FILE – A fowl flies over the San Juan Bay Estuary in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Oct. 26, 2013. A $62 million mission to dredge Puerto Rico’s largest and most essential seaport started Wednesday, April 3, 2024 amid fierce opposition from environmentalists. Crews will take away almost 3 million cubic yards of marine ground to open the San Juan Bay to bigger vessels together with tankers that may serve a brand new liquid pure gasoline terminal on Puerto Rico’s north coast. (AP Photograph/Ricardo Arduengo, File)
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A $62 million mission to dredge Puerto Rico’s largest and most essential seaport started Wednesday amid fierce opposition from environmentalists and a pending lawsuit.
Crews with California-based Curtin Maritime will take away almost 3 million cubic yards (76 million cubic ft) of marine ground to open the San Juan Bay to bigger vessels together with tankers that may serve a brand new liquid pure gasoline terminal on Puerto Rico’s north coast.
The dredged materials can be deposited into the Atlantic Ocean 2 nautical miles (4 kilometers) north of the U.S. territory in a transfer authorized by the U.S. Environmental Safety Company, officers stated.
Gov. Pedro Pierluisi stated the mission overseen by the U.S. Military Corps of Engineers is anticipated to offer a $400 million enhance to the native financial system, including that the dredging can be accomplished by October.
He dismissed considerations by environmentalists who’ve stated the mission would endanger wildlife and people. “This already was approved in any respect federal ranges, together with any environmental influence it may need,” he stated.
In August 2022, the Arizona-based nonprofit Heart for Organic Range filed a federal lawsuit towards the U.S. authorities, saying the mission threatens to destroy corals and seagrass beds and suck up turtles and different marine life.
The lawsuit is pending at a U.S. District Courtroom in Washington, with a listening to final held in January.
“We hope for a choice quickly,” Catherine Kilduff, an legal professional for the Heart for Organic Range, stated in a telephone interview.
“The dredging itself causes sediment that may kill corals,” she stated. “These corals have been impacted by ailments and warming waters, and so we’re fearful that this dredging mission…may very well be a loss of life knell.”
Kilduff stated the middle additionally is worried about manatees that swim within the San Juan Bay, the place they depend upon seagrass for meals and are struck by ships.
She stated the U.S. Military Corps of Engineers final dredged the bay within the early 2000s, promising they’d plant an acre of seagrass.
“They nonetheless haven’t finished that,” she stated.
Kilduff famous that the federal authorities held a public remark interval on the dredging mission when Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico as a Class 4 storm in 2017, leaving the island with out energy or satisfactory roads.
A USACE spokesperson didn’t instantly return a message searching for remark.
Because the governor shared particulars concerning the mission on Wednesday, a dredging vessel started operations within the background.
Officers stated it could dig as much as 46 ft (14 meters), with some areas within the San Juan Bay presently at depths starting from 36 ft (11 meters) to 42 ft (13 meters).
“San Juan harbor is an financial engine and important lifeline for Puerto Rico,” U.S. Military Corps of Engineers Col. Charles Decker stated within the announcement. “It’s an outstanding funding in the way forward for Puerto Rico.”
The Corps is investing virtually $45 million within the mission, with the federal government of Puerto Rico offering the remainder.
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