Paper Industry News
Paper Columbia dredging benefits could fall short
Saturday, 24, April 2010
Twenty years ago, a massive dredging effort to deepen 103 miles of the mighty Columbia River held the promise of securing Oregon's connection to the rest of the world.At 43 feet, the channel - otherwise too shallow to compete with deep-water ports - could play host to today's larger vessels and more efficiently send Northwest wheat and steel to markets around the globe.
But with the Columbia River Channel Improvement project drawing to a close by the end of this year, the environmental and economic promises of the now $178.4 million project could fall short of the taxpayer investment, especially in an economy that's resulted in an unprecedented decline in international trade, a review by The Oregonian found.The cost of the project, estimated at $134 million in 2003 to calculate its cost-benefit, has grown by 33 percent and taken years longer to complete than expected.
