Imagine diving into the crystal-clear waters offshore of Miami, only to find yourself surrounded by a scene of devastation. A moonscape. The water, once teeming with life, is clouded with sediment, and vibrant coral reefs are now buried beneath a layer of sand. This is the grim reality made manifest by the PortMiami dredging project that occurred from 2013 to 2015. The project resulted in catastrophic damage to adjacent coral reefs, triggering legal action by Miami Waterkeeper and co-plaintiffs. Despite the dredging company’s initial attempts to downplay the environmental impact, subsequent scientific research uncovered extensive coral mortality, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has now released a report that supports our finding that millions of corals were likely killed and at least 278 acres of the Florida Reef Tract were severely impacted.
What you need to know
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps) is pushing forward a massive expansion dredging project at Fort Lauderdale’s Port Everglades. Under current plans, intensive construction, set to begin in 2028, would unleash plumes of sediment pollution that could smother millions of corals and hundreds of acres of reef.
Miami Waterkeeper spent over a decade working to hold the Corps accountable for the damage caused during the last major dredging project at PortMiami, just 30 miles away, in 2013-2015. The disastrous dredge buried over 278 acres of reef and killed millions of corals — and most of the damage was never repaired. After reviewing the Corps’ environmental strategy, Miami Waterkeeper has determined that the proposed Port Everglades project would be an even bigger disaster, leaving many protections on the table by refusing to apply lessons from PortMiami or implement proven approaches to minimize the damage.
