Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Corps of Engineers shut down submersibles

["Sean T. Stevenson" <cast55@telus.net>]

A very unfortunate situation for the community.  Hopefully, this is just a 
temporary knee-jerk reaction to the current attention on the security 
situation, and that cooler heads will prevail once they educate themselves 
about the actual risks presented by PSUBS.  In any case, my condolences go out 
to all of those effected by the ban.

I am curious as to the extent of the ban - is SCUBA diving permitted?  This 
would seem to be a greater security risk than subs.

-Sean


On September 14, 2011 10:23:02 you wrote:
> FYI,
> 
> Colonel Robert D. Peterson, Commanding Officer of the Huntington Area
> Corps of Engineers, issued Directive to Operations CELRH-DE on Sept 9,
> 2011 prohibiting use or operation of submersible vessels in all Corps
> lakes within the boundaries of Huntington District.  This order was
> issued in response to a PSUBS member attempting to dive his submarine at
> Summersville Lake in West Virginia.
> 
> The Huntington District encompasses 45,000 square miles in parts of five
> states, including West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia and North
> Carolina.  It is responsible for 311 navigable miles along the Ohio
> River, which includes the Nation's largest Inland Waterway port, the
> Port of Huntington.
> 
> According to Alec Smyth, he had traveled to Summersville Lake in West
> Virginia to dive SNOOPY, his K-250.  Alec has dived here before, see
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12XqUORL8yc
> 
> After setting up in the parking lot, all the park rangers showed up,
> were friendly, and asked the usual questions which Alec answered and
> even invited them to inspect his submarine.  No problems were incurred
> and the dive proceeded to launch as normal.  After launching and about
> 100 yards off shore Alec was asked via a loudspeaker to return to the
> shore.  At this time there were a bunch of police officers and an FBI
> agent.  The FBI agent asked for ID's, which were provided, and after
> verifying Alec and others with him, reported that everything had checked
> out fine.  However, the agent also had some bad news for Alec telling
> him that the Corps of Engineers Commander had just issued an order
> prohibiting submersibles from diving in any Huntington District lakes or
> waterways based upon concerns of safety and infrastructure.
> 
> Not only has Alec dived in Summersville Lake on prior occasions without
> incident, but the PSUBS 2006 convention was planned with coordination of
> the Corps of Engineers who made park facilities, picnic areas, and
> meeting rooms available to us free of charge.  Six home-built
> submersibles attended that event and dove in Raystown Lake, see
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QCwCKUKeqA
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g70A6o7SaKs
> 
> I am working with Alec to draft a letter from our organization to
> Colonel Robert Peterson, to understand exactly what the issues are and
> see if we can help resolve them.  As Alec told me, this is a big blow
> because Corps lakes are pretty much all there is for diving in the mid
> Atlantic states.  This incident is almost assuredly related to the high
> alert surrounding the 9/11 tenth anniversary terrorist attack.  While
> there may be legitimate concerns about potential damage submersible
> diving could do to the submerged infrastructure of a lake (clog up a dam
> intake??), invoking an immediate prohibition on all submersible activity
> seems to be an arbitrary and premature overreaction, to me, considering
> the diving that has been done previously and the direct coordination
> provided by the Corps of Engineers for the 2006 convention.
> 
> In the interim, members planning any diving activities within the
> Huntington District Corps of Engineers should be careful to avoid this
> area.
> 
> Jon



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