Spanish Fort wants to study Causeway dredge spoil plans

City wants comment period for project to create wetlands extended

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SPANISH FORT – City Council members said they want more time to study a proposal to use material dredged from Mobile Bay to build a 1,200-acre wetland south of the Causeway.

The Spanish Fort City Council voted Monday, Dec. 20, to ask the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to extend its comment period on the project beyond Jan. 2.

David Conner, city attorney, said Spanish Fort officials want more information about the potential disposal of dredge spoil close to the Causeway.

“When people want to think about dredging the ship channel, they think that’s a good thing, but what they’re talking about doing in theory is a mile and a half south of the Causeway in about 3 feet of water, taking the dredge spoil and creating what could be a 1,200-acre island system that they plan to turn into wetlands or try to address as wetlands with the dredge,” Conner said.

Mayor Mike McMillan said he is worried about potential pollutants in the dredged materials placed just offshore at the city limits.

“I am certainly for the State Docks, which is a major economic engine for our community without a doubt, but I’m very concerned about what’s in there,” McMillan said. “They’ve told me they’re going to send me some reports, but we have not seen them.”

He said the comment period began Dec. 2 and ends Jan. 2. He said many residents might not have time to study the issue during the holidays.

“I think it’s more prudent to sit back and extend this out for 60 days and have more people look at it,” McMillan said.

Councilman J.R. Smith said the corps should also include requirements to test the dredged materials.

“When you’re talking about dredging ship channels with ships coming from all over the world and then taking that and dumping it in a very sensitive ecosystem that spawns a lot of fish and shrimp and feeder fish and other fish, I think you have a huge chance of making a mistake,” Smith said.

The proposal calls for the wetland area to be built up on the site over a 40-year period. Smith said the material should be tested each time it is dumped.

“I don’t want somebody to pull a dredge sample and say this is all we are going to be doing,” Smith said. “Every time they start to dredge something, it should be tested before it’s dumped. You can’t start dredging today and come back in six months and dredge more and pump it or haul it and dump it and know that what you’re dumping this year, next year and the year after is of the same quality and caliber with what you dredged and dumped from the spot you took to do your testing.”

The project would use material dredged from the Mobile Bay ship channel that is now dumped into the Gulf to create three wetlands areas. During the project, about 9.5 million cubic yards of material would be placed in three containment dikes protected by rock breakwaters, according to Corps of Engineers reports.