DELAWARE RIVER CHANNEL DEEPENING “JUSTIFIED”

DELAWARE RIVER CHANNEL DEEPENING “JUSTIFIED”

DELAWARE RIVER CHANNEL DEEPENING “JUSTIFIED”

   The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said an economic reanalysis of the Delaware River main channel-deepening project is “justified.”
   The reanalysis found that the project will yield a net benefit of $1.18 for every $1 spent on the project. Maj. Gen. Robert Griffen, director of the Corps’ Civil Works division, called the project “a sound investment of the nation.”
   “The reanalysis has been thoroughly reviewed by an external independent panel,” Griffen said. “That panel determined the reanalysis to be based on sound economics. I would also add that this reanalysis has been subjected to a level of scrutiny and independent review that is unprecedented on a Corps project.”
   Griffen suspended the Delaware project work on April 22, following a briefing by the General Accounting Office that criticized the Corps’ 1998 economic evaluation of the project.
   “The reanalysis takes into account many changes in the dynamics of the Port of Philadelphia that have occurred since the original 1992 project feasibility study,” the Corps said. “These changes include greater diversity of products transported to the port, such as furnace slag and steel imports, that were not factors in 1992.”
   The Delaware River main channel-deepening project was congressionally authorized in 1992 after completion of the project’s feasibility study and environmental impact study. It first received construction appropriations in 1999 and has been included in the federal budget each year since.
   The project will deepen the existing 40-foot project to 45 feet, extending 102.5 miles from the mouth of the Delaware River to Philadelphia.