Corzine's office did not return several requests for comment.

A piece of N.J. in Delaware

Along Route 130 in rural Gloucester and Salem counties, huge berms created by decades of dredge spoils rise up along the river, blocking the view but providing an illegal outlet for ATV enthusiasts and a refuge for wildlife.

One of those sites, which local police unaffectionately call "the Baja," because of lawlessness there, is made up of more than 1,500 acres of reeds, single-lane trails, and plenty of white-tailed deer amid the dark, dredged earth.

Logic would suggest that the location, on the edge of the 1,468-acre Killcohook Coordination Area, is in Pennsville, Salem County. But about 600 acres of it, created by dredge spoils, lie across an artificial line into Delaware that was established in 1681.

Lt. Allen Cummings, of the Pennsville Police Department, said that the area has quieted down in recent years as the Army Corps has blocked off entrances. Local teens find a way, though, he said, and there's still the occasional ATV accident, fire or crop of marijuana plants out there.

"If there's a fatal accident there with a four-wheeler, we have to call Delaware," he said.

An alternate plan

North of Killcohook, in Logan Township, Gloucester County, Sweeney points to a large indoor equestrian park, stables and pastures he helped to establish on a site once pegged for dredge spoils.

"This whole place would have been a big pile of mud," he said. "I think our waterfront has to be more valuable than just mud."

Sweeney and Andrews both say that a better investment in the river is the $250 million Paulsboro, Gloucester County, port project that would include rail lines, roads, piers, infrastructure and jobs.

"All of this is anticipating a 40-foot river, and it is profitable," Andrews said.

Construction on the Paulsboro project also could begin by year's end.

Sweeney said that the Army Corps still needs several permits from the New Jersey DEP and the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control. But Ed Voigt, an Army Corps spokesman in Philadelphia, said that those permits are being requested in "good faith and cooperation," not as absolute requirements.

"We're still wanting to work with the states, but ultimately it's a federal project," he said.

New Jersey DEP spokeswoman Elaine Makatura said that the department was weighing all its options "in light of the Army Corps' steadfast determination to forge ahead with this project."

Voigt said that scans of the river bottom have revealed that much less of the channel needs to be dredged than previously planned - meaning fewer spoils, a smaller environmental impact and a stable price tag.

"The project has changed; all the changes have had less impact," he said.

Voigt said that contracts for dredging could be awarded by September.