The Alabama State Port Authority (ASPA) has requested a permit to deepen and widen the Mobile Bay Harbor Shipping Canal and construct a 1,200-acre island by dumping the dredged spoils into Mobile Bay. This project, too, would span over a 20-year period and would dump millions of tons of sediment from the shipping channel and deposit it in Mobile Bay during construction. Thereafter, millions more tons of sediment will be dredged and dumped every year as part of annual maintenance.
This project could potentially have negative implications for the health of Mobile Bay and the Gulf Sturgeon, fish that have lived since the time of dinosaurs. In 2023, scientists discovered that 200 Gulf sturgeon, 9 feet long and weighing 385 pounds, most likely spend their winters in Mobile Bay. The study is attached.
The dredging of Mobile Bay and creation of a 1,200-acre island of dredged spoils need more study. The Corps alleges the island of dredged material would be beneficial. We do not have evidence of that assertion. There has been no evaluation of the consequences of such actions and the public has a right to be involved in a decision that could impact the entire ecosystem of Mobile Bay.
Below is a letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers written by Glen Coffee, a member of the Mobile Bay Group. Glen has offered the letter as a template for those of us who would like to comment on this issue. Please feel free to use this letter.
About the Gulf Sturgeon
Gulf Sturgeon
Protected Status Throughout Its Range
Lifespan: 20 to 25 years on average but up to 50 years Threats: Climate change, Contaminants, Dams, Dredging Source: NOAA FisherinesThreat: Dredging activities can significantly impact aquatic ecosystems by directly removing or burying organisms, causing turbidity/siltation effects, resuspending contaminants, making noise and causing disturbance, altering the hydrodynamic regime and physical habitat, and destroying riparian habitat.
Thank You For Your Support of Our Priceless Waterways!COL Jeremy J. Chapman, District Engineer
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Post Office Box 2288
Mobile, Alabama 36628-0001Dear COL Chapman:
This conveys my opposition to the permit requested by the Alabama State Port Authority (ASPA) to construct a 1,200-acre island in Upper Mobile Bay (i.e., Public Notice No. SAM-2021-00246-DCH). The proposed island would be constructed over a 20-year period, using dredged material from maintenance of the deepened Mobile Harbor ship channel. The island is alleged to represent a “…long-term Beneficial Use (BU) of dredged material to create wetland habitat.”
Mobile Bay is widely recognized for its ecological importance to Alabama’s coastal commercial and recreational fisheries, as well as for its outstanding aesthetic values. The vast majority of our State’s residents want the Bay to remain in its natural condition, with maintenance of the ship channel respecting that common desire.
The Corps’ May 2019 Report and Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) that recommended deepening of the Mobile ship channel briefly discussed potential BU options to dispose of future maintenance dredged material. However, that report and SEIS did not evaluate the impacts of the proposed island as required by Federal law and Corps regulations. Three years have passed since the Public Notice was issued on December 2, 2021; however, the required environmental evaluation of the island project has not been made available for public review and comment.
The Public Notice states the proposed island is an ASPA project. However, it fails to explain that the Corps has worked with the ASPA since 2011 to develop the island project. Also, no mention is made of the Corps’ October 6, 2014, request for $22,500,000 of Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill recovery monies to pursue the island project. Based on the intimate working relationship between the Corps and the ASPA on the overall Mobile Harbor project and their long-term collaborative effort to construct the proposed island, it is doubtful the Corps can objectively decide the fate of the requested permit.
Many actions now being taken by the Corps and the ASPA to deepen the ship channel are impacting large areas within the Bay — some adversely. These actions indicate the Corps and the ASPA believe the channel’s needs outweigh all public concerns over maintaining the integrity of Mobile Bay’s environmental resources and that the public has no right to a legitimate seat at the decision table.
Merely alleging the proposed island represents a BU of dredged material does not provide the public with the results of the evaluations required to demonstrate the island would indeed benefit Mobile Bay — considering the full scope of construction activities, the vagaries of weather, and other events that could affect the Bay over the 20-year period of construction. For that reason and the factors discussed above, I oppose issuance of the permit until all impacts of the island project are thoroughly evaluated in an unbiased SEIS prepared in coordination with a comprehensive public involvement program that assures the public’s full participation throughout the SEIS process.
Sincerely,
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Mobile Bay Issues: the Dredging of Mobile Bay
January 29, 2025