Port Everglades dredging moves one step closer after 17 years of red tape
AFTER 17 years of Washington red tape, the US Army Corps of Engineers has released feasibility and environmental impact studies on dredging Port Everglades' navigation channels from 42 to 48 feet (12.8 - 14.6 metres).
The public, typically environmental lobbies, now have 45 days to file objections, which in other cases has kicked of lengthy litigation starting another round of delays, before the final Army Corps report can resume its rocky road to recommendation.
Fort Lauderdale and Broward County expect the project will create 7,000 new jobs directly and another 135,000 indirectly statewide at full capacity in 2027.
In an unusually detailed article, American Shipper, whose Jacksonville headquarters, is close to the dredging site, tracked the laborious progress of the US$313 million project. When completed it would enable megaships access as rival coastal ports scramble to do the same ahead of the 2015 opening of the widened Panama Canal.
"The Florida port is in a race to get necessary studies completed, so it can get congressional authorisation to proceed with construction," said the report.
If the Port Everglades dredging is not included on the list of authorised projects, it faces yet another seven-year delay before it gets the go-ahead under cautious congressional rules.
Port officials would still have to go through the appropriations process to get funding, which can be strung out over many years and is without guarantegiven the federal government's fiscal constraints.
Which is bad enough, but late last year, Port Everglades learned that the Corps of Engineers failed to apply new way of measuring economic impact and needed time to recalculate after 12 years and $13 million spent doing it the old way.
"Waiting another five or six years would put Port Everglades at a severe disadvantage," port director Steve Cernak told American Shipper.
The Corps had to complete the feasibility report before Congress could authorise the project, leaving local officials to plead with congress to grant an extension to prevent another long waiting period.
Local authorities from the state to municipal level down are ready to pay to kick off the project. Florida Governor Rick Scott has already directed $77 million of state money to cover the federal share of Miami harbour dredging after Congress failed to provide money in January. The state has also committed $36 million to start work on the St John's River near Jacksonville.
AFTER 17 years of Washington red tape, the US Army Corps of Engineers has released feasibility and environmental impact studies on dredging Port Everglades' navigation channels from 42 to 48 feet (12.8 - 14.6 metres).
The public, typically environmental lobbies, now have 45 days to file objections, which in other cases has kicked of lengthy litigation starting another round of delays, before the final Army Corps report can resume its rocky road to recommendation.
Fort Lauderdale and Broward County expect the project will create 7,000 new jobs directly and another 135,000 indirectly statewide at full capacity in 2027.
In an unusually detailed article, American Shipper, whose Jacksonville headquarters, is close to the dredging site, tracked the laborious progress of the US$313 million project. When completed it would enable megaships access as rival coastal ports scramble to do the same ahead of the 2015 opening of the widened Panama Canal.
"The Florida port is in a race to get necessary studies completed, so it can get congressional authorisation to proceed with construction," said the report.
If the Port Everglades dredging is not included on the list of authorised projects, it faces yet another seven-year delay before it gets the go-ahead under cautious congressional rules.
Port officials would still have to go through the appropriations process to get funding, which can be strung out over many years and is without guarantegiven the federal government's fiscal constraints.
Which is bad enough, but late last year, Port Everglades learned that the Corps of Engineers failed to apply new way of measuring economic impact and needed time to recalculate after 12 years and $13 million spent doing it the old way.
"Waiting another five or six years would put Port Everglades at a severe disadvantage," port director Steve Cernak told American Shipper.
The Corps had to complete the feasibility report before Congress could authorise the project, leaving local officials to plead with congress to grant an extension to prevent another long waiting period.
Local authorities from the state to municipal level down are ready to pay to kick off the project. Florida Governor Rick Scott has already directed $77 million of state money to cover the federal share of Miami harbour dredging after Congress failed to provide money in January. The state has also committed $36 million to start work on the St John's River near Jacksonville.