In Reply to: Meeting w/Army Corps of Engineers about Vets Park project posted by Ken Kurtis on January 06, 2013 at 19:30:59:

First off Ken, thank you for addressing this issue. Next, I have to admire your chutzpa dealing with USACE. I know they do excellent work – sometimes, but working with them is like pushing a string. I would never say that they prevaricate, for most of them are officers and gentlemen, however when working on the main channel deepening project as part of the LAH Pier 400 project there were more than a couple of issues which did not show the Corps in the best light that were omitted from their findings. United Anglers “caught” the USACE when they claimed no natural reef structure had been destroyed in the dredging when indeed many acres of reef bottom had been wiped out. When “caught” and after admitting the “error” USACE offered to make amends by placing any material they dredged up larger than 2 meters in a new, designated reef area much larger the natural reef they had destroyed.

Here comes the good part-

The material they dredged up and moved to the new location was a compressed siltstone. It was fine as an undisturbed strata layer, but once dredged out of the bottom and exposed to open water, this material lost all structure and dissolved… The area where this siltstone material was placed went from a unremarkable benthic community with the usual flatfish, starfish, crabs, clams, sea pens, etc. to a dead zone. As the new reef material melted, it created a sterile silt cap from 3 to 15 inches thick across the bottom. Where there was a lightly populated sand bottom environment before, after the USACE “fix” there was a brown ooze reminiscent of melted chocolate ice cream.

Ken, again, thank you and good luck. Call me if I can be of assistance in any way.

Patrick