Current Issues

Proposed Deepening of the Delaware River
by the Army Core of Engineers

Project Summary 12/00:
$300+ million and approx 4 years to complete.
Deepen the shipping channel from 40 to 45 feet (400 to 800 feet wide)
23 million cubic yards of sludge would be removed.
Dredging would be performed from the mouth of Delaware Bay to Port of Philadelphia (100 miles).

Purpose:
To allow larger cargo ships and oil tankers to navigate to Philadelphia and oil refineries in Delaware (where 80 percent of the oil and gas in the Northeast is processed and most tropical fruit passes through)

• Increase Philadelphia's maritime industry and provide new jobs
• Save the oil refineries around Philadelphia an estimated $32 million/yr
• Keep the larger cargo ships from looking for alternate destinations.
  

Problems in the path:

• Freshwater aquifers that supply drinking water to southern New Jersey.
• Wintering grounds of the blue crab
• Recently re-established oyster beds and recovering fish and aquatic life.
  
  Buried in the sludge:
  *  Mercury, PCB's, pesticides which could contaminate the water if dredged
  *  Same contamination problems where ever the sludge is disposed.
  
  Other problems:
  *  Bring the salt line more than a mile upriver.
  
  A laymen's perspective:
  Is this project being viewed on a regional or national basis? Are there other areas in the country better suited to take these large ships which would create less damage to the environment? People are capable of moving to where employment exists. An environment can't be moved. Is the Delaware River the best solution (environmentally and economically)? Hopefully decisions will be based on the country's collective environment and not on a particular region's politics and employment situation.
  
  Questions:
  *  Will this be like the Everglades - where millions will need to be spent someday because it's found to be more viable to be in it's pre-alteration state?
  *  Will another source of food production and drinking waters be lost in the long haul?

US Army Core of Engineers perspective
US Army Core of Engineers - Philadelphia District - Delaware River Main Channel Deepening Project

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