NEWS FROM THE DELAWARE DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL

Oct. 24, 2009
Vol. 39, No. 429

Contact: Melinda Carl, DNREC Public Affairs, 302-632-1078

Army Corps of Engineers notifies DNREC of intent to begin
 main channel deepening prior to obtaining required state permits 

DOVER — Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control Secretary Collin O’Mara made the following statement following notification from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers of the Corps’ intent to commence the Main Channel Deepening project prior to obtaining the required permits from the State:

“The Army Corps of Engineers notified DNREC last night that they intend to proceed with their proposal to dredge the Delaware River to 45 feet without first securing the required permits from the State of Delaware,” O'Mara said.  “DNREC recently denied the Corps’ first permit application, in part, because the proposed project had changed significantly since originally submitted for consideration and many of the potential environmental impacts of the changed project were unknown or based upon outdated information.  DNREC remains committed to considering a new application through an efficient, science-based, and transparent permitting process.  It is therefore especially troubling that the Corps now seeks to proceed without a current environmental assessment and without any public consideration of the project as currently proposed.”

The Corps’ application, submitted in 2001 and the subject of a 2003 public hearing, sought state wetlands and subaqueous lands permits to dredge the navigational channel of the Delaware River to remove nearly 19 million cubic yards of material from the channel that runs from the mouth of the Delaware Bay at Lewes to the Delaware-Pennsylvania border near Claymont.

Along with insufficient information about several important environmental issues in the application record, the Corps also failed to identify a local project sponsor until June 2008 when the Corps signed a contractual agreement with the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority.  The Corps is required to identify a local sponsor in order to provide responsibility for environmental liabilities that may arise from the project.

The Secretary’s Order, Hearing Officer’s report and Sec. O'Mara's letter to the Corps denying the 2001 permit application can be found at http://www.dnrec.delaware.gov/Info/Pages/SecOrders.aspx.