Steve Clark

If the Ballard Locks continues to operate the way they are now, they will run out of money in June. So that doesn't happen, Army Corps of Engineers staff will have to make changes in how the almost 90 year old landmark operates, perhaps with workforce reductions that could do away with the practice of the locks staying open 24 hours a day. Those changes may happen soon, with little warning.

That was the message delivered at a public information meeting held Tuesday night at the Ballard High School Library by the Army Corps of Engineers, who operate the locks. Seattle District staff announced they are facing a shortfall of nearly 40% of their budget allotted to helping boats and ships of all sizes make the transition to and from the fresh water Lake Washington Ship Canal, and salt water Shilshole Bay.

Last summer, industry leaders lobbied U.S. Senator Patty Murray to get funding at the locks restored, after the Corps announced that their 2006 budget would be $4.3 million dollars for the Ballard Locks, instead of the $6.5 million requested. Murray delivered on the restoration of funds in the Senate version of the appropriation. But the House version still reflects the smaller amount. Until congressional leaders hash out their differences in conference committee, the Army Corps will operate under the smaller budget. For now, the Seattle District is continuing to operate as if the locks have $6.5 million to spend so they can maintain current staffing levels and stay open 24 hours a day. But with each day they do so, they create a more severe requirement for cost cutting later on, if those funds are not restored.

"Do I try to maintain operation as is or do I crank it back? The $2.1 million dollar question is when do I crank back and really rile you guys up?" said Corps Seattle District Chief of Operations Diane Parks, speaking to the mix of recreational boaters, commercial marine interests and locks employees.

Cost cutting, which would lead to a reduction in open hours at the locks, is a specific dread to commercial maritime interests. Recreational boaters tend to use locks during daylight hours, but fishing vessels and tug boats based in the ship canal often depart and arrive at hours determined by weather, tides, seasons and customers. Closing the locks could precipitate randomly laying up crews, rescheduling cargo pickups and finding alternative moorage outside of the ship canal.

Dana Brodie, port engineer for Foss Maritime, one of the largest tug boat operations on the west coast, said that for the last nine months, Foss tugs, some with barges in tow, have gone through the locks 284 times, about 45% of those trips have occurred between 7pm and 7am.

"Changes in operational hours is the last thing we want to do," said John Post, Project Manager at the Locks. Post said that because the Army Corps project budgets (the locks is a "project" in Corps parlance) are determined by commercial tonnage, changing operational hours would make the locks appear as if they handled less tonnage than they do now and that perception is what drives the Army Corps' project budget process.

Changing that perception was behind the effort to host a tour of the locks for Assistant Secretary of the Army John Paul Woodley, Jr., the Army Corps' boss, who came out to see the locks in operation and listened to local industry leaders make the case that while the locks doesn't handle the same volume of cargo other corps projects do, the commercial impact of the locks is significant, both in the value of shore side fleet maintenance, and facilitating the almost exclusively water-based interstate trade with Alaska, a marine highway with a source often along the fresh water shores of the ship canal.

"This is the perception we have to change. Unless you live here, you can't get a feel for what economic value the locks have," Parks said. "He [Woodley] had an awesome awakening but that budget left the president's hands in February."

Audience participants then mulled the question of over who needed to be lobbied for more money in time to prevent cost saving measures from going into effect. The budget for the locks is made up of three units, navigation, recreation and environmental. The navigation component, primarily labor costs for employees who work along the lock wall, makes up nearly 80% of the $4.3 million budget. The Seattle District cannot redistribute funds from the other two units, which fund activities relating to the visitor center.

"Who is dad, and how do we get him to get you more money," said Ric Shrewsbury, Vice President of Western Tow Boat. Parks indicated that it was congressional leaders at this point, and not Army Corps leaders, who would influence enough to secure the locks' lost funds.

"Senator Murray did her part. The problem is with representation in the House," said Peter Phillips, president of the Seattle Marine Business Coalition.

Jim McDermott is the congressional representative for the 7th District, which includes the Ballard Locks. Asked later about what efforts were being made to restore locks funding, McDermott's Communications Director, Mike Decesare, said the Representative was working with other members of the House of Representatives to get funding for the locks restored, though he wasn't willing to divulge who those members were.

"We don't announce who we're working with. We're working behind the scenes," Decesare said.

Much of Tuesday night's open house discussion was consumed by a procedural presentation which boiled down to declaring that although the Core of Engineers has no plans to make rules changes yet, it could, at its own discretion, make operational changes at the locks that would go into effect immediately. For users this could mean a very short window of time - perhaps days - to find out about these changes. Parks, however, did give some assurances that she would try to avoid creating a situation where commercial and recreational locks users woke one morning to closed locks.

"As soon as I do something [to change operations at the locks] and the agency agrees, I'm calling people. I'm letting folks know," she said.