South Carolina threw another monkey wrench into Georgia’s years-long plan to deepen the port at Savannah claiming “significant degradation” to the region’s ecosystem if the Savannah harbor is dredged.
The state's environmental agency late Friday denied a permit sought by the Army Corps of Engineers to deepen 32 miles of the Savannah River by six feet to accommodate new, super-sized cargo ships.
Meanwhile, a key South Carolina senator said Monday the two states should instead focus on jointly building a port downstream from Savannah at Jasper, S.C. Both developments threaten to stall the harbor’s deepening as Georgia, and the nation, seeks ways to grow the economy and jobs.
Georgia officials perceive their neighbor's actions as belated attempts to keep Savannah from becoming even more successful than the port of Charleston, S.C.
South Carolina's environmental agency said Friday the $600 million dredging project increase salinity levels and irreparably harm 1,200 acres of S.C. marshland. Fish, too, would be hurt by a reduction in oxygen levels, S.C. regulators told the Corps. (The Corps declined comment on the merits of S.C.'s denial.)
Last November, though, the federal agency determined that the river could be dredged to 48 feet with minimal environmental impact. The Corps’s final environmental study, due this fall, has been delayed and no release date has been set, spokesman Billy Birdwell said Monday.
South Carolina’s “opposition is not a science-based objection, from what the Corps is telling us, and that’s why it’s very disappointing,” said Curtis Foltz, executive director of the Georgia Ports Authority. “The nation is trying to prepare for commerce and a department of another state seems to be obstructionist in this effort.”
East Coast ports scramble to get deeper in preparation for the larger ships that will traverse the Panama Canal by 2015. Georgia and South Carolina also plan to jointly develop a port at Jasper, though it’ll be at least 15 years until docks and cranes line the northern edge of the Savannah River about 7 miles below River Street.
S.C. state Sen. Larry Grooms, who chairs the transportation committee, opposes deepening the river above the proposed Jasper site.
“The Savannah River is a shared resource so however it is manipulated it needs to benefit both states,” he said. “We’ve got one best shot of dredging the river and the best plan would accommodate (the new) ships up to the proposed Jasper terminal site.”
South Carolina legislators passed resolutions last year opposing the river’s deepening.
“The only environment this project will affect is the jobs environment,” said Brian Robinson, spokesman for Gov. Nathan Deal. “There’s absolutely no logical reason to throw obstacles in front of the deepening. It needs to happen. It must happen.”
Senator Grooms wouldn’t rule out legal action to further thwart the planned deepening of Savannah’s harbor.
Port of Savannah Environmental reports
November 2010 – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers concludes that the Savannah River can be dredged to 48 feet with minimal environmental impact.
September 2011 – South Carolina’s environmental agency denies the Corps’ permit for river deepening based largely on environmental concerns.
2012 – The Corps may issue a final environmental ruling. The report, though, has already been delayed at least once.
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