Massive PortMiami Dredge Project ‘Wiping Out’ Vast Coral Field

This is not the sort of headline you want to see. Project officials with the Army Corps say that the work must continue. Marine experts are concerned about the extent of the loss of coral, some of which could provide clues on adaptation to climate change. Click title for link.

While Illinois-based dredging contractor Great Lakes Dredge & Dock, which was hired to carry out the $205 million project [Port of Miami dredging of Government Cut], has relocated about 900 endangered and larger coral to an artificial reef as was required before dredging could begin, scientists say environmental studies underestimated the number and value of the coral living in the channel. Engineers, however, say delaying the project, which began over the weekend, would cost too much money.
"Taxpayers would be paying $50,000 to $100,000 a day to keep that dredge on standby and that's not happening," Susan Jackson, a spokesperson for the corps, told Reuters.
The dredge work will erase about seven acres of reef, including five untouched acres at the mouth of the channel.