Port Expansions (SC, GA)

The ports of Savannah and Charleston are engaged in a "race to the bottom" to deepen their harbors and expand facilities to attract more container ship traffic from around the world. These dredging and port-expansion projects are carried out by the local port authority and the Army Corps of Engineers.

A Lack of Analysis

Due to strong political pressure from state and local interests and their congressional representatives, the Corps has approved these projects without analyzing either the regional environmental impacts or the effect each port expansion will have on the economic viability of the others.

Growth Along the East Coast

In addition to Charleston and Savannah, eight other ports along the East Coast are making plans to grow. The Corps’ own information shows that competition among harbors for subsidized expansions could lead to more port capacity than is needed, yet the agency failed to examine the environmental and economic aspects of multiple dredging projects on the east coast before approving the Savannah and Charleston projects.

SELC Takes Action

Representing coastal conservation organizations in South Carolina and Georgia, SELC is advising the Corps to look at the big picture of port expansion, coordinate projects to work with, rather than against, each other and consider all environmental impacts of the harbor expansions in the formulation of the draft environmental impact statements.