Army Corps plan for Columbia River dredge spoils could cost SW Washington ports millions

The federal agency that maintains the Columbia River’s shipping channel is proposing to build seven giant in-water pens as part of a $377 million project to manage dredge spoils over the next 20 years.

Meanwhile, the river’s shipping industry is working to get local ports off the hook for part of the $132 million they will soon have to pay for the project.

Shippers move tens of billions of dollars in goods on the channel each year, which in turn generates tens of thousands of jobs. But all of that depends on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and partners removing 9 million cubic yards of sediment every year to allow increasingly massive ships to reach southwest Washington’s ports.

Now, 16 years after the channel was deepened to 43 feet, the region is running out of places to dump dredged sediment. The Corps is looking to address the problem with a new approach: placing dredged material in giant pens within the river.

https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2026/03/19/army-corps-plan-for-columbia-river-dredge-spoils-could-cost-sw-washington-ports-millions/