|
 |
 |
| |
SupportTheDeepening - First deepening results are in -- and they're encouraging
| |
First deepening results are in -- and they're encouraging |
|
|
| |
June 11th, 2010 12:11pm |
|
|
|
The first deepening environmental results are in – and they’re encouraging.
As the non-federal sponsor of the Delaware River Main Channel deepening project, the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority (PRPA) has been focused on moving the project forward while ensuring the protection of the environment. That commitment to the environment is one of the reasons why both the PRPA and before it, the Delaware River Port Authority (DRPA), supported significant environmental testing before the project began.
And that’s why the first set of environmental analyses of the deepening project is so encouraging. They confirmed what the more than two dozen studies conducted over two decades had indicated: the deepening has no more of an impact on the environment than the yearly maintenance dredging authorized by New Jersey and Delaware, the two states challenging the deepening project.
Based on the first three sets of data taken from the disposal facility accepting the dredged materials, the sampling results demonstrate that levels of contaminants in the materials are consistent with the Army Corps' expectations that the main channel deepening would not present a risk to the environment any more than that tolerated in connection with the Army Corps' annual maintenance dredging of the River. The level of concentrations of pesticides, semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs) and metals found were typical of effluent regularly discharged from the dredged material disposal facilities in connection with the maintenance dredging activities, and, importantly, there were no PCBs found in any of the samples.
It’s still early in this process, but the initial results are good. The PRPA and the Army Corps of Engineers remain committed to this process as the project progresses, because no one is more concerned about the future of the Delaware River than we are. |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
