CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — The public is telling the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers it wants to the Charleston Harbor shipping channel deepened and the work done as quickly as possible.
That's the general consensus from dozens of comments received by the corps on just what a $20 million study of the deepening project should include. That study is required before a $300 million deepening can be done on the shipping channel leading to the nation's fourth-busiest container port.
Port officials want the channel deepened to 50 feet to handle larger container ships that will be calling at the Port of Charleston once the Panama Canal is expanded in two years.
Corps spokeswoman Glenn Jeffries said 80 comments were received from the public as well as state and federal agencies on what the deepening study should include. The official comment deadline was Friday. The corps is still sorting through the comments and will post them on their web site within about 10 days.
"For where we are for a scoping study 80 is good, that's a fair amount," she said, adding that once the complete Environmental Impact Statement on the project is complete the corps will receive hundreds of comments. "For this, that is a fair amount, more than we probably expected."
Getting the channel deepened and getting it done as quickly as possible "is the main theme," she added.
About 20 of the comments centered on finding a beneficial use for the silt dredged from the channel, she said. Such uses could be to create fish or bird habitat or, if the sand is beach quality, using it to nourish eroding beaches. The alternative would be to simply dump the silt on high ground at a disposal site.
Jeffries said there were no real surprises in the comments, about 10 of which came from state and federal regulators.
The study is expected to take five to eight years and the corps has said that it is working to have it completed on the low end of that time period. Jefferies said the corps expects to have a preliminary outline of what the study will involve this summer.
There's been good news for the harbor deepening project in recent days.
Last week, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham announced that $2.5 million was being made available through a federal appropriations bill to continue the work through the end of this federal fiscal year on Sept. 30. And President Obama this week asked for another $3.8 million in his budget to fund the study through the next federal fiscal year.
Jeffries said that, even though the comment period has formally closed, people can still make suggestions about the harbor study by contacting the corps' Charleston District office.
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Online:
Charleston District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers: http://www.sac.usace.army.mil/
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