Compare and contrast. First a small item in yesterdays NyPost:

DREDGE REPORT: BROOKLYN GAINING NAVY YARDAGE
By RICH CALDER

November 26, 2007 — The one slice of the Big Apple where industrial business is thriving is about to get even bigger to meet growing demand.
The 300-acre Brooklyn Navy Yard will soon be adding four acres through a dredging project that officials say will pave the way for more than $500 million in private investment at the city-owned industrial park - the greatest expansion there since World War II.
The dredging will take place off Wallabout Bay. Silt and other sediment collected will be used to fill a 15-foot-deep, unused basin off Kent Avenue in Williamsburg.
The new land, combined with an adjacent 12 acres used by city agencies, will house more than 2 million square feet of industrial, commercial and retail space, officials said.
The project is expected to create 3,000 new jobs at the Navy Yard.
“This project is a classic economic-development win-win,” said Andrew Kimball, president of the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corp., which oversees the industrial park.

And today’s Hour:

Those who have an idea on what to do with dredged material from Long Island Sound harbors can speak at any of six public meetings this week.

The closest one will be held tomorrow at the Westin hotel in Stamford, 1 Stamford Place, at 7 p.m. Others are scheduled in New Haven, New London and Long Island. One was held in New Rochelle yesterday.

“We’re going to be listening to fishermen, lobstermen, environmental groups and other non-government organizations,” said Larry Rosenberg, chief of public affairs for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. “We’re going to listen to trades, we’re going to listen to unions. We’re going to get as much information as humanly possible, then we’re going to make an analysis of what we gathered.”

Dredging is the removal of built up sediment or soil on underwater surfaces. The army corps often does this to ease navigation for ships and boats traveling through federal channels.
Private harbormasters may also clear out waterways that the U.S. doesn’t own. A dredging program in the Norwalk Harbor won’t be affected by the new plan, but future projects might.

Currently, dredged material is dumped at four locations in sound. There’s one each in the west and central sound, one off the coast of Old Saybrook, and one off the coast of New London.

In 2005, New York, Connecticut and the federal government agreed to restrict dumping of dredged soil in the sound. The agreement requires all parties to cooperate on a management plan for the material, including alternatives to dumping. The corps of engineers will fund and manage the plan.

Possible solutions include using suitable — that is, not contaminated — sediment to cap landfills, plug closed mines, fill in beaches and mix into cement. The plan could also outline strategies for treating contaminated sediment, which is typically buried deep underground.

“What the federal government has put together along with states of New York and Connecticut is a long-term view on how this very necessary dredging is going to be accomplished, and how the disposal of the materials dredged is also going to be accomplished,” Rosenberg said.

Not everyone agrees on the best way to get rid of uprooted sediment. Environmentalists worry that dredged material, even when deemed suitable, hurts marine life. Harbor managers say there’s currently no cost-efficient alternative.

Kasey Jacobs, state program coordinator for Citizens Campaign for the Environment, said eventually all dredged material should be reused, even if the expense is greater than open water dumping.

“Obviously that’s not going to happen overnight,” Jacobs said, “so we are looking for a comprehensive phase out plan.”

source: The Hour, Public input sought on dredged material By JARED NEWMAN, November 27, 2007