MOBILE, Ala. (NBC 15) — The Army Corps of Engineers is refusing to hold a public hearing on a controversial plan that would allow dredged material from the Mobile Harbor shipping channel to continue to be pumped in Mobile Bay as a future option – a practice critics call “mud dumping.” Environmental advocates say the decision shuts the public out of a debate that could impact the bay for decades. Meanwhile, oyster farmers say the practice is putting them out of business.
“It’s really been devastating,” said Bama Bay Oyster Farm owner Jackie Wilson.
Wilson says spraying dredged sediment from the shipping channel back into the bay smothered her oysters and wiped out 97% of her farm…