The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers can’t dredge 28 miles of the Wilmington Harbor as planned, after North Carolina environmental regulators determined the $1.2 billion proposal would be inconsistent with the state’s coastal management policies.
Tancred Miller, director of the Division of Coastal Management (DCM), sent a letter Feb. 24 to the Corps that listed reasons for the formal objection, including cumulative flooding impacts, sea level rise, PFAS contamination, the loss of freshwater wetlands and fisheries.
The Corps also failed to provide adequate information in its Draft Environmental Impact Statement about how it would mitigate many of the harms incurred by the project, according to the letter.
“The DEIS lacks rigorous analysis of net economic benefits and does not adequately evaluate potential economic losses associated with environmental degradation,” Miller wrote. Contaminated soil removed from the harbor would have been spread on public beaches and marshes in coastal communities.
Lisa Sorg, Inside Climate News