St. Johns Riverkeeper will challenge river-dredging project in federal court

[Noone]

Dredging projects are up for discussion and review at the 1/8/16 FIND subcommittee meeting of the Jacksonville Waterways Commission at 10:30 am on the 4th floor of city hall. Open to the Public. Nobody was at the last 11/20/15 meeting when all these dredging projects were unveiled. Has anyone seen the list published or mentioned anywhere?

Will there be anyone at this next meeting? DIA, SJRA, SJRK, UNF, JU, KJB, EPB, WJXT, WOKV, OED, RFA, CTDC, MJ, TU, DR, Folio,

This is OUR property tax money.

[Ocklawaha]

I don't think we're behind at all. Many are basing this on the canal opening and starting the flow of post-Panamax ships but that's really not the case. The case is the smaller ships are going away but it will be a multi year process. In fact many of the new ships won't sail because the door is open, many are still on the planning boards. So I'm confident we can grow into this assuming our place as more ships and more ports slowly come online. Right now the race is for a very limited number of ships, but that will change with time.

[NaldoAveKnight]

^ yeah but Mayor Curry just disbanded the dredging task force and is full steam ahead with whatever JaxPort decides they want

That's probably because the previous Jacksonville mayor stuck his head in the sand while the coral down in Miami was destroyed with their dredging project.  We should have dredged many years ago, capturing the lion's share of the new larger ship traffic.  Miami wouldn't have gone forward with their dredge if Jax was already setup to accept the new ships.  The only environmental impact in Jax was oyster beds, not priceless coral reefs that can never be replaced.

Hurray for the brilliant dredging task force!  Let's bring them back so they can create more environmental disasters and shaft the local economy.

[Noone]

Agenda item VII at the 3/14/16 EPB Environmental Protection Board meeting was a St. John's Riverkeeper update by Lisa Rinaman. What I took away from her comments is that Jaxport will pay for all future mitigation associated with the dredging project if it moves forward. So does this mean that Jaxport will pay to take out the Rodman Dam?

Does Putnam county know about this?

[ChriswUfGator]

We need to do whatever necessary to stay competitive as a port. It's basically the last real global economic engine we have left. The corporate headquarters and everything else got bought out or packed up and moved.

[PeeJayEss]

We need to do whatever necessary to stay competitive as a port.

So basically, there's no need to justify a project based on its merit or minimization of negative environmental impacts as long as it makes the port facility more desirable to shippers? Shippers that may not find the Jacksonville location all that attractive no matter how deep or wide the channel.

[Tacachale]

^There's plenty of evidence in the studies for the impact these improvements will have. While some of the estimates of the benefits seem to be exaggerated, the anti-port side also exaggerates the negatives.

[Noone]

At the 4/13/16 Jacksonville Waterways Commission meeting councilman Jim Love asked Lisa Rinaman what would be acceptable mitigation on her DEP Dredging update that was part of the agenda. Restoration of the Ocklawaha. Pressed further by councilman Love does this mean the removal of the Rodman Dam? "Yes." was her reply.

Does Putnam county know about this?