St. Johns Riverkeeper steps up fight against river dredging

Army Corps of Engineers set to dredge river for larger ships

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – They call themselves the voice of the river, and now, after years of ongoing debates about the health of the St. Johns River, the St. Johns Riverkeeper is suing the Army Corps of Engineers.

"The main concerns which we will be challenging in federal court is the fact that there will be negative impacts to the St. Johns River that are not properly being mitigated, and those issues are in regard to water quality of the St Johns as well as negative impacts to wildlife," Lisa Rinaman, with St. Johns Riverkeeper, said.

Rinaman said after three years of working with the Army Corps, St. Johns Riverkeeper is hoping to put a stop to the proposed dredging of the river. She said the project would damage the future of the river, and once that damage is done, there's no turning back.

"There will a danger to wildlife during the actual dredging. It's a lot of bedrock and activities that could harm wildlife, as well as an increase in salinity," Rinaman said.

JAXPORT, with the help of Army Corps of Engineers, wants to dredge a 13-mile stretch of the river, digging deeper into the riverbed to accommodate larger cargo ships. The corps says deepening these ports is important to keep Jacksonville on the competitive front.

"More goods are needed through the U.S. and it's important for Jacksonville to complete this project to be competitive on a global market," Jason Harrah, project manager for the dredging project, said.

Rinaman said that deepening the river bottom by just 7 feet threatens the wildlife and the water quality of the river.

"We believe the Army Corps plan falls truly short of analyzing and determining what those threats are, and it's also not adequately mitigating for that," Rinaman said.

Harrah, on the other hand, said those on the project stand by their studies and are ready to defend the project in court.

"All the modeling, the engineering and environmental modeling all indicate that there will be no or minor impacts when the project is constructed," Harrah said.

Rinaman was at City Hall Wednesday, updating the Water Ways Commission on why she intends to sue to stop the dredging, but there was no word on when that suit will be filed.

Aside from filing suit, the Riverkeeper also said that it would withdraw its opposition to the dredging in exchange for the removal of the Rodman Dam, in Putnam County, an issue that Rinaman said was also still unresolved.

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