A $62 million challenge to dredge Puerto Rico’s greatest and most vital 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 will probably be deposited into the Atlantic Ocean 2 nautical miles (4 kilometers) north of the U.S. territory in a transfer authorised by the U.S. Environmental Safety Company, officers stated.
Gov. Pedro Pierluisi stated the challenge overseen by the U.S. Military Corps of Engineers is predicted to provide a $400 million enhance to the native financial system, including that the dredging will probably be accomplished by October.
He dismissed issues by environmentalists who’ve stated the challenge would endanger wildlife and people. “This already was approved in any respect federal ranges, together with any environmental affect it may need,” he stated.
In August 2022, the Arizona-based nonprofit Heart for Organic Variety filed a federal lawsuit in opposition to the U.S. authorities, saying the challenge threatens to destroy corals and seagrass beds and suck up turtles and different marine life.
The lawsuit is pending at a U.S. District Court docket in Washington, with a listening to final held in January.
“We hope for a choice quickly,” Catherine Kilduff, an lawyer for the Heart for Organic Variety, 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 apprehensive that this dredging challenge…could possibly be a demise knell.”
Kilduff stated the middle additionally is anxious about manatees that swim within the San Juan Bay, the place they rely 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 achieved that,” she stated.
Kilduff famous that the federal authorities held a public remark interval on the dredging challenge 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 in search of remark.
Because the governor shared particulars in regards to the challenge on Wednesday, a dredging vessel started operations within the background.
Officers stated it will dig as much as 46 ft (14 meters), with some areas within the San Juan Bay at the moment 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 exceptional funding in the way forward for Puerto Rico.”
The Corps is investing virtually $45 million within the challenge, with the federal government of Puerto Rico offering the remaining.
