Port Commission Authorizes $1.5 Million for Ship Channel Dredging

HOUSTON, TX — The Port Commission of the Port of Houston Authority recently approved $1.5 million in funding for maintenance dredging of a portion of the ship channel.

The funds will go to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The funds are part of a local/federal effort to improve the safety and efficiency of a part of the ship channel known as the Bayport flare area.

While dredging is generally a minor issue, with the large amount of legacy pollutants in the sediments of Galveston Bay and the Houston Ship Channel, many of them tied to the San Jacinto River Waste Pits Superfund site, there is always the possibility that toxic chemicals like polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and dioxins could further impact the food web.

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