East Pass Dredging to Begin This Week
By Dusty Ricketts, The Destin Log, Fla.
Feb. 22–Captains in the Destin fishing fleet who have had problems making their way safely out of the shallow East Pass in recent months will see relief soon.
Dredging equipment that will remove excess sand from the East Pass that built up in last year’s hurricanes and storms began arriving in Destin Saturday and the bulk of the equipment arrived on Sunday, said Terry Jangula, site manager of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The dredge is expected to start removing sand from the pass today or Thursday, Jangula said.
“It’s really only about two weeks worth of work,” he said.
However, that two weeks is dependent on good weather. Jangula said he expects the job to take about 30 days to complete.
“As long as we don’t have crew or equipment problems, they’ll be working 24/7,” he said.
The dredge is expected to remove 200,000 cubic yards of sand from the East Pass and the outer sandbar in the Gulf.
Arrangements have been made for the sand pulled from the pass to be placed on nearby beaches that have lost sand during storms over the past two years.
Selection of the sites where the sand can be placed is determined by the Inlet Management Plan, which says that sand removed from East Pass must be deposited on Okaloosa Island.
The Corps has worked with the city of Destin to get a one-time change to the Inlet Management Plan so the city can deposit about half of the removed sand to critically eroded beaches on Holiday Isle. That change has not been approved yet by the state Department of Environmental Protection, Jangula said.
If the plan is not changed before the dredging is completed, the majority of the sand will be deposited on Okaloosa Island.
“It’s in DEP’s hands now,” Jangula said. “With the dredge costing $1,800 an hour, we can’t afford to wait.”
More than $900,000 had been appropriated by the government for the project as part of Hurricane Katrina relief funds. U.S. Rep Jeff Miller, who represents Destin, secured funding for the dredging with the help of City Hall staff and Destin Mayor Craig Barker.
The pass inside the jetties will be dredged to a depth of 14 feet, Jangula said, and the area south of the jetties at the outer sandbar will be dredged to 20 feet.
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