Pilot Dies in a Piper PA-32R-300 Cherokee Lance Plane Crash in Emmet County, Michigan

Posted: Aug 10, 2015 9:17 AM EST Updated: Aug 10, 2015 6:00 PM EST

By Blayke Roznowski, Reporter

 An overnight small plane crash killed a Michigan Department of Natural Resources Officer.

"There have been some small plane crashes at the airport before," Sheriff Pete Wallin said. "We've had them before, but unfortunately this took the life of an individual."








The crash wasn't discovered until early this morning, when an employee at a local business showed up to work and spotted the wreckage.




Michigan DNR Lt. Arthur Green III was pronounced dead at the scene.



Police believe the Piper Cherokee crashed last night after 11 p.m. at Emmet Brick and Block while trying to land at the nearby Harbor Springs Airport in Emmet County.




9&10's Blayke Roznowski and photojournalist Erin Malone have the latest on this crash, and the loss to the DNR.




A worker at Emmet Brick and Block found the plane crash this morning, but the sheriff says, they believe the crash happened sometime last night.




"From information that we have right now, he did have contact with an individual approximately 11:10," Sheriff Wallin said, "so we believe it happened a short time after that, but wasn't discovered until this morning."




The only person on the plane, Lt. Arthur Green III was pronounced dead at the scene.




"He was a First Lieutenant of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Law Enforcement Division," Sheriff Wallin said, "and it's a sad day when we lose one of our own and our thoughts and prayers, right now, go out to the family."




The DNR mourns the loss of Lt. Green. They say he was an upstanding professional.




"He really was a consummate professional, a very dedicated public servant who cared deeply about the natural resources of the state," Michigan DNR Public Information Officer Ed Golder said. "Just all around a good guy, no nonsense law enforcement man."




They say Lt. Green played an instrumental role in the department and will be greatly missed.




"The law enforcement community is a very close-knit community and this certainly affects all of our law enforcement personnel," Golder said, "and we're certainly going to miss him."




The sheriff says the investigation is ongoing. We'll keep you updated on air and on the web as more details come in.

Date:	09-AUG-2015
Time:	23:00+
Type:	Piper PA-32R-300 Cherokee Lance
Owner/operator:	Tuskegee Airman National Historical Museum
Registration:	N43829
C/n / msn:	32R-7780527
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Other fatalities:	0
Airplane damage:	Substantial
Location:	Near Harbor Springs Airport (KMGN), Harbor Springs, MI -   United States of America
Phase:	Approach
Nature:	Unknown
Departure airport:
Destination airport:	Harbor Springs (KMGN)

Narrative:
The aircraft impacted trees and corporate yard terrain east of Harbor Springs Airport (KMGN), Harbor Springs, Michigan. The airplane sustained substantial damage and the sole pilot onboard received fatal injuries.
Sources: 
http://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=178484
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2015/08/10/authorities-pilot-dies-small-plane-crash-mich/31406073/
http://www.9and10news.com/story/29748776/deadly-plane-crash-in-emmet-county
http://photos.mlive.com/grandrapidspress/2015/08/harbor_springs_plane_crash.html
http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Results.aspx?NNumbertxt=43829

http://www.airport-data.com/aircraft/photo/000967064.html

1 dead, 1 injured in small Erickson-built RAF 2000 GT gyrocopter crash near Dakota City, Iowa

 

UPDATED 4:31 PM CDT Aug 10, 2015

DAKOTA CITY, Iowa —

Humboldt County authorities said a small, experimental gyrocopter crashed in a rural area Sunday night, killing the pilot and injuring a passenger. 







The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office said the gyrocopter crashed around 7 p.m. in the front yard of a home at 2045 K Road, about 1.5 miles north of Dakota City.

Rescue crews found two men in the wreckage. A passenger, Mike Chapman, 65, of Humboldt, was taken by air ambulance to a hospital in Des Moines. 

His condition has not been released. The pilot, Larry Erickson, 58, also of Humboldt, was transported to a hospital in Humboldt where he was later pronounced dead.

The sheriff’s office said it appears the gyrocopter suddenly lost altitude and struck a tree before coming to rest in the yard. 

A gyrocopter is an experimental aircraft that resembles a helicopter.

The National Traffic Safety Bureau is investigating the crash with the Federal Aviation Administration.

Date:	09-AUG-2015
Time:	Night
Type:	RAF 2000 GT
Owner/operator:	Private
Registration:	N315LK
C/n / msn:	6456
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 2
Other fatalities:	0
Airplane damage:	Unknown
Location:	Humbolt County, NE of Humbolt, IA -   United States of America
Phase:	Unknown
Nature:	Unknown
Departure airport:
Destination airport:

Narrative:
The aircraft, an experimental Erickson built RAF 2000 GT, impacted a tree and open field terrain in Humbolt County northeast of Humbolt, Iowa. The gyrocopter sustained unreported damage and the pilot received fatal injuries. The passenger onboard the aircraft was seriously injured.
Sources: 
http://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=178507
http://m.kcci.com/news/1-dead-1-injured-in-small-helicopter-crash/34633550
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2015/08/10/gyrocopter-pilot-fatality-humboldt-county-iowa/31421895/?from=global&sessionKey=&autologin=
http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Results.aspx?NNumbertxt=315LK

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotary_Air_Force_RAF_2000

PIPER PLANES CONTINUE TO CRASH AND TAKE LIVES: Pilot killed after a Piper PA-28R-200 Arrow II plane crashed near Marathon Key

AUGUST 10, 2015

FLORIDA KEYS, FL

A Jupiter man and former Riviera Beach Fire Rescue division chief died early Monday when his plane crashed in the Florida Keys.

