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Mid-Mississippi River: Blasting not needed, yet
Photo courtesy of the Army Corps of Engineers.
The Army Corps of Engineers moved in earlier this week to begin the process of removing the rock pinnacles on the Mississippi River.
Mike Petersen, Chief of Public Affairs for the St. Louis District Army Corps of Engineers says things are moving along well. “Because the river is so low they have been able to use heavy excavators [or really big back hoes] to reach down and scoop some of this rock out of the river and break up these pinnacles,” he says.
Petersen tells Brownfield because this method has been effective thus far – they have yet to use marine blasting to remove the rocks. “They’re going to keep using that method to get as much rock out as they can and then still use a couple of other means,” he says. “They have a tool that just came on site Monday called a hydro-hammer that will help break up some of these rocks and allow them to pull them out with the excavator. Failing that, they still do have the option to blast.”
While the low river levels have created a challenge in river navigation – he says it is allowing the Corps of Engineers to do a lot of work on the middle Mississippi to ensure there is a better channel going forward.
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