|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
Issues >
Water
> Printer Version $200
million
The U.S Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) plans to spend $200 million to deepen the Columbia and Willamette Rivers in order to accommodate larger ships, despite federal budgetary constraints, Endangered Species Act listings of Columbia Basin salmon, and a recent designation of the Portland Harbor as a Superfund site. The Corps plans to deepen a channel extending from the Pacific Ocean to Portland, Oregon - a distance of more than 100 miles. The dredging will further disturb this already seriously impaired river and estuary system, as well as harm communities and wildlife that depend on them, by re-suspending toxic contaminants contained within the riverbed and further degrading critical habitat for threatened and endangered salmon. Even
after it is deepened to the planned 43 feet, this channel will
remain too shallow to accommodate the 45-foot deep draft vessels
that will continue to call on ports in California, Washington,
and British Columbia. Recognizing that the channel cannot continue
to be deepened to handle ever-larger ships, Port of Portland
Executive Director Bill Wyatt has called channel deepening a
"bridge" to a new future for the port in 8-10 years.
At $200 million, this project is a very expensive short-term
bridge Current Status In August 1999, Congress authorized $183 million in the Water Resources Development Act of 1999 (S. 507) to dredge the Columbia River from 40 to 43 feet. The National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS) and the states of Oregon and Washington have challenged
the Corps' proposal to dredge the Columbia River Channel on numerous
grounds. In 2000, NMFS withdrew its initial approval for the
project citing the need for further study of the risks the project
poses to endangered salmon. Subsequently, Oregon and Washington
refused to approve water quality certifications for the project.
The states also have refused to find that the project is consistent
with the Coastal Zone Management Act. Nonetheless, members of
the Northwest Congressional delegation are pressuring NMFS to
issue a new Biological Opinion in favor of the project by June
1, 2002 so that the project may proceed. Project Hurts Taxpayers Dredging the Columbia River to 43 feet will drastically increase operation and maintenance (O&M) costs. The Corps estimates that O&M costs will increase by almost $4 million a year, from $9 million to $13 million. The
project is also unneeded because other West Coast ports can serve
the larger cargo ships, and because the Final Environmental Impact
Statement on the project failed to show that either the number
of ships or the volume of cargo shipped into Portland is increasing.
As
a result, with this project, the Corps would be expanding infrastructure
for a non-existent demand.
Dredging will reverse expensive federal efforts to enhance the Columbia Estuary for salmon. The Columbia River Estuary is now considered a key area for salmon recovery by federal agencies addressing the needs of these fish. For example, in the December 2000 Federal Columbia River Power System Biological Opinion, the National Marine Fisheries Service concluded that "Much of the complexity of the estuary's historic shallow-water habitat and much of the estuary's saltwater wetlands have been lost due to the effects of local, navigational, and hydropower development." (Bi Op at 9-140.) In this document the federal agencies agree to study, protect, and enhance the lower 46 miles of the Columbia River. In contrast, the channel deepening project will undermine the recovery efforts for Columbia Basin salmon for which the federal government currently spends nearly $500 million annually. The
cost of dredging to the environment has been grossly underestimated.
The
costs of the channel deepening project to the environment and
to taxpayers is based on estimates of sediment volumes. Some
scientists believe the Corps has grossly underestimated the amount
of sediment that will have to be dredged citing, among other
facts, that annual maintenance dredging volumes for the last
four years have averaged more than 175% of the average annual
dredging volumes predicted by the Corps for channel deepening.
These scientists calculate that the Corps' estimates for dredging
and disposal operations are 80-200 percent too low. Inaccurate
estimates lead to underestimated costs of dredging, inadequate
disposal sites, and underestimated costs to the environment of
disposal and increased dredging. The Corps proposes to dredge
year-round for two and a half years, without breaks to protect
migrating salmon.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|