Appeals court backs San Juan dredging project

WASHINGTON (CN) — An D.C. Circuit panel has ruled a federal dredging project to increase capacity for Puerto Rico’s San Juan Bay can move forward.

The panel ruled in favor of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Friday.

The Center for Biological Diversity, El Puente de Williamsburg Inc. and CORALations sued to stop the project, which they say was fast-tracked amid the devastation of hurricanes Irma and Maria, skirting proper public review and effective environmental analysis. 

A federal judge ruled in favor of the government last year, prompting the appeal.

“Because the Corps and the service did not act arbitrarily or capriciously in carrying out their responsibilities to evaluate environmental concerns, we affirm [the decision],” U.S. Circuit Judge Florence Pan, a Joe Biden appointee, wrote for the panel.

Curtin Maritime Corp. of Long Beach, California, started working on the $58.7 million project last month. It is a joint undertaking by the Corps of Engineers and the Puerto Rico Ports Authority. About $44.7 million was allocated through the bipartisan infrastructure law and the authority will provide $14 million.

San Juan’s port handles billions in imports and exports each year and is among the top cruise ship destinations in the world. The project, which would remove 2.2 million cubic yards of seafloor over 14 months, is designed to help attract bigger cruise ships and larger oil, cargo and natural gas carriers. 

Puerto Rico officials have said one benefit would be for ships to increase their shipments of liquefied natural gas from 5.2 million gallons to 34.3 million gallons.

“Dredging in San Juan Bay is already disrupting communities and imperiled coral ecosystems, and I’m really disappointed the court’s decision didn’t recognize the threat it poses,” said Emily Jeffers, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The massive LNG infrastructure [that] dredging makes way for will undermine Puerto Rico’s clean energy future at a pivotal moment. From beginning to end, the Army Corps didn’t give local people enough of a voice in this project, and officials failed to take a hard look at the real risks.”

The environmental groups argued that the government did not do its due diligence while studying the possible impacts of the project and violated the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. They are particularly concerned about the effects on water quality and coral reefs.

On appeal, they argued the Corps didn’t consider the full scope of its project when determining the environmental impact, didn’t properly analyze the effects on minority and low-income communities and had faulty scientific analysis on certain species of coral.

Much of the appeals court’s decision centers on technicalities, saying complaints about the project weren’t first submitted during the public review process and thus cannot be appealed through litigation. On other points, it decided that the Corps acted within the requirements of the laws while conducting its analyses. 

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