WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Bill Delahunt today joined with the US Army Corps of Engineers to announce that he has secured $4.5 million to dredge the Fore River navigation channel.
"Maintaining our ports and harbors is important for our economy and marine environment," Delahunt said. "Today’s news is welcome relief not just for local mariners, but also for those who commute over the Fore River Bridge.”
Last dredged in the 1970’s, shoaling has reduced the depths of the Fore River Channel so seriously that commercial vessels experience significant delays. Commercial vessels need at least 36 feet at low tide to navigate the river. Currently, its depth is 28 feet. 350,000 cubic yards of sediment need to be removed so that ships can navigate the channel.
Nearly all petroleum products used in Massachusetts are delivered by marine transportation, and 60 percent of them are shipped through this channel. Most of these vessels can only navigate the river at high tide. As result, the Fore River Bridge is often raised during the height of rush hour commute, contributing to the region’s traffic congestion problems.
As conditions have deteriorated, the Boston Pilots Association warned basin businesses that the channel would be un-navigable in18 months. This means Pilots would be unable to deliver the region’s heating oil, gas, or bio diesel supplies.
Delahunt went on to explain that dredging the channel is vital for local businesses, like Twin Rivers Technologies, one of the nation’s largest bio diesel fuel companies. Failure to expand the channel’s depth could result in shipping delays, or worse, shutting down the plant all together -- threatening over a hundred jobs.
Delahunt was joined today by representatives of the US Army Corps of Engineers and South Shore business leaders from Twin Rivers Technologies, South Shore Chamber of Commerce and others.
Harbor Maintenance Critical to Port Security
President Bush’s proposed fiscal year 2007 budget funds a handful of dredging activities for New England’s 171 ports. Rep. Delahunt also vowed to continue the fight for federal dredging of local harbors. In many local harbors, the Army Corps of Engineers built the original channels, ports and other water facilities and retains responsibility for their maintenance. The Administration’s budget for the Army Corps of Engineers shifted dredging monies away from coastal communities.
"For us in the ‘Bay State’, entire portions of our local economy are organized around our harbors.” Delahunt said. "The stakes are high: delays in winter heating oil deliveries, the loss of major employers like Twin Rivers, shut downs to the commercial fisheries fleet, increased homeland seucrity risks for LNG tankers, commercial tourism, and most importantly, Coast Guard search and rescue could be dead in water. "
The region’s economy is inextricably linked to healthy marine environment and functioning, working harbors. Delahunt cited examples from Marshfield and Chatham to Boston and Woods Hole Harbors to illustrate the critical need for dredging.
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