Wayne Gilchrest: “I have come full circle in realizing that not only is this project bad environmentally, not only because of the dredge…”

“I have come full circle in realizing that not only is this project bad environmentally, not only because of the dredge material and where it is going to be disposed of, but because of the ground water and the aquifers when we deepen this canal and the problems that that will cause. Also, the reason the cost-benefit analysis, the reason we are here today, and the feasibility study did not go through in December of 1996 was because we are spending money, Federal taxpayers' dollars, and we are getting no benefit. The argument that the Port of Baltimore desperately needs this goes counter to the records of the Corps of Engineers' evaluation that there will be no increase in commerce as a result of the deepening. Not only will there be no increase in commerce, there has been a steady decline of container cargo moving through the canal over the past 4 or 5 or 6 years. Mr. Chairman, most of the ships, 60 percent of the ships that can use the C&D Canal right now choose not to use it.”