Ag Company Plans Barge Dock In Decatur, Ala.

AGRI-AFC, an agricultural seed and support company that operates mainly in the Southeast, has applied to the Tennessee Valley Authority and the Corps of Engineers for a permit to build a barge dock and mooring cells on the Tennessee River in Decatur, Ala.

The TVA is involved because of a cooperative agreement it has with other federal agencies making it the lead permitting agency in its jurisdictional region for projects under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

The proposed project is located on Wheeler Lake at Tennessee River Mile 305.1 in Morgan County. The proposed work consists of the discharge of fill material into the river for the construction of a dock and mooring cells to facilitate barge loading and unloading.

The 58-foot-wide dock would extend 80 feet into the lake, and would incorporate two 24-foot-diameter mooring cells on the side of the dock face. It would include a conveyor belt system to transport cargoes from the barges to the warehouse.

Two additional 24-foot-diameter mooring cells would be located about 70 feet from the dock, one upstream and one downstream. About 2,038 cubic feet of fill material, consisting of soil, limestone aggregate and concrete, would be used to build the dock and mooring cells.

The mooring cell on the dock’s west side would be capped with concrete; the remaining cells would have aggregate caps.

The work requires the clearing of about 75 feet of shoreline. A grouted 18-by 4-foot riprap flume would be built below an existing 24-inch steel drainage pipe and would extend to the water’s edge to protect the shoreline. An existing set of steps and platforms located on the shorelines would be removed.

The comment period closes January 28.