Greenwire: A federal judge has rejected Delaware’s challenge to a plan by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to deepen the Delaware River’s main shipping channel.
The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control had challenged the agency’s plan, citing the potential for environmental damage. U.S. District Judge Sue Robinson sided with the Army Corps in an opinion issued yesterday, saying state officials failed to demonstrate irreparable harm that would override the federal agency’s authority over waterway maintenance.
“The court is mindful of the increased potential for environmental harm that accompanies the failure to adequately investigate a project of this size and stature,” Robinson wrote. “However, the deepening project, while different in scope, is not vastly different from Delaware River maintenance dredging that the Corps has engaged in for decades.”
The Army Corps intends to dredge the river to deepen its main shipping channel from 40 feet to 45 feet to accommodate larger vessels. The $300 million project, which would extend from Philadelphia ports to the mouth of the Delaware Bay, could begin as soon as next week, an agency official said Tuesday.
Environmental groups such as the National Wildlife Federation had supported Delaware, saying a ruling in favor of the Army Corps could provide greater precedent for the agency to override the concerns of states in federal waterway projects (Jeff Montgomery, Wilmington [Del.] News Journal, Jan. 28). – GN