Hi folks,

I usually don't forward News Articles to the list, but am wondering what
effect more dredging will have on the Columbia Estuary relative to the
nesting terns? Since our natural resource protection agencies are
already spending zillions of dollars in a mis-guided effort to destroy the
west coast's largest Caspian Tern colony to 'save the salmon', I can only
presume that the proposed project will create dredge spoils islands
resulting in many more nesting sites for the terns....

Have the Oregon/Washington border Audubon (or other conservation)
groups taken any positions on this new effort. Seems that the birds
are taking the brunt of the blame and 'conservation' efforts for the
salmon populations that have been decimated by dams and habitat
destruction.

Jon. (done ranting now) Anderson
Olympia, Washington
festuca at olywa.net

Forwarded message from the Columbian:

DREDGING FOE FILES SECOND COMPLAINT

Wednesday, December 8, 1999
By ERIK ROBINSON, Columbian staff writer
An opponent to a plan to deepen the Columbia River has filed a
second complaint alleging the project will disproportionately harm lower
river communities.

Peter Huhtala, executive director of the Columbia Deepening
Opposition Group alleges the federal government's own fisheries scientists
have raised alarm about the project. Huhtala filed a similar complaint in
September, claiming the project unfairly discriminates against poor people
who live at the river's mouth.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has proposed to deepen
115 miles of the lower Columbia and Willamette rivers to accommodate
bigger ships beginning to call on Portland, Vancouver, Kalama and
Longview.

Supporters believe the deepening project is critical to
maintaining the Columbia as a deep-draft shipping center, a venture that
directly supports 6,000 job and results in $13 billion worth of trade each
year.

In a complaint filed this week, Huhtala cited a Dec. 2 memo
written by National Marine Fisheries Service scientist John Stein, who
says the dredging might redistribute contaminated sediments from
industrialized sites upriver. Within weeks, the agency is expected to
issue an opinion on whether the project will jeopardize the survival of
12 imperiled salmon stocks.

"Redistribution of contaminants from upriver contaminated
dredge sites to shallow water, low-flow sites represents a potential for
bioaccumulation of toxics by outmigrating juvenile salmon that utilize
these habitats," the memo stated.

The memo noted that sediments from several sites, especially
the lower Willamette River, contain high concentrations of polycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbons, as well as DDTs, polychlorinated biphenyls and
metals.

In 1996, a report by the Lower Columbia River Bi-State
Program documented major pollution problems and ranked the Columbia
among America's most polluted rivers. The study found a range of
pollutants, including heavy metals, dioxins, furans, PCBs, DDT and
other pesticides.

But corps officials said the samples were taken in
slack-water areas, not the deep channel where dredging will take place.

The corps will need the states of Washington and Oregon to
agree that the project would not harm water quality in the river. The
Oregon Department of Environmental Quality is working on an evaluation, but the Washington Department of Ecology is waiting until
the corps decides on the project sometime early next year.

Huhtala said he believes the NMFS memo is a sign that
momentum is building against the project.

"I find it greatly useful to have opinions I've been
expressing all along vindicated by a federal agency like NMFS," Huhtala
said.
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