Flags in the department flew at half-staff for Edward “Russ” Elgin, whose body was found in the debris of the plane crash, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office said.

 

The wreck happened just after midnight on the Gulf of Mexico side of Marathon Key, said Becky Herrin, sheriff’s spokeswoman.

A man called 911, saying he heard the crash shortly after midnight and got in his boat to find out what happened. He told deputies he found debris about a mile offshore. He then found the body of 53-year-old Edward Elgin. 

The caller to the sheriff’s office said he found debris from the crash about a mile offshore.

Elgin 53, was the only occupant of the 1973 single-engine Piper plane, the sheriff’s office said.

Recently retired after 33 years with Riviera Beach Fire Rescue, Elgin rose from the rank of firefighter to driver engineer, captain and, most recently, battalion chief, spokesman DaWayne Watson said.

He worked on the cleanups following Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne in 2004. Besides flying and scuba diving, Elgin was active in sky diving, Watson said.
“He was a very kind-hearted person,” Watson said. “If you needed help, you would be able to talk to him and he would give you advice.”

Plans for a memorial service were still being completed late Monday.

Date:	10-AUG-2015
Time:	00:10
Type:	Piper PA-28R-200 Arrow II
Owner/operator:	Palm Beach Flight Training
Registration:	N54380
C/n / msn:	28R-7435092
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Other fatalities:	0
Airplane damage:	Substantial
Location:	Florida Keys, Gulf of Mexico near Marathon, FL -   United States of America
Phase:	Unknown
Nature:	Private
Departure airport:
Destination airport:

Narrative:
The aircraft impacted the waters of the Gulf of Mexico near Marathon in the Florida Keys. The airplane broke apart and submerged, having sustained substantial damage. The retrieved sole pilot of the aircraft received fatal injuries.
Sources: 
http://www.local10.com/news/man-killed-in-plane-crash-off-the-florida-keys/34629154
http://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=178481 http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/transportation/report-jupiter-man-killed-in-plane-crash-near-flor/nnGg9/
http://www.asias.faa.gov/pls/apex/f?p=100:96:::::P96_ENTRY_DATE,P96_FATAL_FLG,P96_MAKE_NAME:10-AUG-15
http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Results.aspx?NNumbertxt=N54380
http://pbflight.weebly.com/aircraft.html

Coast Guard offloads over $1 billon of cocaine seized from criminal Hispanics

Coast Guard Cutter Stratton crew offloads 34 metric tons of cocaine in San Diego on Monday, Aug. 10, 2015.. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Joel Guzman)

August 10th, 2015

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA

The U.S. Coast Guard announced record drug seizure rates in San Diego Monday as the crew of the Cutter Stratton offloaded more than 66,000 pounds of cocaine worth $1.01 billion wholesale seized in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.

The Commandant of the Coast Guard, Adm. Paul Zukunft, announced that Coast Guard and partner agencies have seized more cocaine in the Eastern Pacific Ocean in the last 10 months than in fiscal years 2012 through 2014 combined. 

U.S. and allied forces operating in the Eastern Pacific Ocean near Central and South America have seized more than 119,000 pounds of cocaine worth more than $1.8 billion and apprehended more than 215 suspected smugglers. Fiscal year 2015, which runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30, is already the most successful year in U.S. counter drug operations in the Eastern Pacific since 2009.

“This is about more than just trying to keep drugs off U.S. streets,” said Zukunft. “The cultivation, trafficking and distribution of narcotics fuels violence and instability throughout the Western Hemisphere, leaving a path of destruction directly to the door step of the U.S. We must continue to make progress in our effort to combat transnational organized crime networks to ensure safety and security in our hemisphere.” 

Transnational organized crime groups are vying for control of illicit trafficking routes and power in numerous Latin American countries, resulting in increased violence and instability. This has led to record high homicide rates in Central and South America, as well as the Caribbean; 8 of the 10 countries with the highest homicide rates in the world are in this region. 

More than half of the unaccompanied children that crossed the U.S. southern border last year suffered or faced harm from organized crime groups, qualifying for international protection. “There is still work to be done. We can only act on 30 percent of known drug shipments in the Eastern Pacific and Caribbean,” Zukunft said. “We must increase already hard earned momentum to curb the rising tide of crime, violence and instability in our hemisphere.”

