JEF DAUBER/Courier-Post

This year, the Port of New York-New Jersey felt the lash of competition when the Maersk Line and its partner, Sea-Land Service Inc., two of its largest customers, threatened to relocate if the port didn't get its house in order. Baltimore offered a package of improvements and incentives worth $200 million.

The lines finally agreed to stay in New York, but only after Gov. Christie Whitman and New York Gov. George Pataki agreed to dredge parts of the harbor to 45 feet.

Since the oil industry will receive 80 percent of the benefit of a deeper channel, according to a cost/benefit analysis by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, opponents want oil to share the cost.

"If oil companies on the river are going to save $40 million a year in transportation, which is what the Army Corps estimates, why should they get away without spending a dime?" asks Maya K. van Rossum, an environmental lawyer who heads the Alliance to Dump the Delaware Deepening.

In short, the oil industry says the Delaware is not its river alone. Rather, it is part of a national infrastructure and a major linchpin in the regional economy.

"Without a deep, safe watery highway, commerce would come to a standstill," says Darryl Harris, vice president and general manager for Valero Refining Co. in Paulsboro.

While money is an object to van Rossum, she says she would not support deepening the Delaware even if it were free.

"We have too many environmental questions at this time to support it, regardless of cost to the taxpayers," she says.

John Wright, mayor of Logan, where the Army Corps of Engineers has designated two dredge sites, has his own economic issues. The town council recently approved a resolution opposing dumping of spoils. Wright does not want to lose the $132,000 a year the current private owner of the land pays in local taxes. If the Delaware River Port Authority buys the sites as planned, he wants a host benefit.

"That doesn't sound unreasonable to me, since we pay host benefits to towns with PATCO stations," says Glenn Paulsen, deputy chairman of the authority. "I have a lot to learn about this project yet, so at this point, all I can say is we'll consider the request."

The Delaware deepening is the biggest dredging project to come up the river since 1942, but it is not unique. Each year, the Corps spends about $15 million a year on maintenance dredging, which means removing silt to keep the channel depth at 40 feet.

According to Liz Murphy of the Delaware River Port Authority, the bi-state agency needs about $8 million over the next five years to dredge public berths in Camden and Philadelphia. Unlike New York, where staggering dredging costs are caused by acutely contaminated spoils, the Delaware's costs are largely driven by the 102-mile length of the river from Camden to the sea. And what happened in Jacksonville, Fla., where the port authority controlled costs by dredging only a portion of the St. John's River, won't happen locally. The reason is that Sunoco Inc., one of the most powerful players on the Waterfront with three refineries, is 102 miles from the sea.

In Baltimore, where the harbor is naturally deep, authorities last year spent $14.5 million on dredging. The harbor's location--eight to 10 hours from sea--makes it costly to maintain. Like Camden and Philadelphia, which are seven and a half hours from the sea, Baltimore struggles to justify its place as a commercial hub.