Posted on February 21, 2016
By Jenny Staletovich, Miami Herald
A “catastrophic” outbreak of disease, not mud churned up by the $205 million “Deep Dredge” at PortMiami, killed coral in Government Cut, according to a report issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The two-year-long dredging raised concerns after biologists and environmentalists began documenting damage to coral and seagrass struggling in cloudy water as 5 million cubic yards of mud was barged to an offshore dumping site. Dredgers deepened the channel by more than 50 feet to make way for massive new ships sailing through an expanded Panama Canal. In September, federal wildlife managers with the National Marine Fisheries Service warned the Corps damage covered four times the area allowed under its permit.
READ FULL ARTICLE HERE
