Tree Huggers :(

[Bohica]

This makes me crazy.....it's a man made canal!!!!!

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Assawoman Canal dredging will stop; resumption faces challenge
By SARA SMITH, Delaware Wave

Posted Friday, December 29, 2006 at 7:16 am

Dredging equipment sits along the Assawoman Canal.

Delaware Wave
Dredging of the Assawoman Canal for the year will stop at the end of December, but whether it will continue next fall remains to be seen.

The canal connects White Creek to Little Assawoman Bay in eastern Sussex County.

The canal dredging has pitted the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control against the Sierra Club, which objects to the project itself, the validity of DNREC's permit and the manner in which DNREC is storing the dredged sediment.

Whether or not the canal dredging goes forward next September depends on the outcome of a Delaware Supreme Court decision. The Sierra Club contends that the process that led to the dredging of the Assawoman Canal was unconstitutional.

The Assawoman Canal dredging has been a contentious issue for more than 20 years. When the Corp of Engineers' dredging permit expired, opponents of dredging argued that the process would hurt aquatic life.

DNREC finally got a permit last year, and the Sierra Club tried to block the dredging by appealing to the Environmental Appeals Board. In May 2005, the appeals board decided that the dredging of the canal could not go forward without a cost-benefit analysis.

In June 2005, the Delaware General Assembly voted to override the Environmental Appeals Board, in the 2005 Bond Bill, by declaring that the benefits exceed the costs of the Assawoman project, allowing DNREC to begin dredging.

On Dec. 6, the Delaware Supreme Court heard the case. "The justices asked good probing questions of both sides," said Kenneth Kristl, a lawyer from the Mid-Atlantic Environmental Law Center, representing the Sierra Club. "They were clearly prepared and challenged both sides to defend their positions."

Even if the court decides in favor of the Sierra Club, DNREC has completed about 30 to 35 percent of the dredging in the last four months, said Charles Williams, an environmental program manager with the Division of Soil and Water Conservation.

The environmental window for dredging the canal runs from Sept. 1 to Dec. 31. This minimizes harm to fish populations, particularly summer and winter flounder.

DNREC planned to use both mechanical dredging and hydraulic dredging this year, but the hydraulic project did not get off the ground.

"We wanted to do the hydraulic dredging last month, but we ran into equipment problems," Williams said, adding DNREC hopes to hydraulically dredge during the last few days of December to break in the new dredge.

The dredging team has removed more than 10,000 pounds of sediment mechanically, transporting it by truck to the dump site in the Fresh Pond tract of the Delaware Seashore State Park.

Sediment from hydraulic dredging will be pumped to a former dump site in the Assawoman Canal Wildlife Area.

Steve Callanen, an Ocean View resident and a member of the Sierra Club, objects to DNREC's use of state parks as a dump site for the sediment.

For the Fresh Pond site, DNREC cleared three acres of loblolly pines to make a place for the sediment, which consists mostly of sand.

"What bothers me as much as the unnecessary destruction of the trees is the manner in which DNREC misrepresented the truth about the area it chose to use as 'Confined Disposal Area No. 1,'" Callanen said. "No public hearing was ever held to justify this change of use."

DNREC decided on the state park "because it was the best location for us," Williams said. In addition, that was the site specified in their permit. To change the site would have required a new permit, which would have meant more delay.

"We didn't want to waste any time," WIlliams said. "We wanted to move forward as quickly as possible."

Williams said he hopes to use the sediment in other projects, including improving the habitat of nesting birds and filling the beach. The cleared land, he said, will be returned to its previous use as forested land. The process of clearing the sediment from the state park should take place in the early or middle part of next year.

[DaveH]

Thanks for the info,I hope they can proceed.