U.S. Court gives go-ahead to Columbia channel dredging

U.S. Court gives go-ahead to Columbia channel dredging    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Wednesday that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has ruled that the Columbia River channel improvement project can proceed, overruling claims of a Pacific Northwest environmental group that the Corps had conducted inaccurate environmental analyses of the project.
   In a statement, the Corps said the court ruled that the government agency had taken a “hard look” at the environmental and economic factors of the channel improvement project.
   “Based on the Corps’ extensive examination of the project’s cumulative, direct and economic impacts, we agree with the district court that the Corps has taken the required hard look,” the court’s opinion said.
   Northwest Environmental Advocates argued on March 7 that the Corps had erred in conducting and preparing environmental evaluations and documentation under the National Environmental Policy Act.
   “Once again, the courts have agreed with our arguments,” said Laura Hicks, project manager for the Corps, in a statement. “We have nearly two decades worth of work — evaluating this project and ensuring that it complies with all applicable laws — to stand behind.”
   In 2005, the Corps deepened the navigation channel from river mile 3 to 21 and from RM 94 to 102 to a depth of 43 feet. Work is underway between river miles 21 and 32 and 91 to 94.
   The Columbia River channel improvement project is a federal effort to deepen the 600-foot-wide Columbia River navigation channel from 40 feet to 43 feet along its 106-mile length from the mouth of the Columbia River to Portland/Vancouver.
   The dual purposes are to improve the deep-draft transport of goods on the authorized Columbia River navigation channel and to provide ecosystem restoration for fish and wildlife habitats. The Corps began studying the idea of improving conditions in the lower Columbia River to improve the efficiency of moving trade goods in 1989 and Congress authorized the project in 1999.
   The cost of the project is estimated at $150 million, $95 million of which will be paid for by the federal government, with the states of Oregon and Washington funding the remainder.