US court stymies Savannah dredging by giving go-ahead to new eco-suit

US DISTRICT Judge Richard Gergel has slowed down the Savannah Harbour Expansion Project after ruling against the dismissal of an environmentalist lawsuit aimed at blocking a pollution permit for the US$650 million dredging of the Savannah River.

"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," said Judge Gergel.

Just as the long, arduous planning and approval process is coming to an end, the judge allowed suit against the US Army Corps of Engineers' approval of the deepening of a 38-mile channel to 47 feet to proceed.

The dredging is needed by the Georgia Port Authority (GPA) to accommodate larger containerships that will call when the Panama Canal is expanded to accommodate 13,000-TEU ships in 2014. Savannah handles fully laden 6,000-TEUers, but 12,000 TEU ships have called at the port with less than capacity loads.

Filed by the Southern Environmental Law Centre on behalf of the Augusta-based Savannah Riverkeeper, the plaintiffs hold that the project will dredge up toxic cadmium in river silt that will be dumped on the South Carolina side of the river. The plaintiffs want the court to decide if the corps needs a pollution permit issued by the South Carolina environmental agency.

The corps had asked the court to dismiss the suit, saying the plaintiffs have not been harmed and that the case is premature, but the judge disagreed, saying it was a good time to hear the case, given that construction on the project is set to begin in less than a year.