Congressman Andrews Asks President Obama Not to Fund Dredging Project

Yesterday, Congressman Andrews wrote a letter to Peter Orszag, Director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Barack Obama, urging the President not to seek federal funding of the Army Corps of Engineers’ proposal to dredge the Delaware River. In 2002, the General Accounting Office discredited the Army Corps of Engineers' (ACOE) analysis of this project, specifically indicating that the ACOE grossly misrepresented the costs and benefits of the project.

While in late 2002 the ACOE re-evaluated their original cost-benefit analysis, stating that they dredging project will profit at a 1.18 to 1 ratio, the GAO found that the project would result in a 0.49 to 1 loss. However, the ACOE failed to address costs associated with the disposal for much of the dredge spoils that will result from the project.

In addition, the ACOE based its study on environmental reports dating back to the 1980’s. Therefore, an updated analysis is needed, which will take into account changes that have occurred to the site over the past decades. While Congressman Andrews and environmentalists have requested that the ACOE conduct a more up to date study, the ACOE has been unresponsive to these requests.

Therefore, in light of these concerns, Congressman Andrews hosted a conference call with members of the media to announce his request to President Obama and voice his concerns with the dredging project. Click on the below links to read the stories resulting from this conference call.

http://www.courierpostonline.com/article/20090127/NEWS01/901270339/1006/news01

http://www.nj.com/gloucester/index.ssf?/base/news-4/1233033009269320.xml&coll=8

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