of slaying the giants. Is it possible? Yes, but not only have no sources of funding been identified, no organization seems ready to step forward. Even if funds were available immediately, it might take two years just to compile a list of potential impact sites. IJC has to know this as well as anyone. For an international organization to establish such a set of conditions in the face of the recommendations of its own study, which categorically stated no remediation actions were needed, seems cynical indeed. 

The IJC - left to right: Jack Blaney; Irene Brooks; Herb Gray- chair; Allen Olson