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For the first time since it was founded in 1960, the National Waterways Confer- ence, Inc., will hold its annual meeting on the west coast in Portland, Oregon from September 6-8, 2006. "The Pacific Northwest, has an intrigu- ing transportation system, and their approach to dealing with major environ- mental challenges makes Portland a great venue for our meeting this year," said Scott Robinson, chairman of NWC and executive director of the Muskogee City- County Port Authority in Oklahoma. Portland, the largest city in Oregon, straddles the Willamette River, immedi- ately south of its convergence with the Columbia River. Home to the Port of Portland, the city is home to one of the largest ports in the inland waterways. In 2004, ocean-going vessels on the Colum- bia River transported $16b worth of U.S. products to and from world markets. To enable the modern fleet of large, deep- draft ships to continue transporting imports and exports via the Columbia, a coalition of six lower river ports in the northwest have been working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to deepen the navigation channel by three feet. The sponsor ports are Portland and St. Helens in Oregon; and Kalama, Longview, Van- couver and Woodland in Washington. Dredging to deepen the channel began on June 25, 2005, and in its first year of deepening work, the Corps' dredging con- tractor, Great Lakes Dredge and Docks and the Port of Portland's Dredge Oregon deepened 28 miles of the channel to 43 ft. The National Waterways Conference, Inc. serves as the secretariat for the National Waterways Alliance, a coalition of trade and regional associations, cooper- atives, businesses and industries, ports, waterways services, and labor organiza- tions that have an interest in national waterways policy issues. The Conference fights for water resources policies that maximize the economic and environmen- tal value of inland, coastal and Great Lakes waterways. This year's annual meeting, with the theme "Prepare Today for the Needs of Tomorrow," will bring together govern- ment and industry decision makers to address current and emerging issues that potentially affect the future viability of the nation's ports and waterways. The two-day program will include pre- sentations by regional leaders concerning opportunities and challenges faced by navigation and flood control interests, such as endangered species compliance, levee protection and transportation con- gestion. Leaders from nearly 400 busi- nesses, industries, public agencies, and regional waterway groups are expected to attend the meeting. The meeting will be held in conjunction with the Arkansas Waterways Commission, the Inland Waterways Intermodal Cooperative Pro- gram group of the Maritime Administra- tion and the Regional Navigation Design Team of the Corps of Engineers. The conference will be held at the Ben- son Hotel, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, located in downtown Portland near the city's attrac- tions. "I encourage all who plan to attend the meeting to make their hotel reserva- tions soon but no later than August 14 to ensure a room is available at our special convention rate," said Worth Hager, pres- ident of NWC. Reservations can be made by emailing the Benson Hotel at reserva- tions@bensonhotel.com. Those planning to attend will also want to take advantage of the early bird registration fee by regis- tering before August 18. More detailed information about the meeting, as well as convenient, secure, on-line registration, can be found at www.waterways.org or contact the National Waterways Conference's office at 703-243-4090 or by email to Lisa Miller at lisa@waterways.org. August, 2006 • MarineNews 9 News NWC Annual Meeting Set for Portland The conference will be held at the Benson Hotel, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, located in downtown Portland near the city's attractions. Worth Hager, president of NWC AUGUST MN2006 2(9-16).qxd 8/3/2006 3:20 PM Page 9
