A deeper Delaware River is crucial to Philadelphia’s future economic vitality, said Sen. Larry Farnese.
“Philadelphia’s ports and Navy Yard are two of the city’s largest economic engines, not to mention job creators,” he said. “I’ve supported and regularly advocated for them through continued legislation, continued investment and dredging.”
Farnese met Friday with the Tribune’s Editorial Board to discuss a number of issues, among them the necessity of deepening the Delaware River.
He supported the creation of the Southport project, which will set aside about 218 acres of land at the Navy Yard to build the infrastructure needed to allow Philadelphia to handle super containers.
“Philadelphia, for the first time, can begin to receive these huge containers that you only see in the other parts of the world … couple that with dredging and you automatically put the ports of Philadelphia as a major shipping location of the world because it has access to the railroads.”
On Tuesday, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced that it will set aside $16.9 million this year for dredging a 15-mile stretch of the Delaware River’s main shipping channel. The federal funds will be used to deepen the river to a depth of 45 feet from its present 40 feet. Work is expected to begin in August.
So far, 17 miles of the 102-mile long shipping channel have been dredged.
The total cost of the project is expected to run about $300 million. Pennsylvania has spent about $40 million so far. The federal government has spent about $4 million.
The debate over dredging has been going on for about 30 years with opponents arguing that dredging injures critical ecosystems, including oyster beds and horseshoe crabs. The risks to those ecosystems, they argue, are not worth it when the port is already growing.
But, the expansion of the Panama Canal, expected to be finished in 2014, may force the issue.
A new set of locks and channels will bring larger, deeper-draft ships to northeastern ports.
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