Opponents of deepening the Delaware River shipping channel by five additional feet should give up the fight, U.S. District Judge Sue L. Robinson said today. Robinson was clarifying her earlier ruling that allows the Army Corps of Engineers to begin deepening part of the river.

"Just to be clear, the deepening project is one that should be completed consistent with Congressional intent," the judge wrote in a footnote to a 31-page opinion. "For those who oppose the project in the first instance, the time for that fight has long passed."

Proponents want the river deepened to accommodate larger commercial ships.

On Wednesday, the judge denied Delaware's request - joined by New Jersey and five environmental groups - for a preliminary injunction to prevent the Corps from deepening a 13-mile stretch, referred to as "Reach C" of the 102.5-mile shipping channel, without first obtaining a Delaware state permit.

That stretch is south of Wilmington, where the river is flanked by New Castle County, Del., and Salem County, N.J.

Today, the judge amended her ruling to make clear that the entire channel should be deepened. "The decision to allow deepening in Reach C, therefore, is not a 'bridge to nowhere,'" the judge wrote, adding that administrative obstacles do not amount to proof of insurmountable environmental risks.

"It is a first step in a regulatory process that has worked in the past and should work here, to accomplish Congress' goals without causing environmental harm as defined by statute."