Bear Industries Proposes St. Gabriel Dock Modifications

Bear Industries, a manufacturer in Iberville Parish, La., has applied to the New Orleans Engineer District for a permit to modify its existing dock facility near St. Gabriel, La., at Mile 189 on the left descending bank of the Mississippi River.

The company wants to remove two monopile breasting dolphins and four monopile mooring dolphins, to be replaced with two four-pile breasting dolphins and six mooring buoys with anchor piles and chains. The new structures would be located about 1,300 feet upstream of the existing structures.

The new terminal would allow the shifting of vessels away from the deep draft navigation channel and allow for a safer mooring area for aggregate vessels, the company said in its permit application. About 200 cubic yards of riprap would be placed at the base of the piles driven through the revetment, as required by Corps regulations.

Piles would be driven by a barge-mounted dredge. To minimize impacts, the work would be done from the water. About 0.01 acres of non-vegetated water bottoms would be affected; no vegetated wetlands would be affected.