Reef study will delay Port Everglades channel deepening

Reef study will delay Port Everglades channel deepening    Channel deepening at Port Everglades faces a two-year delay due to a study on the impacts the dredging would have on coral reefs outside the port, director Phillip Allen estimates.
   Allen told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel about the delay caused by the $1.9 million environmental study, in a story published Sunday. But Allen conceded the study is necessary to minimize reef damage.
   The port and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have tentative plans for a $326 million channel deepening and expansion project. No new depth has been determined, but a Corps report used a Maersk vessel with a draft of 47 feet as the target, meaning the channel would need to be around 50 feet.
   State and federal environmental officials have estimated the project would destroy 26 acres of reefs, and the study would determine how to minimize the damage and also to determine possible mitigation projects.