NEWGREENMEDIA.TV: Inquirer: Judge OKs Delaware River dredging

Inquirer: Judge OKs Delaware River dredging

Chesapeake and Delaware entrance
Photo Credit: answers.com

It's a go for deepening the Delaware River shipping channel an additional 5 feet.U.S. District Judge Sue L. Robinson in Wilmington yesterday denied Delaware's request to block the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from starting the 102.5-mile deepening, in a stretch of water off Delaware.Robinson rejected Delaware's arguments that if the Corps proceeded without a state permit, Delaware would suffer significant and irreparable environmental harm. She also rejected a state's-rights argument, the notion that Delaware would be harmed if its role in regulating waters off its shore were tossed aside. The court, while allowing the deepening to 45 feet to start immediately from the Chesapeake and Delaware Channel to a point just south of Wilmington, indicated she expected the Corps to work closely with neighboring states - Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania - on future stages of the project.