Join EarthNet News Type your e-mail and submit. Dig a deeper channel and bring bigger ships to port.
Bigger ships mean more commerce, and of course, more commerce means more economic development.
At least that's what the Army Corps of Engineers thinks. And so do the local and national governments that direct them. A formula that brought us costly environmental disasters like Love Canal, Exxon Valdez and Three Mile Island. In the past, the operation of dredging to deepen or widen a channel or inlet has brought about destruction of fish and wildlife habitat, dried up wells and reintroduced toxic substances buried under settled silt. The Army Corps of Engineers, along with state and local governments, has also underestimated costs and budget in Maryland, Louisiana and Oregon.