♦ The Article : taken from baxterbulletin.com
A new policy passed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will require marinas in Southern Missouri and most of Arkansas to replace polystyrene foam underneath docks with a more environmentally friendly material.
The new rule surprised local marina owners, who say they were not notified a change was being considered.
Local marina owners say their businesses, and other related businesses such as boat dealers, will be drastically affected by the rule.
“It will either put me out of business or I’ll have to triple the stall rental over five years,” said Ricky Eastwold, who owns Bull Shoals Lake Boat Dock with his family. He received a letter dated Aug. 8 from the Corps notifying him of the change, he said.
A preliminary estimate for replacing the foam for the 800-stall marina is between $1.5 million and $2 million, Eastwold said. He said about 80 percent of the boat dock’s renters are on a fixed income, indicating they may not be able to afford a higher stall rental.
“The Corps’ decision is final,” he said. “It’s their land and their lease.”
Other marina owners also are calculating the cost for replacing the foam.
Kathy Grace, co-owner of Cranfield Boat Dock, said she received an estimate for her 350-stall boat dock in March at a cost of more than $600,000.
“If we double stall rent, it might pay it off, but there will be no profit and we’ll lose one-fourth of stall rents,” Grace said, who has owned Cranfield Boat Dock with her husband, Bob, for nearly 40 years. “We do not know what to do.”
As far as the aesthetic concern, Grace said Norfork Lake is beautiful and clean.
The Corps added commercial boat docks into a policy that went into effect in 1993, requiring private docks to replace the foam when it wore out, said U.S. Corps of Engineers spokesman P.J. Spaul.
Former Little Rock District engineer Col. Wally Walters updated the policy this summer to decrease pollutants in the district, increase safety and improve aesthetics, Spaul said. In June, Walters was reassigned to the Pentagon and Col. Donald “Ed” Jackson Jr. took his place.
The Little Rock District includes southern Missouri and most of Arkansas. Northern Arkansas and Southern Missouri lakes in the district include Bull Shoals Lake, Norfork Lake, Beaver Lake, Table Rock Lake and Clearwater Lake.
The policy will require marina owners in the district to replace the white polystyrene foam with encapsulated dock floats, which is plastic-coated polystyrene foam. New boat docks are required to have encapsulated foam, he said.
Corps officials say a time frame has not been set and marinas will gradually replace the existing material as it wears out. Spaul indicated that probably will be at least 10 years or for the duration of the marina’s Corps lease.
Encapsulated foam is more resistant to fragmenting and is resistant to gasoline, Spaul said, adding the product also is more expensive. Spaul said loose beads and chunks of foam break off from non-encapsulated foam, float toward the shore and are not biodegradable. He also said when fuel comes into contact with the foam, it becomes toxic.
The Corps plans to conduct a meeting Thursday with area marina owners only to discuss how to implement the changes, he said.
Area boat docks and marinas also are passing out fliers urging people to contact their U.S. senators and representatives to share their opinions on the policy.
♦ The Arguement:
I guess this should be part 2 to Why The Government Can Tell You What To Do. I’m not a big boat guy, I don’t even do a lot of fishing, but I can see where the gripes are coming from. Basically, without any sort of representation or notice, the US Army Corps of Engineers Col. Wally Walters required that all marinas replace their standard styrofoam (polystyrene) floatation device-thingies with plastic-covered styrofoam (polystyrene) floatation device-thingies. Why? To prevent the chunks that inevitably get removed from floating around in the lake, or from mixing with gasoline to create a ‘toxic’ substance. (I think gas+styrofoam=napalm, but I’m not a chemist and I’m not a terrorist, so don’t quote me on that.)
Sure, this is a good idea. This process will make the lake shores a bit (some would say unnoticablely) cleaner, and might in the long run protect the ecology of the lakes. But at what cost to the people themselves, having to outfit new floatation if not new dock structures entirely? Walters signed this updated requirement in June, and is working in the Pentagon right now. Lucky for him because the man who took his place, Col. Ed Jackson Jr., is going to be dealing with the backlash of hundreds of businesses being stuck with heavy losses to impliment this until-now unheard of plan. Where are the studies that show this sort of thing is required, for the Corps to require it of people? What could be forced on the public next for the sake of ‘ecological purity and beautification’? Because while this might seem like it only affects the owners of the docks and marinas themselves, the public of Baxter County will very likely suffer.
Picture, if you will, a marina housing 350 boats from both local and vacationing owners. This marina has been in the community for quite some time, and has offered a relatively low cost for its boat housing services, inviting both citizen and visitor alike to keep their boat (and their business) in the area. All of a sudden and without any provocation, the marina has to update their foam at a cost of five hundred-thousand dollars. In order to keep their business afloat, the marina raises the cost of rent significantly, and the people who have housed their boats (and their business) within the area withdraw for greener (and less plastic) pastures.
I don’t have much more time to explain it, it just seems like a bad call without further explanation, research, and time to comply. Think about it.
Baxter In Review 