August 1, 2007
Dredging project: second phase of testing now in process
The Appomattox dredging project, which will create a navigable waterway between Petersburg and the James River, is now in its early phases. Today’s P-I notes that soil testing is now underway.
The Army Corps of Engineers began collecting samples of the river bottom this week for a large-scale test of a process to handle the polluted mud….
These samples will see if a new plan to break down the contaminants will work, said Ron Reekes, Petersburg assistant director of public works….
Results of the field test should be ready in about six months, he said. If results are favorable, environmental assessments for the dredging project will be revised and the permits needed for the dredging will be obtained, he said.
Early phases??? This has been going on for twenty years, and this new plan to break down the contaminants has been offered long ago. Why is this process of dredging taking so long? Could it be the multi-million dollar figure that folk are trying to position themselves to receive? It should not be taking this long to do what whould absolutely benifit the city and the region.
What is the current status of the dredging project?
I use ‘early phases’ in the following sense: Since the project was suspended in the early 1990s when the contaminants were found, the testing that is now underway (approx. 15 years later) indicates new efforts/momentum toward realizing the end goal.