The more than 66,000 pounds of cocaine is equal to about 33 million lines of cocaine or 336 million hits of crack, according to DEA estimates. Illicit drugs remain a serious threat to the health, safety, security and financial well-being of Americans, costing the U.S. $193 billion annually.

This was the largest known cocaine offload in Coast Guard history with an estimated street value of more than of $1.01 billion. The drugs were seized in 23 separate interdictions by U.S. Coast Guard cutters and Coast Guard law enforcement teams operating from U.S. Navy vessels in known drug transit zones near Central and South America. As part of the offload, Coast Guardsmen will turn over 21,000 pounds of cocaine seized by the crew of Stratton during the interdiction of two different self-propelled semi-submersibles. Stratton’s July 18 SPSS interdiction is considered the largest in Coast Guard history. Read More.

Numerous U.S. agencies from the Departments of Defense, Justice and Homeland Security are involved in the effort to combat transnational organized crime including the Coast Guard, U.S. Navy, Customs and Border Protection, FBI, DEA, ICE, U.S. Attorney’s Offices in California, New York, Florida and Puerto Rico, and U.S. intelligence agencies. Allied and international partner agencies play an important role in counter drug operations. 

The fight against transnational organized crime networks in the Eastern Pacific requires unity of effort in all phases from intelligence to detection and monitoring to interdiction and to prosecution. During at-sea interdictions in international waters, a suspect vessel is initially located and tracked by allied military or law enforcement aircraft or vessels. 

The actual interdictions, including the boarding, search, seizures and arrests, are led and conducted by U.S. Coast Guardsmen. The Coast Guard has increased U.S. and allied presence in the Eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Basin, which are known drug transit zones off of Central and South America, as part of its Western Hemisphere Strategy.

The Coast Guard Cutter Stratton is a 418-foot national security cutter on a 116-day deployment. Cutters like Stratton routinely conduct operations from South America to the Arctic where their unmatched combination of range, speed, and ability to operate in extreme weather provides the mission flexibility necessary to conduct counter-narcotics, homeland security, and alien migrant interdiction operations, domestic fisheries protection, search and rescue, and other Coast Guard missions at great distances from shore keeping threats far from the U.S. mainland.

Designated-Driver Service Gets SEALs Home Safely for Free

The Virginian-Pilot | Aug 10, 2015 | by Mike Hixenbaugh

 

VIRGINIA BEACH -- Call it a contingency plan: If a Navy SEAL ever finds himself out on the town in Virginia Beach and unable to safely drive home, he can get a free lift with MetroScoot, a local designated-driver service.

The arrangement started six years ago as a taxpayer-funded program for members of the most elite SEAL unit, Naval Special Warfare Development Group, or DEVGRU. But after commanders noticed a drop in drunken driving incidents among operators and support personnel at the unit -- known more commonly as SEAL Team 6 -- they worked with the Navy SEAL Foundation to expand the free-ride service to every SEAL team on the East Coast.
The Navy spent about $120,000 on MetroScoot rides for sailors at DEVGRU before the foundation stepped in. The program is now paid for by the Virginia Beach-based charity, which "provides immediate and ongoing support and assistance to the Naval Special Warfare Community and its families," according to its website.
A Navy spokesman confirmed the initiative's existence last week after fielding questions from The Virginian-Pilot. Soon after, the SEAL Foundation added information about the "MetroScoot Safe Ride program" to its website.
Other than the fact that it's never been publicized before now, the program is not unlike other efforts over the years aimed at combating drunken driving among the ranks, though most command designated-driver initiatives rely on volunteers or require sailors to chip in to pay for rides home. The overarching goal of such initiatives is to help service members "make good choices and prevent career-ending or life-threatening situations," said Cmdr. Chris Servello, a spokesman for the chief of naval personnel.

The Navy got rid of one of its more generous designated-driver initiatives a couple of years ago. Beginning in 2008, sailors stationed near San Diego -- including SEALs based in Coronado -- were issued "Arrive Alive" cards, good for free taxi rides home from the bar. But after a spike in usage and cost to taxpayers, there was no change in the rate of drunken driving incidents among sailors, according to a 2013 memo announcing the cancelation.

Here, the MetroScoot program has been credited with helping reduce drunken driving incidents by 60 percent since its implementation at DEVGRU. The command of about 1,300 sailors averages three drunken driving incidents per year, down from five a few years ago, said Lt. Cmdr.Mark Walton, a spokesman for Naval Special Warfare Command in San Diego.

"The program enables personnel to act responsibly in the event they find themselves without a safe ride home," Walton said.

Related Video:


Here's how it works: If a SEAL is unable to drive himself home, he can call MetroScoot and show a command-issued card. Either a driver will show up on a scooter, throw the motorbike in the SEAL's trunk and drive him home, or more likely, two MetroScoot drivers will arrive in a car, and one of them will drive the SEAL's vehicle while the other driver follows.
Getting the client's car home is key and part of the reason the service helps reduce drunken driving, said Brian Wells, the 33-year-old general manager of MetroScoot. One of the company's slogans is "One less headache in the morning."

