COUNTY-STATE: Green River, Kentucky. | APPLICANT: Big Rivers Electric Corporation | PROJECT PURPOSE: To update a historical Department of the Army (DA) permit authorization and to provide additional barge fleeting, and bank stabilization to facilitate the handling and shipment of FGD Gypsum and flyash, marketable by-products produced from the power generation process at D.B. Wilson Station.
DESCRIPTION OF WORK: The applicant operates a loading and unloading facility along 2,950 feet of The Green River. The original permit and periodic modifications and maintenance authorizations date back to 1980. Previous authorizations at the facility included the construction of 12 mooring cells for the staging 15 or less barges, a water intake structure, a barge unloading cell, a discharge pipe, and selective riprap stabilization. The new authorization will include the construction of a gypsum load-out conveyor on the right descending bank of The Green River at mile marker 74.4. Two work barges would be affixed to the two most upstream existing mooring cells and require the construction of an additional quad mooring dolphin 195’ upstream of the last existing mooring cell. Two work barges would be affixed to the cells and an articulating conveyor will rest on one work barge for gypsum loading. Additionally, on the right descending bank of The Green River at mile marker 74.4 there will be two tripod dolphins installed for a work barge to be moored. An elevated man way with an articulating access ramp will provide access to the barge and serve to support piping for a pneumatic fly ash loading facility with an ARS DC20 dust collector. On the Right descending bank of The Green River at mile marker 74.4-74.0 there will be dredging to conduct bank stabilization to facilitate the proposed 12 barge fleeting facility which will consist of 4 new mooring dolphins capable of fleeting 12 barges in a 4 x 3 configuration with a maximum height elevation of 130’ Ohio River Datum (ORD) from normal pool. The dredging in this area would require the removal of 10,000 cubic yards of sediment down to approximately to 353 mean sea level (msl) to create a 2:1 slope for the placement of 3,000 cubic yards of riprap along a total of 1,355 LF of the right descending bank. The dredged material would be transported to an upland location at the facility at a flyash disposal area.