Court Upholds Dredging Project in San Juan Bay, Citing Minimal Environmental Impact on Coral Species.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has upheld the federal government’s assessment that a dredging project in Puerto Rico’s San Juan Bay will cause minimal environmental harm. The decision comes a month after project developer Curtin Maritime began deepening and widening the bay, which will allow larger liquefied natural gas tankers to reach Puerto Rico’s largest port. Judge Florence Pan of the D.C. Circuit stated that the Army Corps of Engineers and NOAA Fisheries have found that the project will likely not harm at-risk coral species. The court affirmed a lower court’s decision to uphold the lower government’s National Environmental Policy Act analysis and Fisheries’ finding that removing 76 million cubic feet of the ocean floor from the ocean would not harm the coral species at risk.