Posted on June 15, 2026
CHARLESTON — The Army Corps of Engineers has a long, muddy history in Charleston Harbor.
Its first deepening of the harbor was in 1857, just a few years before the start of the Civil War. Over the next 170 years the Army Corps continued to deepen, expand and augment the harbor to make it safer for ships to navigate.
Now the Corps want your opinion on future dredging and deepening work.
The department is seeking public input on how it should approach future dredging, with an eye toward potential environmental impacts. The feedback is being sought as the Army Corps undertakes a process to overhaul how it handles dredging maintenance, including the timing of such work, across four Southeast ports.
The Corps’ Charleston district will host two virtual public hearings on the work on June 16 and June 17. The June 16 meeting will run 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and can be found at https://bit.ly/4v3mi69. The June 17 meeting is set for 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. and can be found at https://bit.ly/43uZXT2.
The Corps will use the feedback to develop a Draft Environmental Impact Statement, which will be put through another round of public inspection and comment in spring 2027. The Impact Statement won’t “consider or assess any changes in channel dimensions, dredged material volumes, or dredged material placement options,” per a press release.
The Corps does minor dredging work each year to maintain the channel. The last major deepening project wrapped in 2022, and deepened the federal channel to 52 feet.
“That was a $600 million-plus project that most people can’t see because it’s underwater,” said Jeff Livasy, Civil Works Chief at the Army Corps’ Charleston Branch. “The only other infrastructure project of that magnitude in Charleston is the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge, which can be seen for miles around.”
Riley Egger, advocacy and policy director for Charleston Waterkeeper, said it’s difficult to determine what the environmental impact of the proposed dredging updates will be this early in the process. She said the Environmental Impact Statement likely will provide more clarity.
“We’re going to continue to monitor this, and we’re gonna be evaluating the draft EIS when it’s released,” Egger said.
“ But the bottom line is we can’t backslide,” she added. “ We cannot move forward and have our procedures be less protective (of wildlife and water quality) than what we already have in place.”
Prior dredging work has had a negative impact on at least one beloved local species.
During one 24-hour span in 2021, dredging operations in the Charleston Harbor killed five endangered sea turtles, The Post and Courier reported. That mortality event came after the Army Corps extended its dredging work into May — a move the Corps was legally permitted to do, but that coincided with the start of sea turtle nesting season.
Crab Bank and marsh restoration
Much of the dredged material from the 52-foot deepening project went to renourish Crab Bank, a strip of land adjacent to Mount Pleasant’s Old Village. Crab Bank, which was originally made with dredged material, was almost completely destroyed in 2017’s Hurricane Irma. The sand bar provides a nesting site for more than a dozen migratory bird species and the year-round Brown Pelican.
“ The Army Corps has a lofty goal of 70 percent of beneficial use of dredged material by 2030,” Egger explained.
The renourishment of Crab Bank required 660,000 cubic yards of dredged material to restore about 32 acres, according to the Coastal Conservation League. As part of their dredging policy updates, the Corps has highlighted Crab Bank as a “Potential Beneficial Use Site” for dredged material.
The Corps also might use dredged material to help create and renourish local marshes, and for “thin-layer placement” — essentially covering an existing marsh with a layer of mud to help stabilize and renourish the ecosystem.
“As sedimentation occurs and material becomes available, Bird Key Stono, another seabird sanctuary at the mouth of the Stono Inlet, has received dredged material and is renourished,” Lorianne Riggin, director of the S.C. Department of Natural Resources’ Office of Environmental Programs.
Tiny islands like Crab Bank and coastal salt marshes are increasingly at risk of erosion, as rising sea levels push tides higher and warmer waters fuel a new, more powerful generation of hurricanes. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts that sea levels in the area will rise about a foot by 2050.
And, even if they don’t strike the state, strengthening hurricanes can erode local beaches and sea islands from a distance.
In 2025, Hurricane Erin’s eye passed more than 200 miles off the East Coast, according to NOAA. The Category 5 storm was still powerful enough to erode local beaches.