"The trouble of leaving a car behind is one of the major reasons people decide to drive after drinking," said Wells, explaining the advantage he offers over taxis or ride-sharing services. "Often the ultimate deciding factor before someone makes a decision to get behind the wheel after drinking is, 'I need my car in the morning.' "

The service is available to anyone in Virginia Beach. For those without a prepaid card, it costs $10 per pickup and then $4 a mile.

The Pilot learned of the free rides for SEALs from an anonymous source who complained that it encouraged unhealthy behavior. Walton said there's no evidence that offering sailors a ride home leads them to drink more.

Retired SEAL Dave Cooper, a former command master chief at DEVGRU, said he heard from a few critics after he helped implement the MetroScoot program, including a lawyer at Naval Special Warfare Command.

"He maintained that we were 'enabling' drinking," Cooper wrote in an email. "My comeback to him was simple: If you can prove to me that without this program, young single men will stay home on a Friday and Saturday night, then I might agree with you. But the fact is, they'll go out to the bars, and while they might have good intentions of not drinking and driving, with the first sip of alcohol, reason goes out the window."

The command-issued card is intended as a backup plan, Cooper said. That way, if a guy's designated driver bails on him, there should be no hesitation to call for a ride.

Although he believes the number of alcohol-related offenses is lower at DEVGRU than at other Navy commands, Cooper said losing even one operator because of a DUI represents a significant waste of money and talent. The Navy estimates it spends as much as a half-million dollars to train one SEAL, and perhaps twice that for the few who make it to DEVGRU.

Protecting that investment is a wise use of money, Cooper said: "My motto, borrowed from a friend, was always one of spending tax dollars as if they were my own, and always remembering that they weren't."

Now that the program is paid for through charitable donations, it's a no-brainer, Cooper said.

Navy SEAL Foundation CEO Robin King declined to comment, deferring all questions to the Navy. She did not reply to an email asking how much the charity has spent on the rides.

Wells didn't wish to specifically discuss his company's arrangement with the SEAL commands.

"We hold all of our clients' confidentiality in high regards," he said.
And another point: "Our clients aren't usually puking or passing out on the street. That's a misconception. Most of the people we pick up have had a few drinks and don't want to risk driving home. It doesn't take much to blow a .08," he said, referring to the legal blood-alcohol concentration limit to drive in Virginia.

He emphasized that he conducts thorough background checks and random drug tests on his drivers.

More people should consider their options before getting behind the wheel, Wells said.

"I'd like to think we've saved at least one life among the tens of thousands of people we've gotten home over the years."

© Copyright 2015 The Virginian-Pilot. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

THE RIGHT DECISION: Navy: No Charges Against Officer for Weapons Violations in Attack

Lt. Cmdr. Tim White (U.S. Navy)

 

Stars and Stripes | Aug 06, 2015 | by By Tara Copp

 

WASHINGTON, DC

Lt. Cmdr. Tim White, the Navy officer who fired a sidearm in defense during the attack on Navy Operational Support Center in Chattanooga, Tenn., will not face charges, an official familiar with the investigation told Stars and Stripes on Wednesday.

White was reported to be one of two service members carrying sidearms at the time of the attack, which could have led to charges. The Department of Defense prohibits all military personnel other than security forces from carrying arms while on base unless they are in a combat zone.

The Navy is still investigating the shooting, where a lone gunman attacked two separate military facilities. The shootings resulted in the deaths of four Marines and one sailor.

Last week, the Navy countered reports that White would be charged, which spurred a national backlash. “At this time we can confirm no service member has been charged with an offense,” the Navy said in a statement.

It also faced a backlash over why troops at “soft” military targets such as recruiting centers — which are often in easy-to-reach places like shopping malls — were not allowed to carry weapons, and Secretary of Defense Ash Carter directed a review to determine how security at these types of facilities could be improved.

1 missing, 1 injured in Eagle Mountain Lake in Texas after a boat hit a wave, went airborne and broke apart when it hit the water

(Photo: WFAA)

WFAA Staff

 

August 10, 2015

 

One person is missing after a boat accident at Eagle Mountain Lake, according to Texas Game Warden Cliff Swofford.

Witnesses told Swofford a boat was traveling really fact, it hit a wave, went airborne and broke apart when it hit the water. Swofford said the call came in at about 7:30 p.m. Sunday near the Lakeview Marina on the northern half of the lake. The lake is a short distance northwest of downtown Fort Worth.

One person was injured in the accident and flown to a Fort Worth hospital. No condition was provided for that individual.

Crews searched the waters for the missing person Sunday night. The search was suspended overnight, to be continued in the daylight Monday morning. Officials did not provide a location for the search Sunday night.

Sonar equipment detected the boat at the bottom of the lake, Swofford said.
This story will be updated as we receive more information.

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/community/fort-worth/article30596016.html#storylink=cpy

Hijacked Singapore-Registered Tanker MT Joaquim Found with its cargo of 3,500 ton of marine gas oil missing

image source: YouTube 

 

By MarEx 2015-08-09 16:18:14 

A tanker hijacked on Sunday has been found approximately 13 nautical miles off Tanjung Keling, Malaysia.

