The corps announced last weekend it will begin dredging the river, even though Delaware environmental officials have denied permits for the project. New Jersey and Delaware officials say they are reviewing legal action on the corps’ plan to proceed.

Four million cubic yards of material the corps will remove from the bay are set be used to restore wetlands on Kelly Island, just south of the Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, and for beach nourishment and storm-damage control at Broadkill Beach, said corps spokesman Edward Voigt. The material that will be taken from the bay is nearly all sand, and it will be pumped directly to the reuse sites, he said.

Voigt said more than $7 million in tests have shown there is no toxic material in the sand, gravel and silt dredging boats will vacuum off the floor of the river’s main channel.

Maya Van Rossum, who heads the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, said environmentalists and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are concerned about the effect of beach nourishment on young horseshoe crabs that spawn on Broadkill Beach. Any negative effect on horseshoe crabs would also affect migratory shorebirds, she said, especially the red knot, which is expected to be extinct in as few as 10 years.

She said the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) hearing officer’s report on the original corps application said the local horseshoe crab population would be directly and adversely affected by the project.

Dredging could also harm colonies of sand-building worms that make sand reefs and create feeding, spawning and nursery areas, the Delaware Riverkeeper Network said.

Spoils sites federally owned

Material from the river channel will be stored in seven New Jersey sites and one Delaware site. “These are all existing federally owned sites that have been in use since World War II,” Voigt said. The sole purpose of the New Jersey sites is to hold dredge material, he said.

On the Delaware side of the river, in addition to using material to restore Kelly Island and Broadkill Beach, dredge material will be deposited at a Reedy Point site that was once used to store material from maintenance of the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal, Voigt said.

“This project, the Delaware River channel deepening, is simply to take the material out of the channel and place it alongside the river,” Voigt said.

The Delaware Riverkeeper Network says stirring up river and bay sediment can release heavy metals, PCBs and other toxins that can get into the water and into the water supply.

Van Rossum said if released, the toxins could harm people and aquatic life. The Delaware Riverkeeper Network has urged New Jersey to take legal action against the corps.

Legal action possible

Van Rossum said the rights of Delaware and New Jersey are under attack. She said if the project moves forward without state permits, it would set a dangerous precedent for federal projects being imposed on states. She said the Riverkeeper Network is also considering legal action against the corps.

Attorney General Beau Biden said, “We stand ready to take the necessary legal action to ensure that the Army Corps of Engineers applies for and obtains the required Delaware permits before it attempts to dredge the Delaware River. We will continue to consult with DNREC and the governor’s office.”

Voigt said the dredge material is usually made available for people to use in construction and other projects. He said tests on dredge material and on the organisms that live on the bottom of the river have shown no dangerous levels of toxins. No negative environmental effects from dredging have been found, he said. He said dredge ships have telescoping arms; operators mount various screens on the arms to move aquatic animals out of the way of the vacuums that pull up bottom material. He said only very small organisms make it though the screens.

Van Rossum said dredging would be harmful to key species in the bay, including sturgeon, blue crabs and horseshoe crabs, which in turn could be detrimental to migrating shorebirds that feed on horseshoe crab eggs each year.

This summer, DNREC Secretary Collin O’Mara denied the corps a dredging permit because the project had changed considerably since the corps’ first application and because the corps had not submitted updated information on environmental effects.

Gov. Jack Markell said the corps’ decision raises significant concerns. “Delaware offered the corps an opportunity to go through a fair and efficient permitting process, so that the environmental impacts and potential economic development benefits could be considered as part of a public process. This would have allowed for thoughtful consideration of this project’s potential to create jobs here in Delaware,” he said. Markell said he is continuing to consult with the Attorney General’s Office to determine the state’s legal options.