DNREC Denies Delaware River Dredging Permit

Don’t know when this was released, but the Press Release announcing the denial of the river dredging permit showed up in my email this afternoon. A key bit from the letter to Col. Tickner:

“The scale of the project has changed substantially from the project envisioned in the 2001 application, and there has been a great deal of new information developed in the intervening period about the Delaware River and Bay ,” wrote O’Mara in his letter to Army Corps District Commander Thomas Tickner. “Given the hearing officer’s recommendations, the significant changes to the scale of the project, the outdated nature of the record, and the potential procedural flaws in making such an important decision based upon the existing record, I have no alternative than to deny the permits. Please note that having reviewed the record, I take this action without prejudice to any future permit application.”

So basically they’ve sent the USACE back to redo their homework and make sure it is written completely within the lines and margins. DNREC has made no judgment on the environmental issues here, just asking for updated information. Which makes this look like a delaying tactic, but for what? Gov. Markell’s office released their own press release on this which says:

“The decision to award a permit to dredge the Delaware River should be based on sound science and a review of the most current information available,” Markell said. “At the same time, we also need to evaluate the opportunity to create jobs and grow Delaware’s economy. This permit request began eight years ago and the information currently before the Department is outdated and incomplete.”

“We need time to evaluate the opportunity to create jobs and grow Delaware’s economy.” Does that say that there isn’t enough in this project for us?

ps. Tommywonk also weighs in on this.

BONUS: I heard this report this AM on WHYY, talking about the work being done by people at UD to survey the bottom of the Delaware Bay. The radio report is really fascinating, but if you look at the report site, WHYY has provided some video of the actual survey activity and some footage of exactly what these scientists are looking at.