{"id":369768,"date":"2026-08-12T22:26:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T22:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/369768\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T22:26:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T22:26:09","slug":"officials-extend-halt-to-broward-dredging-following-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/369768\/","title":{"rendered":"Officials extend halt to Broward dredging following lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Concerned about the possible damage that might be done to fragile coral colonies off Port Everglades, officials have extended a halt on dredging activity for a sand-relocation project.<\/p>\n

The move comes a week after environmentalists and conservationists filed a federal lawsuit seeking to stop the work<\/a> on a giant sand trap being constructed in a beach renourishment effort.<\/p>\n

The dredging effort, known as Broward\u2019s Sand Bypass Project, had already been halted for the summer and was not expected to resume until October.<\/p>\n

The reason, according to Army Corps Project manager Jeffrey Meyer, is that the work might be having a more negative impact than originally anticipated on the underwater coral.<\/p>\n

On Friday, \u201cthe Corps reinitiated consultation with (the National Marine Fisheries Service) after it analyzed the survey results and concluded that the project may be approaching or have exceeded the incidental take limit for staghorn coral colonies,\u201d Meyer wrote.<\/p>\n

The \u201cincidental take limit\u201d is how the Endangered Species Act refers to how much unintentional damage a species can endure under an approved project before it\u2019s considered too much.<\/p>\n

The Army Corps of Engineers and National Marine Fisheries Service are tasked with ensuring that the work complies with the federal Endangered Species Act.<\/p>\n

Broward County government spokesman Greg Meyer said about 94% of the dredging project was already complete<\/a> and that officials hope the work can resume in the fall with minimal interruption, assuming the damage assessment allows for it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are aware of the notification from the Army Corps of Engineers and are continuing our dialogue with them,\u201d Meyer said. \u201cIt should be noted that our project was already paused for the coral spawning season in July 2026 through October 2026 consistent with our previous agreement with the Corps and state and federal permit conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n

The groups that filed the federal suit celebrated the Army Corps of Engineers\u2019 announcement as the first major indication they were right to challenge the project.<\/p>\n

\"FILEA beachgoer sits north of the inlet at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale in June, near where Broward’s Sand Bypass Project is located. (Carline Jean\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope the Army Corps\u2019 decision to stop dredging for now is a good sign that the federal government is ready to take the conservation of Florida\u2019s coral and queen conch seriously,\u201d\u00a0said Alex Muir, an associate attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. \u201cWe won\u2019t stop our work until these threatened marine species and their habitat are given the protection they\u2019re entitled to.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe speed with which the Army Corps capitulated after we filed our legal action, agreeing to halt the dredging and revisit environmental assumptions almost immediately, shows just how blatant the project\u2019s threats really are,\u201d said Rachel Silverstein, CEO and Waterkeeper at Miami Waterkeeper.<\/p>\n

Jess Melkun, vice president of conservation policy at the Florida Wildlife Federation, said the protection of marine life was a main reason for the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone benefits from healthy reefs and coastlines,\u201d she said. \u201cSo we are cautiously optimistic that the Army Corps is finally taking a hard look at the science.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rafael Olmeda can be reached at rolmeda@sunsentinel.com<\/a> or 954-356-4457.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Concerned about the possible damage that might be done to fragile coral colonies off Port Everglades, officials have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":369769,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[1563,249,251,250,114,266,115,109],"class_list":["post-369768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-environment","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-social"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=369768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369768\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/369769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=369768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=369768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=369768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}