No fast track to river dredging

The two-state battle over the Delaware River channel-deepening project ended three months ago, with Pennsylvania agreeing to pay for the project and take the dredge spoil.

But don't expect to see dredging vessels plodding up the river anytime soon.

New challenges are waiting just around the bend.

The project's sponsor, the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority, and the Army Corps of Engineers must reach a cooperation agreement - expected this fall - outlining the dredging plans and financing.

At the same time, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and the corps have to agree on the disposition of the dredge material.

And the corps must review and possibly update an environmental-impact statement - a job anticipated to be finished in about six months.

Complicating the schedule, though, are the state permitting processes and likely court battles threatened by environmentalists who have opposed the dredging for years.

In the end, the port authority and federal officials said, the project will probably not begin until October of next year, with completion coming in five to seven years.

"It's very complicated," authority spokesman Bob Cummings said last week. "You can't just start dredging. Few things are ever that simple."

Bill McLaughlin, another authority spokesman and longtime dredging supporter, said: "It's a huge project. It's been delayed so long. Much of the work should have been undertaken before this."

Gov. Rendell and maritime and labor leaders said that deepening 103 miles of the channel to 45 feet from its current 40 feet is necessary to clear the way for larger cargo vessels.

They said the project would persuade several international shipping companies and terminal operators to invest millions of dollars in the ports in Philadelphia, South Jersey and Delaware.

But the question of five more feet, like the river, divided New Jersey and Pennsylvania - bitterly.

Rendell, as chairman of the Delaware River Port Authority, which was the original sponsor of the proposal, refused to call a board meeting of the agency until New Jersey agreed to the deepening.

The cost is projected to be $277 million, with the federal government paying about $180 million. Thus far, Congress has approved $66.4 million.

At a pep rally at a Philadelphia dock last month, U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter (R., Pa.) said he didn't think anything could sink the project.

It is likely to move slowly, however.

The Corps of Engineers and the Philadelphia port authority "are still negotiating over the terms of the cooperation agreement," Cummings said. "We will also be in charge of raising the non-federal money."

New Jersey and Pennsylvania agreed to split the $35.6 million that the Delaware River Port Authority originally set aside for deepening the channel. Pennsylvania will use its part for dredging, and New Jersey will focus on environmental and port improvements.

While talks with the corps go forward and environmental studies are made, environmentalists are poised to mount a legal challenge.

Maya K. van Rossum of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, an advocacy organization based in Bristol Borough, said Thursday that "the promises being made are false and doing a disservice to all communities of the region that rely on the river and its ports. . . . There is no credible economic or environmental justification for this project."

Van Rossum said her group's lawyers "are lined up and raring to go. There is no reason to believe that a legally defensible environmental-impact statement could be completed in six months. If I have legal grounds, we will challenge the dredging. I expect other groups will be joining us."

Cummings said the port authority has not "been notified of any lawsuits. All we can do is plug along and then be in a position to react."

The dredging also requires permit approvals from all three states. New Jersey, which had opposed the project, said it would expedite the review process.

But even when all the approvals have been granted, the work will be daunting.

The dredging must take into account the breeding habits of fish and other wildlife. Work around Marcus Hook would involve some blasting, and could be done only at certain times of the year.

"There are dredging windows for when and where you can dredge," said Tom Groff, a civil engineer for the Army Corps of Engineers. "It has to do with the fish breeding and turtles."

He said the work could take place at different locations on the river simultaneously, depending on the dredging windows and availability of equipment. The location of the dredge-disposal site also will affect the operation.

In the past, much of the river's material had been deposited at federal locations in New Jersey at places such as National Park or Artificial Island, the name given a location near the Salem nuclear power plant.

This time, because of New Jersey's opposition, other sites must be found. Some material, for instance, could be taken by train to cap a landfill at a coal mine in Hazleton, Pa.

"I personally don't see the gloom and doom the environmentalists see," Groff said. "I see a lot of what we do as beneficial."

The removal of silt from the river bottom means ships will stir up less, he said. It means beaches will be replenished, hazardous landfills capped, and natural habitats and historic areas restored.

On Pea Patch Island, in the river across from Delaware City, Del., a stone seawall and the foundations of two historic buildings were shored up and a heron habitat was created with dredge material.

The corps uses different kinds of dredging techniques, Groff said.

It may use a mechanical dredge with a large crane that picks up muck with a bucket or backhoe and dumps it onto a barge for removal.

It could also use a hopper dredge, like the McFarland, which uses drag arms to suck up material for deposit in the vessel's hopper.

Or it may use a large barge attached to a hydraulic pipeline that vacuums up the material and sends it up to five miles to a disposal site.

Some parts of the river are already 45 feet deep, Groff said, "but this will be a long project. And it is complicated."