CONNERS, CONAWAY: BURLINGTON RIVER TOWNS SHOULD NOT BE DREDGE DUMPING GROUNDS

CONNERS, CONAWAY: BURLINGTON RIVER TOWNS
SHOULD NOT BE DREDGE DUMPING GROUNDS
Legislators Oppose Proposal to Dump Dredged Delaware River Spoils
In Coastal Communities

(DELRAN) - Assemblymen Jack Conners and Herb Conaway, MD, today announced their opposition to a proposal by the state Department of Environmental Protection and the US Army Corps of Engineers to dump up to 900,000 cubic yards of dredge material in towns along the Burlington/Camden Delaware River coastline.

"South Jersey's riverfront is changing for the better, and now this plan threatens to reverse recent progress that has strengthened local communities and is protecting delicate open space," said Conners (D-Pennsauken).

"The easy way out in dealing with these materials from the river bottom is to come ashore and simply dump the spoils within sight of homes and parks," said Conaway (D-Delran). "Our communities should not be a dumping ground of first resort."

According to a report in Sunday's Burlington County Times, seven sites are under consideration to receive silt and other material dredged from the bottom of the Delaware River:

· Newbold Island, Bordentown Township;
· Burlington Island, Burlington City;
· The Dunes property, West Avenue, Beverly and Delanco;
· Hawk Island, Delanco;
· Inman Avenue, Cinnaminson;
· Palmyra Cove Nature Park; and
· The Delair section of Pennsauken.

The lawmakers said they are in contact with officials at the state Department of Environmental Protection to learn the process used to select the proposed dumping sites. Conners and Conaway said they also are asking environmental officials to hold town meetings in each community to explain their reasoning and to listen to residents' concerns.

"State and US Army Corps officials have a responsibility to come and talk face-to-face with local residents," said Conaway. "Not one family should wake up to hear the rumbling of dump trunks coming to dump dredged materials at the end of their street when more logical, alternative sites may exist."

The Times story noted that several local officials were surprised to learn their communities were on the short-list for receiving the dredged materials since the process would create dumping grounds in close proximity to residential communities. Newbold Island also is thought to be a nesting ground for endangered bald eagles.

Conners and Conaway noted that local river towns have previously been the recipients of dredged materials, when 55,000 cubic yards of dredge spoils were dumped at Palmyra Cove Nature Park.

"The engineers and environmental officials working in the river need to go back to the drawing board and come up with a more sensible plan for dumping dredge spoils," said Conners. "The dredging of the Delaware River may be vital to keeping the waterway open for the flow of commerce. But we cannot allow whole communities to be discounted as the cost of doing business."

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