Quahoggers want to dig. The Army Corps of Engineers wants to dig. And boaters and swimmers want clean waters.

So far, all three groups appear to be basically in agreement with the maintenance dredging of the Providence River Channel, which hasn’t been done for at least a decade.

At issue are the proposed sites for disposal of the spoils and how to minimize the impact on an area rich with quahogs and a spawning ground for Narragansett Bay. Two sites, called confined aquatic disposal (CAD) cells, are proposed in the Edgewood shoals area, and one is close to the Edgewood Yacht Club mooring field, which is used extensively year round for recreational and competitive sailing and further north at Port Edgewood.

In an executive summary of the 694-page draft plan, the Army Corps says it “shall identify the least cost, practicable and environmentally acceptable plan … for maintaining the affected FNP [federal navigation project] along with considerations of adjacent FNPs [Pawtuxet Cove, Bullocks Point Cove and Apponaug Cove] and of local dredged material placement requests through at least a 20-year planning period.”

The draft estimates fully funding the plan would total $96.4 million, of which $66.7 million would be needed between now and 2027 for the design and construction of one CAD cell. The maintenance dredging would take place in 2028 and cost $29.7 million. The plan is for a second 20-year maintenance dredging project in 2048.

The basic objective of the 16.8-mile project is to ensure large commercial navigation year round for the greater Providence area. The authorized depth of the channel and turning basin would be 40 feet at mean low water.

Wayne Kezerian, president of the Edgewood Yacht Club Condominium Association and judge advocate, points out in a seven-page June 16 letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that the yacht club dates to 1889 and its members have been sailing in the proposed impact area for more than a century “and many graduates of the youth sailing program have gone on to participate successfully as national and international competitive sailors, from college sailing to the America’s Cup.”

Kezerian further notes that as a result of efforts to improve bay water quality with the Combined Sewage Overflow (CSO) tunnels build by the Narragansett Bay Commission, “Edgewood sailors can now be seen swimming and diving to clean the bottoms of their racing sailboats.”

Former EYC Commodore and competitive sailor George Shuster, who has been closely following the dredging project, is amazed that the Army Corps seemingly did not take into consideration the yacht club or the recreational uses of the Edgewood basin. Shuster is president of Save The Bay, whose offices overlook both basins being suggested for CAD cells.

Shuster said Save The Bay is drafting its reaction to the plan, which will be submitted before the extended deadline on July 18. The extension of the public comment period was announced by Army Corps of Engineers New England District Project Manager Sam Bell last week. At that time, seven entities had submitted comments on the draft plan.

Michael McGiveney, president of the RI Shellfisherman’s Association in a June 14 letter to Sam Bell says the two Edgewood Shoal CADs, approximating 50 acres each, plus access channels of about 13 acres each, “conservatively contain” 8 million quahogs. And that “it is imperative that these quahog resources be removed prior to any dredging activity.”

Additionally, McGiveney points to the potential contamination from dredging activity to down-Bay areas currently open to shellfish harvesting. In particular he cites that section of Providence River that was opened on a limited basis to harvesting in 2021 for the first time in more than 70 years. He called the area “critically important to the shellfishing industry,” which he said accounted for 38% of the total commercial quahog landings in 2024.

Relocating the 8 million quahogs, McGiveney said, would cost considerably more than the $63,0000 budgeted in the Corps’ draft. Based on transplant operations from East Greenwich Cove to Greenwich Bay, in which shellfishermen were paid $23,060, he estimates the Edgewood Shoals Area transplant would cost $305,000. He points out that, before transplanting, the Edgewood Shoals quahogs would need to be tested to see if they can be successfully moved.

“After the public comment period closes, we will finalize the Providence River Dredged Material Management Program Environmental Assessment based on input from the public review and our own internal USACE [US Army Corps of Engineers] reviews of the draft report. Next, we will conduct a final review of the report and after approval proceed with the findings,” Bell said in a statement issued last week.