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SupportTheDeepening - Delaware holds hearing on deepening permit
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Delaware holds hearing on deepening permit |
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July 16th, 2010 10:27am |
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This week, Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) held two days of hearings about the critical deepening of the Delaware River. Although the Army Corps of Engineers began the deepening more than four months ago after a federal court refused to further delay the long planned project and tens of millions of taxpayer dollars have already been expended, Delaware is reviewing whether a state permit should be issued to allow the project to continue. In 2009, after an 8-and-a-half year delay, Delaware rejected a 2001 permit application, in part on their claim that the information submitted was outdated.
The first night of the hearings drew a crowd balanced between job creators and workers and opponents of the project. Unlike the 2001 hearings, however, because the deepening has already begun, there was testimony about the environmental impact of the deepening based not on conjecture, but on facts. In June, the first set of environmental analyses were completed, confirming 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.
Among the proponents of the project who spoke at the first night of hearings was Dennis Rochford, the president of the Maritime Exchange for the Delaware River and Bay. Mr. Rochford stated the $300 million project was critical to the port’s future because “we will be the only major East Coast port from New York to Savannah restricted to 40 feet of water” if it is not completed.
Leading the opponents’ charge against Delaware issuing the permit was Pennsylvania based activist Maya K. van Rossum. Ms. Van Rossum rehashed disproven allegations, including that there was not sufficient economic impact to warrant the project. Prior to the release of the June environmental analyses, Ms. Van Rossum had focused on the environmental impact of the project.
Undercutting opponents’ arguments were the presence of numerous business leaders, port officials and workers that detailed the critical need to complete the deepening to protect the future of Delaware River ports and the jobs of the tens of thousands of workers that depend on them.
Delaware is expected to make a determination on the permit application based on the materials and information submitted to DNREC by the end of the year.
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