Harbor Technical Advisory Committee

HTAC

One of three advisory committees to the MIC, the HTAC is a longstanding working group that addresses challenges and opportunities in the Duluth-Superior harbor, while promoting both the economic and environmental importance of the port and St. Louis River estuary. It is the only stakeholder group of its kind in the country, recognized by some in the US-Canadian maritime community as a model for successful planning, collaboration, and information sharing.

2026 Meeting Schedule PDF

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Our Mission

HTAC provides a forum for harbor-related discussion, promotes the economic and environmental value of the harbor, and offers sound planning and management recommendations to guide the region’s maritime future.

collaboration & dialogue

  • To provide a forum for the discussion of the diverse range of issues and concerns pertaining to the Duluth-Superior harbor and St Louis River estuary.
  • To encourage networking among participants.

Advocacy & awareness

  • To promote the economic and environmental importance of the Duluth-Superior harbor and St Louis River estuary
  • To promote the safe operation of all watercrafts in the multi-use waterways of the Duluth-Superior harbor and St Louis River estuary.

planning & policy

  • To develop a Port Land Use Plan to promote compatible land uses adjacent to the federally-maintained shipping channel and promote implementation of its recommendations.
  • To provide sound planning and management recommendations to the Metropolitan Interstate Council.

Over time and through its mission HTAC has built collaborative partnerships and contributed to a growing list of successful planning and policy initiatives.  HTAC is, in the words of former Duluth Seaway Port Authority Director Adolf Ojard, “a committee that actually gets work done.”

Key Accomplishments
  • Federal, state, and local partners work together to plan for and prioritize the dredging of approximately 110,000 cubic yards annually to maintain the federal navigation channel and to establish beneficial uses for as much of the clean dredged material as possible.
  • The Erie Pier facility was converted from a standard Confined Disposal Facility (CDF) to a unique Processing and Reuse Facility (PRF) for separating dredged materials, which are tested and evaluated for appropriate beneficial use options, including environmental remediation, habitat restoration, and beach nourishment projects.
  • The Erie Pier Management Plan was rewritten (approved in 2021), and recommendations are being implemented.
  • A diverse group of partners created “Paddle Safe Twin Ports”, an ongoing effort to enhance recreational paddle sport safety that has resulted in safety messaging, a website that links additional useful information, plans for outreach at events and via other media, and signage at the most popular launch locations in the Duluth-Superior area.
  • Coordinated multi-agency research discovered the cause of, and mitigation strategies for, the accelerated freshwater corrosion that threatened $120 million in pier, dock wall and piling infrastructure.
  • Recommendations from the Duluth-Superior Port Land Use plan have been incorporated into each city’s Comprehensive Plan.  These recommendations help promote certainty and reliability for existing port businesses and support economic investment by encouraging compatible land uses adjacent to the federally-maintained shipping channel, which in turn position our communities to take advantage of our geographic location and better leverage local transportation assets.

HTAC participation encourages representatives from industry, government, academia, regulatory agencies, recreation, and environmental and citizen groups on both sides of the bridge to discuss current and ongoing issues, share concerns and ideas, and work toward solutions, recognizing that although they have separate and distinct missions, they also have shared goals.  Most port communities face similar challenges, such as managing dredged materials, maintaining port infrastructure, environmental remediation and habitat restoration, overlapping uses of the waterway, and maintaining and improving efficient multimodal transportation of freight and people.

 

Some HTAC partners, most notably the US Army Corps of Engineers, have shared how they see a need for a similar group in other Great Lake’s ports and wished those communities would use HTAC as a model for doing so.

HTAC’s subcommittees are member-initiated working groups that address specific issues in depth, and as appropriate report back to the full HTAC and occasionally the MIC Policy Board.  Two subcommittees are long-standing active and regularly meeting, while others are formed and/or reformed, as necessary.

Dredging Subcommittee (Active & Ongoing)

The purpose of the Dredging Subcommittee is to provide a forum for professionals working on activities and issues related to maintenance dredging of the federal shipping channel in the Duluth-Superior harbor and related dredged material management.  Dredging Subcommittee members identify challenges and collaboratively consider solutions intended to advance effective operations and maintenance of the federally authorized shipping channel (part of the federal Great Lakes Navigation System), but the subcommittee itself has no legally binding decision-making authority.  Participants engage in discussions about harbor-wide multi-year prioritization of projects, project planning, general considerations for permitting, building partnerships, and more.  Meeting topics may include, but are not limited to:

