Well, Well, Well - Miami Port Dredging Plan Smothers Corals In Silt, Despite "Protections" - NYT

[hatrack]

MIAMI — The government divers who plunged into the bay near the Port of Miami surfaced with bad news again and again: Large numbers of corals were either dead or dying, suffocated by sediment. The source of the sediment, environmentalists say, is a $205 million dredging project, scheduled to end in July and intended to expand a shipping channel to make room for a new generation of supersize cargo ships.

The damage to the fragile corals was never supposed to have happened. In 2013, federal agencies created a plan to protect the animals from the churn of sand and rock by placing them at a distance from the dredge site. It was a strategy intended to balance Miami’s economic interests with the concerns of environmentalists, who worry about the rapid deterioration of reefs across South Florida.

EDIT

“We’ve seen profound and severe impacts to our reef just off of Miami; it looks like a moonscape,” said Rachel Silverstein, the executive director of Biscayne Bay Waterkeeper, the lead environmental group bringing the lawsuit. “This damage stems from the fact that the corps and the contractors simply weren’t following the rules that were laid out for them when they started this project.”

EDIT

The loss of coral near the Port of Miami is indisputable. Federal and state divers reported finding some colonies so buried by sediment that they were virtually invisible. The sediment, reports by several government agencies said, was having a “profound” and “long lasting” effect on many corals. Because coral needs light to survive, the cloudiness of the water has also worsened conditions. Divers reported difficulty seeing beyond five feet. Though the dredge being used protects the reef from scraping, it appears to have caused more sediment than anticipated.

EDIT

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/08/us/despite-protections-miami-port-project-smothers-coral-reef-in-silt.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=5

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

1. And let me guess, the penalties for not following the rules were so miniscule

that it was cheaper to simply ignore them and take the fines?

Should have made it, you follow the rules, you don't kill the coral, or you don't get paid for the work, AND owe us money to help rebuild coral colonies.

[hatrack]

2. Yes, but nothing must impede the flow of cheap toxic crap from China!

NOTHING!!!

[daleanime]

3. +1