The dredging projects for the Eastpoint Channel and 2 mile channel have taken another big step forward.
Special projects consultant Alan Pierce told county commissioners on Tuesday that the Department of Environmental Protection has issued the permits needed to dredge the two channels.
The County is now waiting on the paperwork it needs from the Army Corps of Engineers so it can get the funding for the projects from the Gulf Consortium.
Each dredging project is expected to cost around 3 million dollars – the Corps of Engineers already has one million dollars in hand from an allocation through congress.
The rest of the funding will come from the Gulf Consortium, a group created after the BP oil spill which is distributing billions of dollars in BP oil spill money to counties that were hit hardest by the spill.
These dredging projects have been waiting for years and commissioners do not want to wait any longer.
The Eastpoint Channel hasn't been dredged since 1985 and is now so shallow most boats can't even use it except on high tide.
That channel will be dredged from just west of the Eastpoint boat ramp to Barbers Seafood on the East, the original length, width and depth of the channel.
The two mile channel will be dredged from the mouth of the Apalachicola River to the Olin B. Ward waterfront park.
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