Groups Argue Port Everglades Project Would Damage Reefs

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FT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami/NSF) – Conservation groups have announced they will sue the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers unless plans to deepen Port Everglades are altered to protect already-threatened reefs.

In providing a 60-day notice of intent to sue, a coalition including Miami Waterkeeper, Earthjustice, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Florida Wildlife Federation pointed to damage to reefs during the dredging of PortMiami last year.

"During the dredging of PortMiami, the Army Corps illegally injured and killed Endangered Species Act-listed staghorn corals and buried alive more than 200 football fields of reef habitat," a release from the groups said. "The damage stemmed from the corps' failure to collect and use accurate, up-to-date information or adequately account for potential impacts to nearby reefs."

In a release, the Army Corps said it works to protect marine resources in South Florida, carried out the Miami Harbor project in accordance with a biological opinion issued by the National Marine Fisheries Service, relocated threatened staghorn coral away from the project area and will conduct "a definitive survey of the affected areas this summer" with other agencies to determine if additional improvements are needed.

"Critics of the Miami deepening have made numerous statements that overstate the extent and degree of the effects of the project," the Army Corps release said. The estimated $374 million Port Everglades project, which is on a timetable to be completed by 2022 and awaits final congressional funding, would widen the entrance channel and deepen the main navigational channels from 42 feet to 48 feet.

The News Service of Florida contributed to this report.