Boost for Columbia River dredging project

Deepening the river from 40 to 43 ft allows Columbia River ports to be more competitive in attracting and retaining deeper draft vessels while sustaining jobs and boosting the economy. The announcement came as welcome news to the Columbia River Channel Coalition, a coalition of ports, businesses, labor unions, and farmers that have been working with the US Army Corps of Engineers on the project, including the ports of Portland and St. Helens in Oregon; and Kalama, Longview, Vancouver and Woodland in Washington. The Corps of Engineers estimates that the requested funding will be sufficient to complete all the environmental features of the project, including the mitigation and ecosystem restoration, and complete all the deepening work, except for one mile with rocky conditions near St. Helens, Oregon. Additional investigation is underway to determine whether removal will be required at that site. Deepening the river involves the removal of shoals and the tops of sand waves from the navigation channel along the 103.5 mile stretch. The project is more than halfway complete. Embodied in the improvement project are a host of fish and wildlife ecosystem restoration measures.