WEBVTT

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My name is Billy Thompson . I'm a

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project manager with the Saint Paul

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District Army Corps of Engineers . Yeah ,

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the project is on an abbreviated

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timeline from when we traditionally

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dewater locks roughly every 20 years

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due to the installation of the new

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miter gates in July of 2025 . So we've

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determined . That the best practice in

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the industry is when we install the new

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gates to then go in and dewater the

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chamber if we have the opportunity as

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quickly as possible after the new gates

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are installed . We had an opportunity

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this winter during the non-navigation

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season to do that and therefore now we

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can confirm that the gates are

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operating in the manner they should .

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The dewatering of the chamber is also

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important because navigation on the

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Mississippi River is vital to our

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nation's economy . And so when we

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conduct preventative maintenance ahead

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of time during the non-navigation

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season , during the navigation season ,

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it allows the vessels to move up and

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down the river freely , which is one of

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the primary missions of the St . Paul

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district in 2025 . There was over

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1700 commercial navigation industry

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lockages moving 8.4 million tons of

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commodities up and down river . It's a

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collaborative effort to have a

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successful project and deliver for the

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nation . It's highly impressive to see

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the maintenance and prayer crew working

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within these harsh conditions during

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the winter months .