The crew of the 1,796gt Singapore-registered MT Joaquim are accounted for, says the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA).

According to the vessel's ship management company, RTBS Consultants, there were nine crew members onboard at the time of the incident, one Singaporean and eight Indonesians. Two injured crew members, one of them the master, were airlifted to Alor Gajah Hospital in Malacca, Malaysia, for treatment. The men had been hit with blunt objects by the pirates.

MPA is working with the Malaysian authorities to ensure the safety of the other crew members and the vessel. Meanwhile, the vessel's ship management company is making arrangements to bring the tanker back to Singapore.

The vessel was hijacked at approximately 29 nautical miles north of Pulau Rupat in the Strait of Malacca. At the time of the incident, the vessel was on its way to Pulau Langkawi, Malaysia, from Tanjung Pinang, Indonesia.
The cargo of 3,500 ton of marine gas oil on board the tanker is reported missing.

Grounding and flooding of the ro-ro ferry Commodore Clipper in July 2014, caused by passage planning problems and ineffective use of ECDIS as contributing factors.

Grounding Report: ECDIS Alarm Disabled

Hole in ballast tank of Commodore Clipper, courtesy MAIB. 

 

By MarEx 2015-08-09 17:00:10 

The U.K. Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) has released its investigation into the grounding and flooding of the ro-ro ferry Commodore Clipper in July 2014, citing passage planning problems and ineffective use of ECDIS as contributing factors.

The Bahamas registered ro-ro passenger ferry Commodore Clipper grounded on a charted, rocky shoal in the approaches to St Peter Port, Guernsey.

No-one was injured, there was no pollution, but there was significant raking damage including breaches of the hull resulting in flooding of double-bottom void spaces.

The grounding caused a noisy, shuddering vibration that reverberated throughout the ship, but the crew did not check for damage, no external report was made and no safety announcements were made to the passengers. 

Once alongside in St Peter Port, cargo discharge, reloading and a lifeboat drill went ahead as planned. However, a pre-planned divers’ inspection of the hull soon discovered damage and the vessel was withdrawn from service.

The investigation found that there had been insufficient passage planning for the voyage. For the transit through the Little Russel, the extremely low tide and effect of squat were not properly considered. This resulted in the bridge team being unaware of the limits of safe water available and thus, despite their good positional awareness, they headed into danger without appreciation of the risk. 

Several course alterations intended to regain track were ineffective due to the tidal stream setting the vessel off course. Additionally, the absence of any alarm, steering and propulsion responding normally, and the master’s conviction that there had been sufficient depth of water, led to a collective denial of the possibility that the vessel might have grounded.

The company’s approved route was not followed, and the vessel’s electronic chart display and information system was not used effectively because key safety features were either disabled or ignored. 

Had all the factors affecting under keel clearance been accurately assessed, it would have been apparent that it was potentially unsafe to pass over any charted depth less than 7.5m in the Little Russel, the report states.

The highly repetitive nature of Commodore Clipper’s schedule induced a degree of planning complacency. Although the primary method of navigating in the Little Russel was visual, ECDIS was not used effectively as a navigation aid. In particular, the safety contour value was inappropriate, the cross track error alarm was ignored and the audible alarm was disabled. The layout of the central bridge console prevented the chief officer from using the ECDIS display to support the master during pilotage. 

Additionally, the significant navigational risk routinely being taken by the crew of Commodore Clipper and the ECDIS non-conformity went undetected by audits and inspections.
The report is available here.

Big Bozo The Clown Christie's Legacy: Taxpayers have been forced to spent nearly $1.2 billion on the as-yet-fruitless effort to expand rail access across the Hudson,

Politically, criticism of Christie’s decision on ARC never entirely died down, and it came roaring back to life during hearings held in May over NJ Transit’s decision to hike fares 9 percent to close a $56 million budget gap.

 

August 8, 2015, 11:45 PM    Last updated: Sunday, August 9, 2015, 9:34 AM

By CHRISTOPHER MAAG

staff writer | 

The Record

record file photo

The entrance to the ARC tunnel under Tonnelle Avenue in North Bergen as it looked in October 2010 when Governor Christie canceled the project for fear of cost overruns. The opening has since been closed off.

Taxpayers have spent nearly $1.2 billion on the as-yet-fruitless effort to expand rail access across the Hudson, according to new information obtained from the Port Authority, NJ Transit and other government agencies.

The new total includes nearly $1 billion spent before Oct. 27, 2010, the day the Access to the Region’s Core tunnel was canceled by Governor Christie, a project that would have doubled train service between New Jersey and New York after it was to open in 2018.

ASSOCIATED PRESS file photo 

 

An NJ Transit train crossing the Hackensack River on the 105-year-old Portal Bridge in Secaucus. Design plans for a new bridge that were part of the ARC project could still be useful. 

