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Monday, August 15, 2016

Changing Chesapeake: The Billion-Dollar Man-Made Island

When Justin Callahan first arrived on Poplar Island, there wasn't much to see.

"There was literally nothing left out here," he said.

A project manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Callahan explained how the once-inhabited island had eroded away from 1,140 acres in 1847 to less than five in 1993.

But the island is now bigger than ever because the government needed a place to put thousands of gallons of dredge.

"We're actually taking something that doesn't really have any particular use and we're using it to restore a vanishing habitat here in the Chesapeake Bay,” Callahan said.

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8 comments:

Anonymous said...

So if the sea level is rising why bother dredging, the channel will become deeper on its own.

Anonymous said...

Because as it rises silt and spoils carried in the currents settle on the bottom negating any depth changes from the rise.

Anonymous said...

Sea level isn't rising.

Anonymous said...

Look up subsidence and chesapeake, and why can't use the spoil on smith or tangier? Because the enviro dem wingnut toadies think a nature preserve is more important than people

Anonymous said...

Theres no way on earth it should cost that much, somebodies getting a major kick-back. The state could by the barges , equipment and hire crews to dredge 365 days a year and it would only cost a small portion of that. And yeah they could save Smith Is, Hollands Is and many other areas that desperately need that material. We're being conned on so many things. Our government is so terribly corrupt and lacking.

Anonymous said...

There's a lot more needed than just equipment and crews. Fuel costs, insurance costs, permitting, equipment transportation fees, inspection fees, equipment maintenance fees just to name a few.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
Look up subsidence and chesapeake, and why can't use the spoil on smith or tangier? Because the enviro dem wingnut toadies think a nature preserve is more important than people

August 15, 2016 at 6:22 PM

I was going to say the same exact thing. This proves that the environmentalists are whackos!

Anonymous said...

Now it is a man-made island created using toxic mud dredged from the Baltimore harbor. They really couldn't put that toxic slurry anywhere else. Animals won't know the difference, but humans are prohibited from the island due to its extremely toxic nature. I've seen it...it is some massive project to see, from a boat, because you can't legally set foot on it.