A deeper river channel could bring larger cargo ships, and more money, to the state, says river pilot and Lewes resident Stuart Griffin.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to deepen the Delaware River channel from 40 feet to 45 feet and recently anounced plans to move ahead with dredging without permits from Delaware or New Jersey, prompting lawsuits from both states and evironmental groups.

Expansion of the Panama Canal, expected to be completed in 2014, will cause a paradigm shift in the shipping industry, Griffin said.  “That’s the big issue here, and that’s what most of the public isn’t talking about.”

Jim Roche, president of the Pilots’ Association for the Bay & River Delaware, said the pilots are backing the dredging plan because it means more jobs and higher tax revenues for the state.  Shipping has declined steadily over the last two years, he said, because of the poor economy. 

Griffin said statements from environmentalists and others that the project was exclusively for the benefit of Pennsylvania and the oil industry are patently untrue and inaccurate.

Maya van Rossum, head of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, disagrees. 

The Delaware Riverkeepers have sued, along with Delaware and New Jersey, to block the project.  “I know about the Delaware. I know about the Delaware deepening proposal. I know it poses tremendous environmental harm without giving back economically,” said van Rossum. “The facts on the record are clear.”

The stories being put forth by project supporters are mere speculation of port benefits that have not been documented, substantiated or subjected to the rigors of agency or public review - they are just stories,” she said.

Larger ships on the horizon

The expanded Panama Canal includes more locks, which means more ships and bigger ships can pass through, said Griffin. 

“That means that very nearly all the traffic that went to the West Coast with East Coast cargo will go through the Panama Canal and up the East Coast,” he said.  Instead of being shipped by truck or rail across the country, the cargo would be unloaded from large container ships at ports along the Eastern Seaboard.

Roche said ports in New York, Baltimore and Norfolk have deepened their ports, or will in the near future, to as much as 50 feet.  “If we don’t get to at least 45 feet on our river complex, our ports won’t be able to receive those vessels that call on the other, deeper area ports,” he said.  That would mean the loss of many jobs in the state, including jobs not directly connected to the ports. 

The shipping industry is trending toward larger cargo ships that will draft more than the Delaware River channel’s current 40 feet, Roche said.  He said when the corps began dredging the channel after World War II, it was 16 feet deep.

Ports, including Philadelphia, are already planning infrastructure upgrades to compete for the new traffic, he said.

More jobs and tax revenues

Delaware stands to benefit directly from that increased shipping, Griffin said.  If the region misses the opportunity for expansion and development now, it could create a financial crisis if the area’s existing shipping looks for bigger ports elsewhere, he said.  

Delaware is losing 500 jobs with the impending closure of the Valero oil refinery at Delaware City and could benefit from the economic expansion this project would offer, said Griffin.    

Edward Voigt, spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said the corps has done a thorough analysis of the national financial benefits of the project, intended to make shipping more efficient.  The corps does not analyze local financial benefits of transportation projects, such as this one, he said.

Alan Levin, director of the Delaware Economic Development Office, said, “Our focus must shift to development of the port and the creation of jobs, and dredging will do just that.  Dredging will allow for increased commercial shipping traffic, along with investment and economic development in our region.”  He said the project would help protect existing jobs and give opportunities to significantly expand Delaware’s place in the international marketplace.

“I stand in full support of dredging,” said Levin, who also serves as chairman of the Diamond State Port Corp.

Levin said the Port of Wilmington accounts for 19,000 direct and related jobs, and contributes $12.8 million to Delaware’s economy.
 
Debate over environmental effects

Griffin said many environmentalists are lining up against the project on the grounds that it would stir up polluted sediment.  But, he said, the New York Riverkeeper supports a project to dredge New York harbor because it would remove the polluted sediment. 

Delaware Riverkeeper van Rossum replied, “The Delaware River is not the New York harbor.  They are different rivers with different issues.”  She said deepening Delaware’s shipping channel is intended to lower overhead for oil companies, and is not a dredging project to remove toxins or do environmental good.

But Griffin pointed out, “Maintenance dredging happens here every single year.  We’re not talking the whole bay, or the whole river, but just the channel.

“It’s 1,000 feet wide in the bay, 800 feet wide in the river and narrows to just 400 feet at the Port of Philadelphia, he said, so animals and habitat across the entire river will not be disturbed. 

“This is a very targeted project,” Griffin said.  “Every year, different areas are spot dredged, so to imply these areas are in some way pristine and undisturbed doesn’t make sense.” 

Van Rossum said comparing maintenance dredging to deepening is likening apples to oranges.  “Maintenance dredging does pose its own set of harm; that does not discount or in any way diminish the different, additional and dramatic threats posed by deepening,” she said.  She said threats to fish, wildlife, wetlands, drinking water and communities along the river are well documented. 

“Deepening an additional 5 feet changes water patterns in such a way that it will exacerbate erosion of wetlands, which are important ecologically, aesthetically and for storm protection.  The deepening includes widening reaches of the channel into areas that are not now currently dredged - a number of which have been characterized as hot spots,” she said. 
Changing water patterns as a result of the deepening will bring salt higher into the river where it will threaten oysters and drinking water, she said.

“Forty feet is not the same as 45 feet.  Anyone who tries to characterize them as the same is uninformed and is trying to use a false but simple message to try to spin a false reality,” she said. 

The corps announced in October that it would proceed with the project this winter.  In July, Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control Secretary Collin O’Mara denied permits for the plan, because significant changes had been made to the project and the environmental effects were unclear.

Delaware and New Jersey, last week joined by the Delaware Riverkeeper Network and other environmental groups, have sued the corps, seeking an injunction until the plan meets state environmental requirements and receives state permits.