Study challenges benefits of Delaware River deepening
12:50 PM, Jan. 6, 2012
Written by
JEFF MONTGOMERY
The News Journal
“Highly unlikely†economic benefits have been used to justify continued deepening of the Delaware River main shipping channel, according to an independent study commissioned by opponents of the nearly $300 million project.
The criticisms emerged as Army Corps of Engineers contractors wrap up deepening work on the first 16 miles of the 103-mile long channel between Philadelphia and the sea, work that cut part of the river bottom to 45 feet from its previous 40 foot depth.
Pennsylvania and port interests have covered all construction funding to date as an advance payment of local matching funds. But opponents said today that renewed public scrutiny of costs and an ongoing court challenge should stop work before the Corps begins pouring federal taxpayer money into the job.
“I conclude that the Corps’ estimated benefit-cost ratio claim that you get $1.64 back on every dollar spent is overinflated to the point that you can’t justify the project at all,†said Robert N. Stearns, an economist and former deputy assistant secretary of the Army who was commissioned to review the project by a coalition of taxpayer and environmental groups.
Stearns said that the Corps’ most-recent economic justification for the project heavily overstated likely savings that a deeper channel would mean for fruit and vegetable shipments to the Philadelphia region. Those commodities account for more than half the containership benefits cited in supporting studies, he said, adding that it was a “virtual certainty†that justifications would evaporate if more-realistic assumptions are used.
The deepening, hotly debated for decades, was originally cited as a boon mainly for the oil industry, with as much as 80 percent of economic benefits expected to come from new access for deeper-bottomed oil tankers.
Emphasis has since shifted to bulk and containerized cargo savings as Delaware River refineries have announced shutdown plans or confirmed that they would not take advantage of deeper passage.
Maya van Rossum, who directs the Delaware Riverkeeper environmental group, said the Corps had consistently relied on “inaccurate, biased and clearly manipulated information†to support their deepening plans.
Supporters of the project, including the Markell administration and the Port of Wilmington’s Diamond State Port Corp., have argued that the Delaware River needs a deeper channel to accommodate and compete for business with new generations of deepwater vessels.
Edward Voigt, spokesman for the Corps’ regional office in Philadelphia, said this morning that schedules and funding decisions have yet to be developed for the next phase of the deepening, although the next deepening section will likely be north of Fox Point. Contractors already have done most work between the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal and the Fox Point area.