Letter From Township Supervisor

Open Letter to Residents of Harsens Island

Harsens Island Residents,

I have had the opportunity today to speak with Lt. Cmndr Matt Merriman with the United States Coast Guard and the following is a synopsis of the conversation as best as I can put it with my blood pressure as high as it is. I asked the Lt Cmndr what the rational of the CG is with reference to the icebreaking that is taking place in the North Channel. He responded that the reason is because they have spent hundreds of hours in the South Channel and have not been able to get the ice to move and that the “ice wants to flow out the North Channel”. I informed the Cmndr that I had the opportunity via airboat to personally look at the conditions at the mouth of the North and Middle Channels today and that all they are doing is packing the ice into the channels at these points. He also informed me that the large majority of water flow in the river exits via the North Channel so naturally this is the course in which the ice would flow. I disagreed and explained our position logically as to the ice going out the South Channel and Shipping Channel. I then asked him if the CG had all of a sudden realized this detail (water flow) this year because there has never been a systematic history of icebreaking in the North Channel or evacuation of ice due to the fact that it is not a commercial vessel corridor and that the points of egress for the water is to shallow to allow for their cutters to work. I asked him why all of a sudden, after all of these years, the dynamic of the ice flow has changed. He informed me that the ice conditions vary from year to year and that this year the ice is like nothing they have ever seen. I made him aware of the geographical limitations of the mouths of the North and Middle Channels and he assured me that the ice will flow out them. With the following response I realized it was not based on any science that they were doing what they were doing. He assured me that the commander of the fleet is a 20 year veteran of ice breaking in the river and had quote, “never seen anything like this”. Again I emphasized that just previously to our phone conversation I had personally looked at those conditions and that the theory that the ice flowing out the two channels as opposed to the South Channel was absurd and that I could not disagree with them more. I made them aware of the fact that every time they travel the North Channel they suspend ferry operations for as much as 3 days and it creates a tremendous inconvenience for all parties involved. Not to mention the damage they do to docks along the river. He then informed me that there is an 8 mile ice dam between Marysville and St Clair and that they don’t want it to all break lose at once because it will cause a “plugging” of the river resulting in untold flooding. I again asked what was different about this year and he stated that it just was different conditions. We bantered back and forth a bit and eventually understood that we disagreed with each other and that there was not any means in words to convince him other wise.

I asked what their plans were. There will not be any ice breaking activity in the North Channel until Monday morning he assured me. I told him we were not happy with their decisions to continue and that we do not accept there logic. He said that he would discuss this further with the command staff and that he would get back to me tomorrow with further detail on their plan.This is just a brief over view of the discussion I had, touching on the highlights. They know that we are extremely angry and that we intend to continue the fight.

One more item of business, if they damage your dock or seawall make a claim with them, this is what he directed me to do. I will stay on this, but please continue all of your calls to the Coast Guard and Candice Millers office.

Sincerely,
Jay M DeBoyerClay
Township Supervisor

(This letter was entered as a comment by Steve and re-entered by us as a post. Thank you, Steve.)

Tags: Harsens Island, Harsen's Island Michigan,