The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, responsible for maintaining the channel that brings ships into the Port of Mobile, is defending its practice of depositing dredged sediment back into the bay – a practice called “thin layer placement,” or sometimes, “mud dumping.”
“Thin-layer placement is not ‘mud dumping,’” said Brigadier General Zachary Miller, who commands the Corps’ South Atlantic Division. “It is a measured, monitored, and science-based sediment management practice designed to mirror natural sediment processes that have shaped Mobile Bay over thousands of years.”
In an open letter, Miller said that it’s not true that the practice is the main driver of oyster and seagrass decline in the bay. Thin layer placement involves depositing dredged sediment in open-water locations throughout the bay, which environmental advocates say increases the cloudiness of the water and jeopardizes marine species…