Court refuses to block dredging of river [View All]

[Judi Lynn]

Aug. 23, 2006, 11:17PM
Court refuses to block dredging of river


By TIM FOUGHT Associated Press Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press

PORTLAND, Ore. — A federal appeals court on Wednesday rejected an attempt by environmentalists to block the dredging of 103 miles of the Columbia River.
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The project could be finished in two to four years, depending on how fast Congress supplies money, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said.

In a 2-1 decision, a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said a lower court correctly decided that the corps had taken the "hard look" that environmental laws require to protect salmon in the river.
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"The corps is wont to undervalue costs and overvalue benefits so that it can get on with its mission _ constructing water projects," Fletcher wrote.
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Environmentalists objected to the corps' plan to dump sediment off the continental shelf in the Pacific Ocean, taking it out of the natural system that would replenish beaches in Oregon and Washington state and aggravating the damage coastal erosion does to ecosystems and local economies.
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http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/4137908.html