“Yet reaching this point has required significant deepening of the Savannah River, from its natural depth of 17 feet (5.2 metres) to 42 feet today. Now the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) wants to dig out Savannah’s shipping channel even further, to 48 feet, in order to attract the larger vessels expected to call on east-coast ports once the expanded Panama Canal opens in 2014. The deepening threatens to send saltwater far upstream, into the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge, and to increase the size of the oxygen-free “dead zone” in deep water.”
