St. Lawrence River Ice Boom Demonstration. NYDEC (New York Department of Environmental Conservation) Environmental Assessment Discrepancies

• Main Author: Buonocore, Anna O.
• Other Authors: SAINT LAWRENCE SEAWAY DEVELOPMENT CORP MASSENA NY OFFICE OF COMPREHENSIVE PLANNING
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1980
• Subjects: Hydrology; Limnology and Potamology; Snow; Ice and Permafrost; *BOOMS(EQUIPMENT); *RIVERS; *ICE; WINTER; NAVIGATION; SAINT LAWRENCE SEAWAY; CONSERVATION; MERCHANT VESSELS; HYDRAULICS; SEASONS; ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT; NEW YORK; DEMONSTRATIONS; COVERINGS; RIVER ICE; ICE BOOMS; NAVIGATION SEASON EXTENSION; SAINT LAWRENCE RIVER; ICE COVER; Lawrence River; Corridor The; Corridor, The; Ice; permafrost
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA213985; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA213985

The FY 1979 Navigation Season Extension Demonstration Program was part of an on-going program to determine the practicability of permanently extending the Seaway navigation season on the Great Lakes/St. Lawrence Seaway System. As part of the program, the St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corp. proposed to modify existing ice booms at Ogdensburg-Prescott and Galop Island in the St. Lawrence River and conduct a limited number of vessel transits in a demonstration corridor. The purpose of the proposed tests was to demonstrate the feasibility of navigating through ice booms while maintaining the stability of the ice cover and the hydraulic integrity of the river. This present report appraises a study entitled 'Environmental Assessment of the FY 1979 Winter Navigation Demonstration on the St. Lawrence River', prepared by the New York Dept. of Environmental Conservation. Their report comprised a summary volume and two volumes of technical reports. The present report concludes that :1) although the summary volume purports to summarize the 15 technical reports, it makes conclusions in many cases based on unsubstantiated and often erroneous interpretation rather than on facts presented in the technical reports which it was to summarize; and 2) much of the environmental assessment strays to discuss aspects of an operational extension of the season and its impacts on the 120-mile international portion of the St. Lawrence River, rather than addressing the proposed ice boom demonstration with one vessel in a 15 to 20 mile demonstration corridor. (EDC)