Posted on Sat, Nov. 7, 2009
The Philadelphia Regional Port Authority, saying it is vital that deepening of the Delaware River proceed, yesterday filed a motion to intervene as a defendant with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in an anti-dredging lawsuit filed by Delaware.
The Pennsylvania authority and local sponsor of the project to deepen the main shipping channel of the river to 45 feet asked the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware to let it join with the Corps as a party in the case.
Delaware sued the Corps on Oct. 30 to block the 102.5-mile deepening, just days after the Corps decided to proceed without a permit from Delaware's Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control.
In its motion, the Philadelphia port authority said it stood to lose $30 million already committed by Pennsylvania.
The Philadelphia port authority also said it should be heard because the river deepening is essential to "continued economic vitality" of the port and its ability to compete with other ports, as well as thousands of jobs that will be "significantly diminished" unless the dredging goes forward.
"It is critical that this regional project not be further delayed while other East Coast ports, like the Port of New York/New Jersey dredge to prepare for larger vessels," authority chairman John H. Estey said in a statement.
Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett will represent the port authority in the case.
U.S. District Judge Sue L. Robinson set Dec. 5 for oral argument on Delaware's motion for a preliminary injunction to stop the project.
The deepening was authorized by Congress in 1991 but has been delayed by political and environmental concerns.
On Monday, New Jersey filed its own lawsuit in federal court in New Jersey, asserting the Corps was going ahead without proper environmental permits.
Gov. Rendell has said many environmental studies show the deepening will have no adverse impact on the environment. Environmental groups strongly disagree.
The Army Corps has said it would proceed unless barred by litigation.
Contact staff writer Linda Loyd
at 215-854-2831 or lloyd@phillynews.com.
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