 

The money came from New Jersey taxpayers; users of the Port Authority’s toll roads, bridges, tunnels and airports; and from the federal government.
“That’s a shocking number,” said Michael Phelan, a Leonia resident and co-founder of the New Jersey Commuters Action Network. “It is a shocking example of waste and bureaucracy. After 20 years, there’s not even a hole in the ground to show for it.”

Of the total spent, hundreds of millions of dollars were lost forever, spent on lawyers, environmental studies and other costs that will never be recovered.
Taxpayers did receive some things for their money that they can use today, including a fleet of new NJ Transit trains. Their money also purchased things that may become useful in the future, including property rights, but that potential hangs on the fate of Amtrak’s unfunded plan to build its own tunnel under the Hudson.

The bottom line is this: No tunnel has been built, and no construction project exists to build one. Those facts were brought into stark relief over the past several weeks as a series of breakdowns and electrical failures near New York Penn Station repeatedly crippled train service in New Jersey at the height of rush hour. And the problems aren’t over. This weekend Amtrak planned to close one of two tracks between Newark and Secaucus Junction for emergency repairs, resulting in train cancellations on the Northeast Corridor and delays along the majority of NJ Transit’s rail network.

Experts say failures of this sort are likely to continue — and worsen — until new tunnels are built. The existing tunnels are 105 years old, and are deteriorating rapidly due to flooding from Superstorm Sandy, Amtrak has said.


The widespread delays also refocused attention on the decision by Christie — who is in the midst of a bid for the Republican presidential nomination — to cancel the ARC tunnel. At the time, Christie said he was concerned that any cost overruns on the project would fall exclusively on the backs of New Jersey taxpayers, and that the tunnel would end at a station in Manhattan disconnected from Penn Station and New York’s subway system.

Christie’s comments at the time made clear that ARC would never be resuscitated, even with a different financing plan.


“This decision is final,” he said. “I am done. We are moving on.”

That decision led to political, financial and legal ripples that continue today.
Financially, it resulted in New Jersey forfeiting $3.3 billion in federal support for the ARC tunnel, money that flowed instead to transit projects in California and other states. Under the leadership of Christie appointees, the Port Authority redirected another $3 billion from ARC to road projects in New Jersey, including $1.8 billion to rebuild the Pulaski Skyway. 

That move is under investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and the federal Securities and Exchange Commission. Both are probing whether bondholders were misled when told the New Jersey road projects would benefit the Lincoln Tunnel. The roads in question, including the Pulaski Skyway, are miles from the tunnel.

Lingering criticism

Politically, criticism of Christie’s decision on ARC never entirely died down, and it came roaring back to life during hearings held in May over NJ Transit’s decision to hike fares 9 percent to close a $56 million budget gap. Critics said the move penalized train commuters with higher fares and less service. They also said it will hurt drivers, as some train riders abandon NJ Transit’s fares and delays and start driving to work instead.

Many people at the hearings blamed Christie for the fare hike. The governor’s budgets have reduced general fund subsidies to NJ Transit from $309.4 million in 2012 to $33 million in fiscal 2016. Christie has tapped other sources to keep NJ Transit afloat, including $295 million from the Turnpike Authority and $62 million from the Clean Air Fund.

“The buck literally stops with the Christie administration and its blatant disregard of the transportation funding crisis,” said Janna Chernetz, New Jersey policy analyst for the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, a non-profit group that promotes transit-oriented growth.

The canceled project also returned to the spotlight in October, when Amtrak officials said that the current tunnel was so badly damaged by floodwater from Superstorm Sandy that one of its tubes must be closed within 19 years and completely rebuilt. If that happens before a new tunnel is built, Amtrak estimates the maximum number of trains between New Jersey and New York will drop from 24 trains per hour to six. 

Though Christie’s move to cancel ARC was one of the region’s most important transportation decisions in recent decades, the move alone cannot be blamed for the current problems with the system. The planning process that eventually led to ARC started 15 years before Christie became governor. And had construction continued, the ARC tunnel would have been complete two years after Christie left office.

Christie canceled the project citing the possibility of billions of dollars in cost overruns borne solely by New Jersey taxpayers.

“If the tunnel would have gone to Penn Station, and New York would have shared the cost of the funds, I would have let the project go forward,” Christie told a reporter last week, according to a spokesman. “But … I’m getting an inferior product, at a greater price, and I have to carry the whole thing on my back. No!”

Since ARC was canceled, Amtrak and federal transportation officials have called for work on a new tunnel to begin as soon as possible. Christie, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx have agreed to meet soon to discuss the project.

Moving forward, Amtrak has proposed a project called Gateway that would build a tunnel, plus a new train station next to Penn Station, a new rail yard in New Jersey, new bridges over the Hackensack River, and two new tracks between Newark and New York Penn Station. Amtrak must somehow get funding for the project approved by the Republican-led Congress, which passed a bill in June to cut Amtrak’s funding by $242 million. Then it must start planning the tunnel almost from scratch, beginning with an environmental review that could take years.

It’s a tall order, especially within the hard deadline set by Amtrak’s engineering studies of the existing tunnel’s condition.

