FAIRHOPE — Legislation that would place conditions on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers projects will be introduced Tuesday. Mobile Baykeeper said if the law is passed, it would not affect operations of the Port of Mobile.
Executive director William Strickland told 1819 News the companion bills introduced by State Sen. Chris Elliott (R-Josephine) and State Rep. Rhett Marques (R-Enterprise) could help restore shorelines and marshlands and create a habitat for wildlife instead of destroying marine life.
"We know that the maintenance of our main ship channel requires somewhere in the ballpark of 6 million cubic yards every year, 4.5 million cubic yards of which were planned to be dumped directly into the estuary, and of course, that [legislation] would end that," Strickland explained.
The current plan is to dump 90 million cubic yards of dredged sediment into Mobile Bay over the next 20 years. The Baykeeper and local oyster harvesters have voiced concerns about the impact on fisheries, tourism, property values, and the overall quality of life in coastal Alabama.
Congress banned in-bay dredge-mud dumping in 1986, but the Corps granted itself emergency authorization to dump in the Bay in 2012 and then added permanent authorization in 2014, Mobile Baykeeper said. The purpose for emergency authorization was funding. That loophole was created by federal law in 1996, and Baykeeper said it was supposed to allow for environmental restoration. The group said the Corps uses more beneficial methods to dispose of dredged material in every other state.
"The Corps of Engineers doesn't dump mud like this anywhere else in the country," Mobile Baykeeper stated. "It's time to tell the federal government to stop dumping mud on Alabama."
The state can impose conditions on the Corps under the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1979. However, the state must have enforceable policies to do so. U.S. Sen. Katie Britt (R-Montgomery) helped ensure that 70% of dredged material from Mobile Harbor had to be reused for beneficial use. However, the state legislation clarifies that beneficial use means environmental restoration, recreation or industrial or commercial applications.
All costs related to Mobile Bay ship channel maintenance are federally funded.
"It would replace inefficient use of taxpayer dollars with investment into our Port and Bay, as mud dumping requires $11 million annually to re-dredge the material that falls into the channel," Baykeeper stated. "The Trump Administration's proposed FY26 budget noted a $1.4 billion surplus in the Corps's Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund and directed the Corps to utilize these funds."
The Baykeeper stated that recreational fishing creates over 49,000 jobs in coastal Alabama.
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