April 1, 2009 — Citizens and business alike are worried about the effects of a proposed dumping site for dredging spoils from Charlotte Amalie Harbor.
The V.I. Port Authority and the West Indian Company Ltd. have applied to the Coastal Zone Management Commission for permission to dredge a channel to accommodate Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas — the worlds largest cruise ship.
The hearing will take place in the Port Authority's conference room at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
The proposed dredging will allow for a channel and a turning basin with a depth of 39 feet for the ship, which will be accommodated at the WICO dock. According to the application, the proposed dredging will generate approximately 162,520 cubic yards of spoils, which the application proposes to dump in Lindbergh Bay.
More than 50 years ago, Lindbergh Bay was the donor site of fill used to create Cyril King Airport.
"The mining of the northern part of Lindbergh Bay resulted in creation of a 33-acre, 35-foot-deep dredge hole," the application states.
The application goes on to say that reuse of dredge material as fill would help restore the bay's ecology.
Opponents disagree.
Local businesses and counsel for those raising concerns about the site are quick to say that they do not oppose the dredging of the harbor, but they believe the applicants should explore dumping the spoils elsewhere. Other sites suggested include three Army Corps of Engineers-approved sites off the coast of Puerto Rico, according to Gail Wasserman, who works for the attorney's representing the Coalition to Save Lindbergh Bay.
The coalition will hold a meeting at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Walker's By the Sea Restaurant. (See "Coalition to Save Lindbergh Bay Meets.")
There are environmental as well as business concerns to dumping in the bay, which is also home to four hotels.
"We will have a barge shooting the spoil dredge from the harbor for about six months," said Louis de Lyrot, owner of both the Best Western Emerald Beach and Best Western Carib Beach Resort. "This process would go on 24 hours, seven days a week. This is the kind of experience that tourists do not want."
Reached at the hotel, de Lyrot noted that he was watching a turtle swimming right in front of the beach.
Elizabeth Kadison, a marine biologist with the University of the Virgin Islands Center for Marine and Environmental studies, says the depression in Lindbergh Bay created by the mining has been healing itself over the past half century.
Testifying as an expert at the CZM hearing, Kadison said she was amazed at the life in the bay.
"I did the survey there over the last week," Kadison said. "When I dove it, we found a lot of new coral colonies and a huge diversity of fish and thousands of juvenile conch, as well as juvenile lobster, grouper and yellow tail snapper. There were over 50 species of fish."
Mother Nature is repairing the depression, according to Kadison, who observed seagrass growing around the outside of the bay. The hole seems to be filling itself in with sand, she said.
"It is absolutely taking care of itself," Kadison said. "The hole itself is not the issue — nature is taking care of the hole. What is in there now there is not a lot of diversity, but nature is filling the hole and taking its course in there."
Kadisson talked about the makeup of the proposed fill from the harbor.
"You don't have to dive to know what goes in there — there are a lot of toxins," Kadisson said. "When you pick up that sediment and dump it into a depression, it doesn't sit there — you are dumping fine sediment. There is current, wave action and wind action. The bay is open to the south, and everyone knows that we get a lot of wind from the southeast, so you dump a bunch of soft sediment in there composed of a lot of toxins, petroleum products and fine solids, and they will not stay there. They are going to disperse, and they are going to cover everything around the depression. You are not dumping a pile of rocks. What is around the depression is what I am concerned about."
WICO president Ed Thomas said that the applicants had explored other areas, and Lindberg Bay was the most feasible. Other sites reviewed to receive the spoils included Stalley Bay, land disposal and ocean dumping.
The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers-approved sites near Puerto Rico are only for Puerto Rican dumping activities, Thomas said. WICO and the Port Authority are prepared to defend the dumping site choice at the CZM hearing, he said.
Noting other arguments against the site that object to the noise and machinery, Thomas said that if the channel is not dredged, the Oasis of the Seas cannot come to the harbor.
"From a standpoint of economics, everyone knows the value of having the ship come," Thomas said.
Thomas pointed to the recent introduction of a bill in Congress to remove travel restrictions from Cuba and the impact that it can have on tourism in the Virgin Islands.
"If we didn't have a wakeup call before, we certainly have one today," Thomas said. "We've got to decide where we are going and what we want to do with the tourism industry, and cruise ships in particular."
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