“We lost a decade of planning work … and the engineering studies show it was a decade we didn’t have to give,” Peter Rogoff, the third-highest official at the U.S. Department of Transportation, said in May at a conference on trans-Hudson transportation. “We really don’t have time to appoint commissions. We don’t have another decade to spend thinking and talking about it.”

NJ Transit officials pointed out that much of the money spent on ARC may not go to waste, especially if the Gateway project moves forward on a path similar to ARC’s.

“ARC was a bad project that was going to strap the New Jersey taxpayer,” said Nancy Snyder, an NJ Transit spokeswoman. “But there’s lots to be derived from ARC that will be able to expedite future tunnel projects.”

Total costs shift

NJ Transit and Port Authority officials claim that a precise breakdown of the money spent on the scuttled ARC tunnel is impossible to decipher because the project ended five years ago, and most of the people who worked on it have moved on to other jobs or retired. Public information requests from The Record were filed with the Port Authority in January, but officials at the agency did not respond until late July, largely because documents detailing the project’s financials proved so difficult to locate and decipher, said Steve Coleman, a spokesman.

When the agencies did respond, their documents showed that NJ Transit and Port Authority used different accounting methods to tally tunnel-related spending. Moreover, the latest totals for spending by NJ Transit, the Port Authority and the federal government are different than the amounts released by NJ Transit officials in 2012.

The numbers released in July changed again when calls were made to the Christie administration for response for this article. After that, staffers at NJ Transit were asked to perform another review of the costs, which produced new totals, said Kevin Roberts, a spokesman for Christie.

In January 2012, NJ Transit had said $521.6 million was spent on ARC by New Jersey, the Port Authority and the federal government. Two weeks ago, NJ Transit first put the figure at $619.2 million and then, after the governor’s office got involved, dropped the reckoning of the total spent to $517.7 million. No explanation was given for the changing tally.

The Record’s total incorporates the lowest figure. It also includes other costs, including hundreds of millions of dollars spent on the new trains and planning for a new bridge over the Hackensack River, which together bring the total amount of taxpayer money spent on tunnel projects before Christie’s cancellation of ARC to $967.5 million.

And because Amtrak is in the very preliminary stages of planning Gateway, said Drew Galloway, Amtrak’s chief planner for the Northeast Corridor, the exact route of the tunnel has not been decided, which makes it impossible to know exactly how much money spent on the ARC tunnel will be useful for Gateway.
“We want to try to take advantage of the previous work that NJ Transit has done, where it makes sense,” Galloway said.

But even with this fragmentary information, it’s possible to piece together some of the spending on ARC that likely will never be seen again. The state of New Jersey and the federal government together spent $115 million on preliminary engineering for ARC and $143.6 million on final design, Snyder said.

The former includes $24.7 million spent on an environmental impact statement that took six years to complete. Federal law mandates that all the data in the review expire after three years, however, so Amtrak planners must redo the process.

Much of the remaining $233.8 million spent on engineering and design by the two agencies will not be useful to Amtrak, either. The ARC plan involved two tracks in New Jersey that would have been completely independent of Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor tracks from Kearny into Penn Station. ARC’s tracks would have led to a tunnel that swooped far south of the existing tubes, then looped underneath the old tunnel to arrive in Manhattan at a spot north of Penn Station.

“It was essentially a separate railroad,” Galloway said.

Even at this early stage, Amtrak’s vision for Gateway is quite different. Planners there envision two new tracks tied directly to the Northeast Corridor, and terminating in Manhattan on the opposite side of Penn Station.

“It’s not universally applicable since the Gateway program as we’ve laid it out follows quite a different route,” Galloway said of NJ Transit’s planning work for ARC.

In addition to those large expenses, NJ Transit and the Port Authority racked up smaller costs that add to the total. The two agencies plus the Metropolitan Transportation Authority spent $8.5 million between 1995 and 2003 on a “major investment study” of different cross-Hudson tunnel and bridge options, which resulted in ARC being named the best alternative.

The Port Authority’s primary role in ARC was to buy the necessary properties in Manhattan — some of which could be used for Gateway. In addition to purchases and leases of land, the Port Authority paid its own staff, outside engineers and lawyers $29 million in salaries and expenses to work on ARC, and that money will not be recouped. For its role in acquiring properties in New Jersey, NJ Transit spent $3.6 million on outside legal support, $2 million on appraisers and a consultant to help tenants of purchased properties relocate, plus $2.7 million on administration costs.

The state of New Jersey, the Port Authority and the federal government spent $143 million on prepaid insurance premiums for the ARC Tunnel. The vast majority of that money was refunded when the project was canceled, leaving the parties with a total insurance bill of $17.4 million, NJ Transit said.

The tunnel’s cancellation also prompted a number of lawsuits. New Jersey paid $5.6 million to settle a suit by a planning company over ARC design work, and $1.2 million to lawyers who defended the state from the federal government’s efforts to recoup money spent on the project.

In total, taxpayers spent approximately $320 million on ARC-specific items that may have little or no future value.

