By Matt Tomsic
mtomsic@scbiznews.com
Published July 11, 2012

A federal judge has denied an Army Corps of Engineers request to dismiss a lawsuit over the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project, writing the lawsuit is ready for litigation and is supported by injuries suffered by the plaintiffs.

Previous coverage Army Corps argues S.C. bill affects Savannah River lawsuit Law center argues Army Corps lacks Savannah River permit

“There appears to be little doubt that (the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project) will go forward and involve over four years the movement and discharge of over 20 million cubic yards of sediment into an environmentally sensitive area,” wrote Judge Richard Gergel in his Friday order. “Plaintiffs need not wait for dissolvable oxygen levels to drop in the Savannah River or cadmium contaminated clay to be discharged into the environment before they have standing to sue.”

In February, the Southern Environmental Law Center filed a lawsuit, arguing the Army Corps of Engineers didn’t get a South Carolina pollution control permit for the harbor expansion project. The Savannah Riverkeeper, Coastal Conservation League and S.C. Wildlife Federation are plaintiffs in the case.

South Carolina law requires the corps to obtain a permit to ensure pollution controls during the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project, which would deepen 38 miles of the Savannah River to 48 feet, according to the lawsuit.

The dredging project will lift cadmium and other pollutants from the river and could discharge those pollutants onto South Carolina land. Army Corps officials in Savannah, though, have said the cadmium levels aren’t concentrated enough to have adverse affects.

The corps plans to deposit the cadmium-containing dredge spoils in Jasper County, where the lawsuit was filed, according to the release.

The law center also argues the harbor expansion will lower dissolved oxygen levels in the Savannah River, and the corps mitigation for the lower levels is untested. The corps plans to put Speece cones in the river. The cones will take river water, pump oxygen into the water then release the water back into the river. The lower dissolved oxygen levels could endanger the short-nosed sturgeon, American shad and striped bass in the river.

The $650 million deepening project is being done in anticipation of the expansion of the Panama Canal, which port officials say will open the East Coast to larger post-Panamax ships.