Navigation problem.-Fully loaded modern large tankers cannot use the present channel because of insufficient depths.

Recommended plan of improvement.-Provides for modification of South Brother Island Channel by construction of a flared entrance channel tapering from a width of 1,600 feet at the East River Channel to 400 feet in a distance of about 0.3 mile, thence a channel 400 feet wide for a distance of 0.64 mile, and a turning basin 1,000 feet wide and 1,600 feet long at the Astoria Waterfront; all to a depth of 37 feet in rock and 35 feet in other materials.

Local cooperation. Provide without cost to the United States all lands, easements, and rights-of-way required for construction and subsequent maintenance of the project; hold and save the United States free from damages that may result from construction and maintenance of the project; provide and maintain without cost to the United States depths in berthing areas and local access channels serving the terminals commensurate with depths provided in the project channel; provide, upon transfer to the United States, a depth in the existing South Brother Island Channel and turning basin of not less than 30 feet below mean low water, or the cost of providing such depth, with transfer to be effected immediately prior to initiation of work to provide the 35-foot channel; and establish regulations prohibiting discharge of pollutants into the waters of the harbor by users thereof, which regulations shall be in accordance with applicable laws or regulations of Federal, State, and local authorities responsible for pollution prevention and control. Local interests have indicated their willingness and ability to meet the requirements of local cooperation. Comments of the State and Federal agencies:

Department of the Interior: Favorable.

Department of Health, Education, and Welfare: Favorable.
Department of Transportation: Favorable,

State of New York: Favorable.

Comments of the Bureau of the Budget: No objection.

Senator JORDAN. You may proceed as you wish.

STATEMENT OF ROGER H. GILMAN, DIRECTOR OF PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT, PORT OF NEW YORK AUTHORITY, AND REPRESENTING ALSO, CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF THE BOROUGH OF QUEENS, GREATER NEW YORK TERMINALS, INC., MARITIME ASSOCIATION OF THE PORT OF NEW YORK, NEW YORK CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, STATE OF NEW YORK DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, UNITED NEW YORK SANDY HOOK PILOTS' BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION (HELL GATE DIVISION)

Mr. GILMAN. I am Rogert H. Gilman, director of planning and development of the Port of New York Authority. The Port of New York Authority, as a joint public agency of the States of New York and New Jersey, is responsible for the development of transportation and terminal facilities and the promotion and protection of commerce in the New York-New Jersey Port District. The port district is a 1,500-square-mile area with boundaries approximately 25 miles from the Statue of Liberty.

In accordance with the comprehensive plan enacted by the two States in 1922, the port authority is directed to study and encourage the development, improvement, and maintenance of waterways and facilities which are used principally for commerce in the port district, and in particular, by oceangoing vessels. As part of this responsibility the port authority presents to the Corps of Engineers, the Bureau of the Budget, and the Congress the recommendations of various local interests for the improvement of navigation channels and related facilities in the Port of New York.

THE IMPROVEMENT RECOMMENDED AND SUPPORTED

In February 1968, the New York District, Corps of Engineers, issued its report, East River, N. Y. (spur channel to Astoria waterfront), which recommended the deepening of a mile-long channel from its existing depth of 30 feet, to a new depth of 35 feet in earth and 37 feet in rock at mean low water for a width of 400 feet. The improvement would also involve the flaring of the channel at its junction with the East River, and the provision of a turning basin at the new depths, 1,600 feet long and 1,000 feet wide, at its southern terminus off Steinway Creek. The total estimated Federal first cost of the improvement is $2,230,000, and was reported as having a benefit-cost ratio of 3.1 to 1. There is no non-Federal first cost. Both the existing and improved channel would be maintained by the Federal Government.

(The map referred to follows:)

45-781 0-7013

Mr. GILMAN. The Port of New York Authority concurs in the Corps' recommendations for improvement and federalization of this channel. As the coordinator of local cooperation in this improvement, the port authority will endeavor to arrange fulfillment of the requirements of local cooperation as stated in its letter dated January 26, 1968, to the New York District, Corps of Engineers, with as little delay as possible.

THE EAST RIVER AND THE SPUR CHANNEL

The spur channel to the Astoria waterfront, also known as the South Brother Island Channel, is part of the East River complex of navigation channels. The East River is 16.7 miles long and its width varies from 600 to 4,000 feet, touching the shores of four of

the five boroughs of New York City; namely, Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens. The existing Federal project for the East River, begun in 1916, provides a main channel 40 feet deep and 1,000 feet wide from Upper New York Bay to the former Brooklyn Navy Yard, and 35 feet deep and 550 to 1,000 feet wide to Throgs Neck at the entrance to Long Island Sound. This project was completed in 1959.

