Great Lakes and Ohio River Division
The history of the United States Army Corps of Engineers can be traced to June 1775, when the continental Congress organized an army and appointed Colonel Richard Gridley as General George Washington’s first Chief Engineer. Army Engineers were instrumental in some of the major battles of the Revolutionary War. In 1794, Congress organized a Corps of Artillerists and Engineers; but it was not until 1802 that it reestablished a separate Corps of Engineers. In that same year, Congress established a military academy at West Point, New York, and the first superintendent, Jonathan Williams, was also the chief engineer of the Corps. From its inception, many politicians wanted the Corps to contribute to both military construction and works “of a civil nature.” Throughout the 19th century, the Corps supervised the construction of coastal fortifications and mapped much of the American West, constructed lighthouses, helped develop jetties and piers for harbors, and surveyed and mapped the channels of many rivers for navigation improvements. Congress passed the General Survey Act in 1824, appropriating $75,000 for the Corps of Engineers to remove snags and sandbars from the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. Thus, both military and civil works construction are deeply nestled in the Corps’ heritage.
With the organizational evolution of the Corps, district offices began forming in the 1870’s. Division offices were created by general orders in 1888. In 1901, the Central Division office, at Cincinnati, Ohio was established to manage the civil works program. In 1933, it was renamed the Ohio River Division, responsible for Corps civil works and defense missions in the basin. In 1997, the Corps began restructuring several of its divisions, which led to the combining of the Ohio River and North Central divisions to form the Great Lakes and Ohio River Division (LRD).
LRD consists of the Great Lakes’ watershed, which includes the U.S. portion of the St. Lawrence River and both the Chicago and Ohio River watersheds. It encompasses 355,300 square miles, all or portions of 17 states containing a population of more than 58 million people. Stretching from the Great Lakes down to Alabama, from the Mississippi River to Virginia’s Old Dominion, the Division and its seven districts carry out rich and diverse missions. Huntington, Louisville, Nashville and Pittsburgh districts work in the Ohio River’s watershed while Buffalo, Chicago and Detroit districts carry out missions along the Great Lakes. The Louisville District also carries out military missions supporting 20 Department of Defense organizations in its five-state area – Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky.
Along with its military missions, the Division has a strong navigation mission. Assigned the responsibility of keeping the Ohio River system navigable, the Division performs work along the Ohio River’s mainstem and its seven tributaries. The 2,582 miles of waterway carries 35 percent of the country’s waterborne commerce. Among the numerous navigation projects, Olmsted and McAlpine Locks and Dam are now under construction. Olmsted, a new project on the lower Ohio River will replace the last two historic wicket-style dams built in the early 1920's. Twin 110'x1200' chambers and a five tainter-gate dam with a navigation pass will be operating by 2008. McAlpine construction replaces the 110'x600' and 110'x360' auxiliary locks with a 110'x1200' lock and existing swing and draw bridges with a fixed bridge spanning the new existing 1200' locks. And in the northern area of the Division, the Great Lakes transport vital commodities to and from the Nation’s heartland, with the total annual commerce averaging 175 million tons.
Holding vast amounts of water for the Division’s flood damage reduction system are 79 multi-purpose reservoirs. Rain runoff is monitored by more than 1,000 gauges, of which 700 readings are taken and sent to the Division’s Reservoir Control Center via the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite. These readings help make predictions on how to operate projects throughout LRD. Flooding is also reduced by local flood protection projects, which use floodwalls, levees and channel modifications. There have been 95 of these projects built over the years.
Protecting American shorelines of the five Great Lakes is an additional mission assigned to the Division. Two projects highlight that effort. The Chicago District provides shoreline protection of 11 miles of publicly owned shoreline within the city of Chicago, and the Buffalo District’s Presque Isle Peninsula project at Erie, Pa., provides shoreline replenishment, which consists of a system of 55 offshore rubble mound breakwaters along the peninsula and placement of approximately one half million tons of sand. Though there is pressure to develop land near the Division’s many projects, LRD maintains its firm stance of environmental stewardship. Corps projects continue to provide valuable habitat for a large number of wildlife species, some of which are endangered or threatened. Cooperative partnerships have been developed with other Federal, state and local groups to manage these resources on a sustained basis. Each year the Division’s seven Districts process almost 14,000 permits for work affecting navigable waters (Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbor Act) and wetlands (Section 404 of the Clean Water Act.). With its regulatory authorities, the Division ensures the continued protection of navigation and natural and cultural resources. Corps projects also provide recreation yearly to roughly 100 million visitors who visit visitor centers, boat harbors and parks within the Division. These visitors spend more than $3 billion a year while engaged in recreational activities, and more than 90,000 jobs are generated from this activity.
Shifting to hydropower (another one of LRD’s missions), the Corps is able to turn the raw power of water into electricity. There are nine Corps of Engineers plants on the Cumberland River system with a capacity of over 900 megawatts, generating enough electricity for more than 160,000 homes. In a typical year, the Nashville District spends some $16 million for hydropower O & M, yet during that same period more than $30 million from hydropower revenues are deposited into the U.S. Treasury. There are also 15 privately developed plants at other Division projects that produce another 900 megawatts of power.
In 1997, the Corps of Engineers was given the task of cleaning up the radiological waste from old Manhattan Project sites, and LRD received the lion’s share of these sites. In fact, the Buffalo District has a great deal of work underway on FUSRAP (Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program) sites in the Buffalo area, near Niagara Falls and in Ohio. Shortly after it was assigned the mission, the Buffalo District called on experts in hazardous waste, contract management and public involvement from throughout the Division, and together they started a program, which has seen the removal of much of this dangerous waste.
The Division also has an Emergency Management Team in place to assist with any local, national and international emergencies. During the Sept. 11th Attack on America, 22 Division employees deployed from the Nashville District, along with other Corps members, to assist with the installing of monitoring instruments to detect any movement of adjacent buildings, help with debris removal and provide waterborne transportation at the World Trade Center. Arriving first on the scene at the Pentagon ready to provide assistance where needed, the Corps’ previous reinforcing of the Pentagon walls helped to prevent more extensive damage and loss of life. And as of April 12, 2003, a small group of US Army Corps of Engineers and other US military engineers were given the assignment of preventing a humanitarian crisis in Iraq. Brig. Gen. (P) Steven R. Hawkins, commander of LRD is currently in Iraq with the Corps of Engineers helping to restore Iraqi oil fields, support with the reconstruction efforts and provide prime power.
The Division aids much more than the 58 million people within its boundaries. Working hand-in-hand with the Canadian government and international shipping, the Division serves as a representative on the International Joint Commission on the Great Lakes. In fact Brig. Gen. (P) Hawkins is an active member of the Commission.
The Great Lakes and Ohio River Division also serves the Army, the defense and stability of the Nation and national and international commerce. It’s a vibrant Division, committed to all of its customers.