Sunday, November 22, 2009
Delaware River
Interested in an environmental topic for your final position paper? This is a nice topic involving the local economy: Should the Delaware River be dredged or not. This article pins environmentalists vs. commerce. I have a feeling it all comes down to commerce. Follow the opposition and you may find it comes down to which state stands to gain from it.
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I cannot see why environmentalists are so concerned about this particular idea. Afterall, the river will only be deepened. It's not like we are dumping thousands of gallons of toxins into the river! To my best knowledge, there are far more benefits than consequences to this idea. Digging 5 more feet into the river brings a ton of money into the city. Huge ships can now come directly into philly instead of unloading most of its resources in other major cities. This will save a lot of time, money, and effort in the long run. Overall, we would have a lot more cargo come into the city which creates many jobs in return. According to the article, "Philadelphia would be the first port of call on the east coast". It certainly makes sense to dredge the river. In addition, almost every major city has done this already!
ReplyDelete-- Brian McCann
ReplyDeleteI think it would be a great idea.There is no reason why Philadelphia can dig 5 more feet into the Delaware River. They are just too many benefits for the city not to. Number one reason would be to bring money into the city and maybe also bigger ships in the port.
I don't really understand the enviromentalists arguement behind this. Other then disturbing 5 more feet of water, they are not widening the river from what I understood, so they are not taking away any additional wildlife habitat. However, the article seemed like the only people protesting it were "enviormentalists" from Deleware and New Jersey. People who would seemingly not directly profit from the large increase in shipments and jobs that the article states would be made available with the increase. I think it boils down to money and economic prosperity, rather then enviromentalism. New Jersey would rather ensure that those enormous ships still have to stop in the NY/NJ port first.
ReplyDeleteDeepening the river by five feet would bring more revenue into the city of Philadelphia. Philadelphia is definitely having it's fair share of hard economic times. Philadelphia is closing libraries and discontinuing other public services. The revenue from the ports should help to alter some of the decisions made to discontinue services. I don't see the harm in deepening the Delaware River. However, I do see the harm in not taking an oppurtunity to have a solution to a failing economy.
ReplyDeleteAdrienne Oladipupo
I would have to disagree with most of these comments because I cannot take an economic view in realations to the environment. I am very sure that these business people did not take into consideration the environmental consquences that this project may pose. Although I know that many economist takes a Friedman view in business, where profit comes first than social responsiblity. History has shown that placing the need for profit over everything else is never the best decision. So I am not saying to abandon the project completely. But we should investigate all sides of the issue before we proceed further.
ReplyDeleteShirley P.
This article gives a lot more benefits to making the river deeper than disadvantages to the environment. Environmentalists don't give their point of view to the article. The environmentalist side should be researched.
ReplyDelete