Mobile Baykeeper Refutes Corps’ Rationale for Experimental Federal Mud-Dumping in Mobile Bay
Mobile Baykeeper is refuting the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ claim that keeping sediment in the Bay through experimental federal mud-dumping can lead to good outcomes.
Baykeeper has authored a paper disputing the Corps’ position. The federal agency has not defended its position with any legitimate scientific backing.
“This is not a tried-and-true method of dealing with dredge spoil,” says John Dindo, Retired Senior Marine Scientist and Associate Director of Dauphin Island Sea Lab.
Mobile Baykeeper does not seek to halt ship channel expansion.
We call for an end to in-Bay disposal of maintenance dredge spoil to prevent negative impacts to habitats and wildlife.
Lee Zeldin, the next EPA administrator, took a stand against the disposal of dredge material in the Long Island Sound when he was a U.S. congressman representing New York’s 1st District. “We can’t just assume that dumping these waste spoils in the Long Island Sound is environmentally benign,” he said at the time.
In 2019, the Corps determined open-water disposal would have little-to-no impact on Mobile Bay’s health. This paper critiques the Corps’ study results and conclusions. Of particular interest is the current plan to dump up to 4.5 million cubic yards of dredge mud into bay annually for the next 20 years.
The Corps’ study did not use enough data and assessed impacts within a small timeframe. This led to short-sightedness and a failure to represent complex cause-and-effect outcomes for a large-scale, long-term project.
The paper cites examples of other ports where in-bay disposal practices are banned. This begs the question: Why is the Corps treating Mobile Bay differently from other waterbodies?
Mobile Baykeeper requests revision of the Corp’s study to help agencies make better decisions about Bay ecology and shoreline restoration efforts.
Critique and input are welcomed and encouraged by readers. Please contact info@mobilebaykeeper.org for questions, concerns, and critiques.