  • Annual & long-term planning and prioritizing of appropriate maintenance dredging projects
  • Proposals and planning for beneficial use of dredged materials
  • Coordination between and among maintenance dredging partners
  • Sharing of pertinent information, ideas, and suggestions between and among maintenance dredging partners
  • General discussions about and considerations of beneficial use of dredged materials
  • Pertinent discussions of Erie Pier operations
  • Implementation of Erie Pier Management Plan recommendations
  • Updates from federal partners (primarily US Army Corps of Engineers)
  • Dredge Material Management Plan and Preliminary Assessment updates
  • Permitting of maintenance dredging or dredged material management activities
  • Updates of specific maintenance dredging or beneficial use of dredged material projects
  • Local maintenance dredging-related studies, research, reports, or policies

Navigation Subcommittee (Active & Ongoing)

The Navigation & Safety Subcommittee was formed at the request of the U.S. Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit Duluth to bring navigation and port stakeholders together twice annually (in the spring and fall) to discuss topics related to navigation and safety in the working harbor.  U.S. Coast Guard Marine Safety Units are highly encouraged to work with port partners in establishing and operating a Harbor Safety Committee (HSC).  There is a lot of overlap between the Navigation & Safety Subcommittee and the HSC, thus one joint meeting serves both roles.  Meeting topics may include, but are not limited to:

  • General safety issues of concern
  • Updates from the Captain of the Port
  • Events occurring in the harbor that require US Coast Guard presences and/or permits
  • Soo Lock closures
  • Special safety exercises
  • Lift bridge updates
  • Recreational boating (power boats, sailboats, paddle sports
  • Marine cybersecurity
  • US Coast Guard Auxiliary updates

 

Several work groups have been formed out of the Navigation & Safety Subcommittee over the past ten years, including Paddle Safe Twin Ports, the Harbor Safety Workgroup (which among other topics hosted a Drowning Hazard Workshop), and the Duluth Ship Canal Concerns Workgroup.

 

Port Land Use Plan Subcommittee (Currently Inactive)

 

Port Land Use Plan Subcommittee assists in the development or updates of the Port Land Use Plan and its Implementation Strategy.

 

Bylaws & Membership Subcommittee (Currently Inactive)

 

The Bylaws & Membership Subcommittee is reformed on an as needed basis to update the HTAC bylaws and consider changes to voting membership. The Bylaws were last fully updated in June of 2020, and the new voting-member list was finalized in August of 2021.

 

 

Committee Chairs

  • Jeff Udd
    HTAC Chair

    HTAC Chairperson

Committee Members

  • Dan Belden

    WLSSD (Regional Organization)

  • CDR John Botti

    US Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit (State/Federal Agency)

  • Dan Breneman

    MPCA (State/Federal Agency)

  • Dan Carlson

    US Army Corps of Engineers (State/Federal Agency)

  • Natalie Chin

    Wisconsin Sea Grant (State/Federal Agency)

  • John Downing

    Minnesota Sea Grant (State/Federal Agency)

  • Matti Erpestad

    Day Tripper of Duluth (Non-motorized Recreation)

  • Jim Foldesi

    Saint Louis County Engineering (Local Gov’t)

  • James Gittemeier

    City of Duluth (Local Gov't)

  • Capt. Tim Haak

    Western Great Lakes Pilot Assoc. (Harbor Industry)

  • Cherie Hagen

    Wisconsin DNR (State/Federal Agency)

  • Dan Hartman

    DECC (Harbor Tourism)

  • Jamie Harvie

    St. Louis River Alliance (Citizen Group)

  • Joe Havasi

    Compass Minerals (Harbor Industries)

  • Joel Johnson

    Lakehead Boat Basin (Motorized Recreation)

  • Cole Koffron

    Douglas County – Land & Water Conservation (Local Gov’t)

  • Shawn Krizaj

    Duluth Fire Dept (Local Gov’t)

  • Richard Laskey

    Great Lakes Fleet/Key Lakes (Harbor Industry)

  • Jason Laumann

    NWRPC (Regional Organization)

  • John Lindgren

    Izaak Walton League (Citizen Group)

  • Rob McGhie

    Perkins Specialized Transportation Contracting (Harbor Logistics)

  • Nick Patterson

    JF Brennan (Harbor Industry)

  • Patrick Phenow

    MnDOT (State/Federal Agency)

  • Amanda Rosebrock

    Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa (Government)

  • Jason Serck

    City of Superior (Local Gov’t)

  • Mae Sommerfeld

    WisDOT (State/Federal Agency)

  • Bri Speldrich

    Mn DNR (State/Federal Agency)

  • Jeff Udd

    Duluth Seaway Port Authority (Regional Organization)

  • Chad Ward

    MIC Policy Board (Regional Organization)

  • Lou Weichseldorfer

    CN Rail (Harbor Logistics)

  • Vacant

    (Harbor Industry)

  • Vacant

    (Harbor Industry)

  • Vacant

    (Harbor Related Business)

  • Vacant

    (Harbor Related Business)

MIC Contact

Mike Wenholz

Mike Wenholz

Principal Planner

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