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Bush, Cabinet call for end to dredging project
By Times staff writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published June 13, 2002
For years, environmentalists have complained that Florida's mightiest river -- the Apalachicola -- is being ruined by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The corps dredges the river to let a dwindling fleet of barges travel north to Georgia and Alabama.
On Wednesday, Gov. Jeb Bush and the Florida Cabinet joined the critics, passing a resolution that asks Congress to pull the plug on the controversial dredging project.
"It's incredibly expensive -- higher than a $600 toilet seat the Department of Defense used to buy," Bush said before he and the Cabinet unanimously voted for the resolution.
The dredging costs taxpayers some $20-million a year, which works out to about $30,000 for every barge that goes upriver.
U.S. Sen. Bob Graham has been trying to get Congress to pull the plug on the dredging project for years, but has been unable to stop it.
Last year, Congress voted to spend $4.9-million to carry off some of the dredged sand. The sand -- including one pile called "Sand Mountain" that is as high as a four-story building -- obscures parts of the natural river bank.
The Apalachicola has rare species along it, and the sand piles keep fish from spawning normally. Sport fish populations have declined. In the meantime, fewer and fewer barges use the dredged channel.
"With all the environmental damage, and the cost, it simply doesn't make sense," Bush said.
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