Mr. Strickland, Mr. Kistler, and members of the Mobile Baykeeper Board of Directors,

The Alabama Port Authority and its undersigned supporters strongly advise Mobile Baykeeper to formally withdraw its intent to file a lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. This action is a direct threat to the State’s largest economic driver, the Port, risking the prosperity ofAlabamians in each of our State’s 67 counties.

Until this point, the Port, in good faith and in partnership with USACE, has engaged Baykeeper in what we believed were productive, collaborative conversations about shared environmental priorities, including the beneficial use of dredge material. For over a decade, the Port and USACE have been constructively working with numerous local, state, and federal agencies, along with the Mobile Bay National Estuary Program, to diligently plan for regional sediment management. All eligible material from the channel project is currently being deployed for beneficial uses throughout the community, such as shoreline restoration at Dauphin Island, wetlands restoration at Deer River and the Dauphin Island Causeway, and restoring the Relic Shell area of Mobile Bay. Unfortunately, Baykeeper, in partnership with an out-of-state activist organization, has defaulted to a combative approach and now threatens to halt a project that has been thoroughly vetted and will bring both environmental and economic benefits to Mobile Bay and our region.

Additionally, Mobile Baykeeper’s unsubstantiated allegations regarding USACE’s dredge material management come as the project is nearing completion – years after thorough federal and state environmental reviews have concluded. In addition to these environmental reviews, this project also incorporated community feedback from a variety of stakeholders ranging from environmental groups to recreational and commercial fishermen. This feedback directly informed the Port’s decisions on how best to use this dredge material for the benefit of all who love Mobile Bay.

Although we appreciate Mobile Baykeeper’s recent public profession of the organization’s support for the harbor project and the economic prosperity it will bring, direct legal action – as described by Baykeeper – threatens to bring this to a halt. Quite simply, Mobile Baykeeper cannot claim to be for this project while also taking direct action to stop it. With the generational impact and importance of this project in mind, and along with our fellow signatories, the Alabama Port Authority implores you, leaders of Mobile Baykeeper, to rescind the organization’s threat of legal action against the Port’s Harbor Modernization Project and come to the table in a collaborative manner to achieve our shared goals of protecting our bay and our way of life.

Sincerely,

JOHN C. DRISCOLL, Director & CEO, Alabama Port Authority

LEE LAWSON, President & CEO, Baldwin County Economic Development Alliance

HELENA DUNCAN, President & CEO, Business Council of Alabama

WILEY BLANKENSHIP, Executive Director, Coastal 150

JIM SEARCY, Executive Director, Economic Development Association of Alabama

JON BARGANIER, President & CEO, Manufacture Alabama

ROBERTA SWANN, Director, Mobile Bay National Estuary Program

BRADLEY BYRNE, President & CEO, Mobile Chamber

JENNIFER DENSON, Executive Director, Partners for Environmental Progress