Some benefits seen

Not all the money spent on ARC was wasted. In fact, New Jersey residents use some of those investments every day: The $288.8 million spent on 100 double-decker train cars and $79.2 million on nine electric/diesel locomotives.

NJ Transit officials said the trains should not be included in the tally of ARC costs because they are being used now, even without the ARC tunnel. The train cars and locomotives were described as necessary components of ARC in the tunnel’s environmental review, however. 

NJ Transit worked with Bombardier, manufacturer of the train cars and locomotives, to design the new trains specifically to fit into the ARC tunnel, an NJ Transit official said. And NJ Transit “proposed that it purchase only the 10 locomotives and 100 bilevel railcars necessary for the opening day service on the ARC Project,” Brigid Hynes-Cherin, the Federal Transit Administration’s official in charge of New York and New Jersey at the time of the ARC tunnel planning, said in a deposition in March 2011. (The total locomotive order was later reduced to nine.)

Looking to the future, hundreds of millions of dollars spent on ARC may come in handy if Amtrak succeeds in building the Gateway tunnel. It’s also possible that much of this money will be wasted, too, due to uncertainty about whether Amtrak can get funding, how long the project takes to build and where exactly the new tracks go.

One ARC-related expenditure that will likely be useful for Gateway is the $70 million spent by Amtrak and NJ Transit to design a replacement for the Portal Bridge over the Hackensack River. The existing structure is a 105-year-old bridge that uses complex mechanical systems to swing open for boats on the river. Those systems fail often, causing widespread delays for Amtrak and NJ Transit trains. Amtrak has made clear it will use those plans to build the bridge.
“The bridge is ready to go. All we need is money” to build it, said Craig Schulz, an Amtrak spokesman.

NJ Transit officials argued that the $70 million spent on the Portal Bridge replacement should not be included in the tally of spending associated with a tunnel because the aging bridge must be replaced just to handle current traffic. While a replacement bridge is necessary independent of any tunnel project, both ARC and Gateway envisioned the replacement as part of a larger project that would add a second bridge, built immediately south of the original, to handle the extra traffic.

When he canceled the ARC tunnel, Christie said that without the bridges in place, “The trains heading to what would be the ARC Tunnel would fall into the river.”

The total cost for construction of the replacement bridge alone would be close to $1 billion, according to Amtrak.

Real estate expenses

The biggest expenses that may be repurposed involve land. Using money from the federal government and the state, NJ Transit bought $41.7 million worth of real estate for ARC in New Jersey, Snyder said. Those purchases included buying the underground rights to properties in North Bergen and Union City along the path of the proposed tunnel.

NJ Transit also used properties along Tonnelle Avenue in North Bergen, where the ARC tracks were to drive into a tunnel under the Palisades. The last building standing in that swath of land is 1801 Tonnelle Ave., a warehouse now owned by NJ Transit that sits empty. A sign on the front reads “John Roberts Inc.” in faded gray letters, and a bright NJ Transit sign has been screwed in on top. North of the warehouse is a vast concrete lot with 70 NJ Transit buses parked in rows next to hundreds of stacked steel railcar wheels.

It is here that the only construction on the ARC project took place. NJ Transit was building a bridge to carry Tonnelle Avenue over the route of the new tracks when Christie canceled the project.

The construction work cost $35.6 million. Standing at the site today it’s difficult to tell where the bridge is, since workers were ordered to fill and cover the space under the roadway after the project was canceled. But that doesn’t make it any less attractive to Amtrak.

The bridge “made a lot of sense to place it there originally and we’re looking there to reuse it,” Galloway said.

On the New York side of the Hudson River, the Port Authority spent $131.7 million to purchase properties for ARC. The biggest and most controversial of those purchases involved a lot near the corner of 30th Street and 12th Avenue, where the Port Authority purchased a temporary, 10-year lease on the land and permanent access below ground.

The $95.5 million purchase was completed seven days before Christie canceled the ARC tunnel. Today the land is used by NJ Transit and the Port Authority as a parking lot.

The lease expires in 2020. Amtrak believes it can finish the environmental review and final designs for Gateway between 2018 and 2020, Galloway said, which means it could be ready to start construction before the lease expires. Even if Amtrak meets its aggressive timetable, however, the lease would need to be renewed for construction work to continue on the site. That would cost the Port Authority an additional $11.5 million per year, according to Port Authority records. The agency paid $10 million for a 10-year lease of an adjacent property, which would cost $2.2 million a year to extend.

One investment that taxpayers have made that isn’t going anywhere is a concrete tunnel box that Amtrak is constructing to carry trains from Penn Station west toward the Hudson River. The construction was necessary, Amtrak said, because of development of the Hudson Yards project on Manhattan’s West Side, which threatened to place new building foundations in the Gateway tunnel’s path.

Amtrak officials hope the tunnel under the river will eventually connect to the tunnel box. Amtrak has spent $185 million to build the box from 10th to 11th Avenue. Phase two, which will take the box under 11th Avenue, is under construction for $66 million, said Schulz, the Amtrak spokesman.