News Release

Release No:	NR-980721
Contact:	Rich Chlan
Phone:	(215) 656-6515

-- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE --

Federal Dredging - Philadelphia International Airport Project reaps Vice President Gore Hammer Award

(Philadelphia, July 21, 1998): An innovative plan that paired a wetlands permit needed for a Philadelphia International Airport runway expansion project with the ongoing Delaware River federal maintenance dredging is saving millions in taxpayer dollars and has garnered a Hammer Award for the team that devised it.

The head of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Lt. Gen. Joe N. Ballard, will be at the Union League of Philadelphia on July 21 to present the hammer and recognize the 14-person Federal Navigation Dredging-Philadelphia Airport Expansion Partnering Team, comprised of employees from the Corps of Engineers, City of Philadelphia, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Marine Fisheries Service and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

The plan evolved from an application from the City of Philadelphia for a Corps permit that was needed because the Runway 8-26 Development Project would impact 22 acres of federally regulated waters and wetlands. In pairing the permitting process with the Corps' ongoing Delaware River navigation channel maintenance dredging, an agreement was reached with the city to perform advance maintenance dredging to obtain two million cubic yards of nearby Delaware River material instead of upland sources for the embankment fill on the runway. This agreement reaped the following financial, environmental and social benefits for the general public:

By obtaining its fill from the main channel, the city saved the Corps another $8 million in maintenance dredging that would have to be done anyway.
Even with dredging costs included, the City of Philadelphia saved approximately $7 million by using fill from the Delaware River instead of upland sources.
Significant adverse environmental and social impacts caused by the mining and transporting of upland fill material were avoided.
Because the river fill was used for the runway, valuable dredge disposal site capacity was conserved for future federal navigation channel maintenance.

The Hammer Award, which was approved by the National Partnership for Reinventing Government, recognizes teams of federal employees and their partners whose work resulted in a government that works better and costs less.