 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Searching for a place to drop anchorBy STEVE HUETTEL © St. Petersburg Times, published February 19, 2001 Where would you put an aircraft carrier that's nearly as long as the Empire State Building is tall? That's one of the biggest questions facing the group that is working to bring the retired USS Forrestal to Tampa. And they're not getting any closer to an answer. Officials of the USS Forrestal Museum Inc. have their eyes on a slip beside Tampa Electric Co.'s Hooker's Point power plant across from Harbour Island. But TECO executives are lukewarm to the idea. At best. In a Jan. 18 letter to Forrestal chairman John Kercher, the company said the oil-burning plant is expected to keep operating for at least two more years. Kercher's group hopes the Navy will donate the 1,086-foot-long vessel as early as this year. Even if TECO were willing to share space with the Forrestal, community affairs director Jack Amor wrote, there would be serious engineering problems, including: -- Lengthening the slip 200 feet so the Forrestal could fit. That would mean digging through an oil pipeline and possibly removing an 80,000-barrel tank. "How would the association propose to keep Tampa Electric Co. whole while rectifying this situation?" Amor asked. -- Keeping cooling water flowing out of the plant. A ship the size of the Forrestal would "undoubtedly obstruct" water discharged from pipes on the seawall, Amor wrote. -- Parking for customers. A grassy area near the slip that could be used is where TECO plans to build temporary peak-demand generators starting this year. Kercher said his group will respond this week. "That letter is just a formalizing of questions we've discussed for a number of months," he said. "I don't see any show-stoppers. We're going to answer all the questions."
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
From the Times Business report
From the AP
|
