It will sequester the dredged materials away from the rest of Portland Harbor’s ecosystem.The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is tapping two companies to undertake the massive rehabilitation of the Cagayan River, the country’s largest river. Instead, a special, multimillion dollar “aquatic disposal cell” must be designed and built. It’s contaminated enough to pose a threat to local fisheries, including lobsters. The material cannot be hauled up and just dumped at sea. Toxic contaminants in the silt, left behind by centuries of waterfront industry, contribute to the prohibitive costs of dredging the harbor with local funds, alone. “We’ve got underwater video of Parker Poole’s boat propeller churning up the contaminated silt below, as well,” Bell said. “We have to make sure we don’t load up the boats at dead low tide,” he said.īell’s video includes wharfside interviews with stakeholders like Poole, as well as lobstermen and members of Portland’s fireboat crew. Poole’s business has to be ready to lend a hand to mariners in need at all tides, 24 hours a day. “It’s starting to get dicey leaving or coming back to the dock at low tide.”
“A lot of these slips have been losing about six inches a year in depth from runoff and settling sediment,” said Parker Poole IV, who owns Determination Marine, a marine towing and salvage company docked at Portland’s Union Wharf.
More sediment is also derived from winter road sand and construction materials washing into the harbor. Portions of the sediment materials are natural, being transported to the harbor via rivers and driven between piers by regular waves, as well as storm surges. Portland Harbor has not been dredged in more than 70 years and is in sore need of it now, according to the Dredge Team. Needleman said the numbers are basically accurate, though they may change slightly as the application deadline gets closer, depending on several factors including inflation.
That includes $10 million in state-administered federal ARPA funds, which were not available the last time the grant application was turned down in August.Īt that time, the Dredge Team was asking for $18 million in RAISE funds. About $22 million has already been secured, according to Portland Waterfront Coordinator William Needelman. The entire dredging project is expected to cost somewhere in the vicinity of $32 million. The effort is the latest in a string of, so far, unsuccessful bids to bring in federal dollars. 21, 2023, while filming a video aimed at securing federal grant money for a Portland Harbor dredging project. Stakeholders gather on a South Portland mudflat on Saturday afternoon.Jan.
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