The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has proposed a $366 million project to widen and deepen the Mobile Ship Channel. Under their plan, the dredged sediment would be pumped back into the bay. The volume of sediment would be enough to cover the entire bay with 2 inches of silt. This silt smothers oyster beds, seagrasses, and kills bottom organisms vital for Gulf Sturgeon, an endangered species which overwinters in the bay.
Mobile Baykeeper and other conservation and environmental groups are NOT trying to stop the project, which we agree will create jobs. The groups are only demanding that the Corps consider alternative plans. They’re asking to consider sediment mitigation, such as was done on the Savannah River in Georgia. Sediment that can be used to rebuild coastal marsh – habitat that has been lost to decades of erosion.
The FFI Gulf Coast Council Conservation Committee has elected to become a conservation partner with Mobile Baykeeper in their efforts to modify the USACE plan. We’re asking all our members – especially those in Alabama – to contact the Corps, elected officials, and other agencies – and ask that the current plan be revisited.
To learn more about the damage that open dispersed dredging can incur, please check out THIS VIDEO .
To take action, check out the Mobile Baykeeper webpage on this topic at www.mobilebaykeeper.org
