SHAWN SULLIVAN/Courier-Post Jane Nogaki of Marlton, of the New Jersey Enviromental Federation, holds signs during an anti-dredging protest outside a DRPA public hearing on proosed toll hikes at the Woodcrest Station in Cherry Hill on June 22, 1999.

Opponents have united under the slogan, Dump the Delaware Deepening Project. Earlier this year, protesters picketed the John Wanamaker Building in Philadelphia, headquarters for the corps' Philadelphia district. To demonstrate their opposition to what they consider political pork barrel, they wore pig noses and carried signs saying "Corps Sucks Muck."

Proponents--who consist largely of labor, business and government--are rallying under the slogan DIG IT, an acronym for Dredging to Improve General Infrastructure and Throughput, a synonym for cargo volume.

"Deep water is the single most important piece of infrastructure for any port," says Leo Holt, whose family is the largest private operator in the Delaware River port district, employing more than 1,500 people.

"If you want to play in the big game, you have to bring this chip to the table. Channel deepening is a major public works project, not unlike the highway system.

"Cargo is out there for the taking if you can offer deep water, a solid labor force and up-to-date information technology." Holt says.

Michael J. Linton, former president of the Pilots Association for the Bay and River Delaware, says the river's reputation as the fourth largest port in the country is at stake.

"We'll be the laughing stock on the East Coast if we don't get this done. Everybody knows waterborne cargo is the cheapest, safest, most efficient and environmentally sensitive way to move goods. Just think what would happen to our roads and air quality if we had to move cargo on land."

Robert W. Drew, president of Panobulk America Inc., which owns shipping vessels, says the project is "absolutely necessary" for the future of the Camden-Philadelphia port.

"This business is driven by the bottom line and clearly, it's more cost effective to move larger, rather than smaller, quantities, at once," he says. "The port is such a valuable resource to this region that I can't understand why anyone would do anything but protect it and stroke it to make sure it never loses its rightful place."

But Pennsylvania state Sen. Vincent J. Fumo, a tenacious advocate of jobs for his South Philadelphia district, does not believe the dredging project is worth its cost.

Fumo is one of three surviving Democrats on the Delaware River Port Authority, which is the project's local sponsor and is responsible for $40 million to $70 million of its cost.

"There's no evidence the deepening will increase jobs and he doesn't believe the port will lose any if it doesn't get done," says Fumo spokesman Gary J. Tuma. "It's a heck of an investment for something of dubious value."

A growing number of environmental groups share Fumo's concern over cost. But more important, they say, is the assault on the river's water quality by toxins stirred up in the dredging process.

In addition to storing 22 million cubic yards of dredge material, the Army Corps plans to blast 70,000 cubic yards of rock from the vicinity of Marcus Hook, Pa. The idea of blasting caused such an outcry the corps has agreed to do it in the winter, the least harmful time for fish.

Opponents also object to the corps' plan to dispose ofdredge material in Gloucester and Salem counties, and the impact of the increased depth on the river's salt water line, which they claim will be pushed further North and will threaten fish and wildlife.

The corps acknowledges dredging will do some of the above, but only temporarily and within limits acceptable to state and federal standards.

"Projects with this much history, involving three states with constantly changing deadlines, is just too much for the public to keep up with," says Frank McDonough, executive director of New Jersey Maritime Resources, a job created by Gov. Christie Whitman three years ago to help the state through its dredging crisis in the Port of New York-New Jersey.

--EILEEN STILWELL