The East River plays a vital role in the trade and commerce of the New York metropolitan area. Its shores are extensively developed with facilities used by deep- and shallow-draft vessels, railroads, electric generating plants, and various liquid and dry bulk cargo and industrial operations. Waterborne tonnage on this waterway, according to the Army Engineers, has grown from 14.9 million tons in 1957, to 24.5 million tons in 1967, an increase of 64 percent. Thirty-eight percent of this 9.6-million-ton increase occurred in 1 year from 1966 to 1967. The South Brother Island Channel links the East River with the Astoria waterfront. Its principal commerce is petroleum products, brought to the Astoria waterfront by ocean tankers and shallow-draft harbor and river craft.

THE HISTORY AND NEED FOR THE IMPROVEMENT

Originally, the Astoria waterfront was linked with the East River via a channel which passed south and east of Rikers Island. However, the growing public aviation demands of the New YorkNew Jersey metropolitan region required the extension of runways at nearby La Guardia Airport. The only feasible area available for this extension was over water. Accordingly, the Corps granted permission on September 5, 1963, to the port authority, the public operator of the bi-State region's major commercial airports, to extend airport runways into this channel. This, of course, required closure of the channel to navigation. In exchange, the port authority agreed to provide, at its own cost, an alternate water route to the Astoria waterfront with a dimensional capability comparable to the closed channel. The Corps permit issued for this work specified port authority responsibility for the substitute channel "until the Federal Government assumes responsibility for the further maintenance of this channel."

A new channel, therefore, was dredged by the port authority between North and South Brother and Rikers Islands as a replacement for the closed channel. This channel has a controlling depth of 30 feet at mean low water, and a width of 400 feet. The channels flare-shaped entrance with the East River terminates at the inshore end with a turning basin having a width of 1,000 feet and lengths ranging from 1,200 to 1,600 feet. This channel serves an area that presently contains both deep-draft and shallow-draft terminals. Several grades of petroleum products are received at deep-draft facilities from ocean tankers at the head of the channel. Shallow-draft terminals have facilities for receiving aviation fuel utilized by aircraft at La Guardia Airport and for other consumers of refined petroleum products. In addition, recreational boating facilities are served by the channel. This extensive usage

substantiated to the Army Engineers the need for including this channel in the Nation's system of Federal waterways.

Data compiled by the Army Engineers indicate that the popula tion of the area which is served by the South Brother Island Channel has shown a continuous growth of almost 17 percent from 1950 to 1960. In the Borough of Queens the population is expected to grow from 2.1 million in 1965 to 2.5 million in 1985, an increase of about 400,000 people, or 19 percent, according to an extensive study and forecast undertaken by the port authority. In addition, according to the Corps, the value of manufacturing in the Borough of Queens has increased from $1.1 billion in 1958 to $1.7 billion in 1967, with industry employing 352,721 people in the latter year. These industries include manufacturing, transportation, public utilities, communications, and various wholesale, retail, and service trades. To support such activities in this area in the year 2015, the Corps has estimated that about 2.4 million tons of residual fuel oil will move via South Brother Island Channel, compared to slightly less than 1 million tons that actually moved in 1965. In addition, growth is probable also for other petroleum products destined for the area.

To meet the present demand for petroleum products Corps of Engineers data reveal that ocean tankers ranging from 18,000 to 50,000 deadweight tons discharge their cargoes at Astoria waterfront facilities. Such vessels were recorded as having loaded drafts upon arrival from 30 to 42 feet, thus usually exceeding the existing depth of 30 feet at mean low water in the South Brother Island Channel. This has often required substantial and uneconomic partial unloading or lightening of petroleum cargoes and tidal delays. A depth of 35 feet, equal to the controlling depth of the approach channels of the East River, is of great importance in the more efficient handling of these commodities.

Actually, tankers to 50,000 deadweight tons are small by comparison to today's standards. The size of the average tanker on order in world shipyards at the end of the third quarter of 1969 was twice this size. Even in the United States, tankers are being built for east-gulf coast service whose deadweight is 80,000 tons and whose loaded draft will be 43 feet. U.S.-flag vessels such as these must be used by law in our coastwise trades. This emphasizes the inadequacy of the existing depth of the South Brother Island Channel. At 30 feet, the imposed costs resulting from lightering and tidal delays or restricted loadings for tankers using this waterway must invariably be passed on to the transportation, industrial, commercial, and residential consumers of petroleum in Queens and the surrounding area in the form of higher-price structures or hgher costs to petroleum distributors. Thus, deepening this channel to 35 feet, while it represents only a modest improvement, is nonetheless a useful and important one.

I understand that in recent months an 80,000-ton tanker has been destined on three separate occasions for the Greater New York Terminals but that its draft had required lightering delays of up to 31 hours before the tanker could be berthed. These delays mean, of course, an economic loss since the tanker charter is at a daily rate of about $5,000.