Subject: Re: Deepen the Columbia?
Date: Feb 18 13:54:17 1996
From: Kelly McAllister - alleyes at tssnet1.tss.net



Jon. Anderson wrote:

> And shouldn't the other uses of the river be considered in discussions of
such a >major plan?

The recurring need to dredge the channel of the Columbia River is the main
reason why we are unable to forget past practices that contributed a variety
of poisons to the sediments. Not to say that some poisons aren't still
being added, but the dredging stirs up heavy metals, PCBs, DDE, and who
knows what all where it can be resorbed into the food web to harm the health
of many animals such as (at the very least) river otters, mink, osprey, and
bald eagles. New, cleaner sediments often seal off the old and make the
contaminants less available. In the Columbia, we keep stirring it up and
allowing the bad stuff to resurface. Discussions of channel deepening
definitely need to include solutions to this long-term problem.

Kelly McAllister
alleyes at tssnet1.tss.net