Corbett Says More Money Needed for the Delaware River Deepening Project

Susan Phillips

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Susan Phillips tells stories about the consequences of political decisions on people's every day lives. She has worked as a reporter for WHYY since 2004. Susan's coverage of the 2008 Presidential election resulted in a story on the front page of the New York Times. In 2010 she traveled to Haiti to cover the earthquake. That same year she produced an award-winning series on Pennsylvania's natural gas rush called "The Shale Game." She received a 2013 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Journalism Award for her work covering natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania. She has also won several Edward R. Murrow awards for her work with StateImpact. In 2013/14 she spent a year at MIT as a Knight Science Journalism Fellow. She has also been a Metcalf Fellow, an MBL Logan Science Journalism Fellow and reported from Marrakech on the 2016 climate talks as an International Reporting Project Fellow. A graduate of Columbia School of Journalism, she earned her Bachelor's degree in International Relations from George Washington University.

February 7, 2012 | 12:30 PM

Governor Corbett praised the release of $16.9 million federal dollars to continue dredging the Delaware river. In his annual budget address, Corbett said 75,000 jobs would be created or saved by the deepening project. The controversial dredging of the Delaware is opposed by environmentalists. But Corbett says the widening of the Panama Canal means larger ships will be sailing up the East Coast, and will not be able to dock in Philadelphia unless the river is deepened.
“Philadelphia was founded as a port city,” said Corbett. “We intend to keep that gate open in welcoming the world and its commerce.”
Corbett says pressure is still needed to release federal funds to complete the $300 million dollar project.
But the project may be complicated by the recent addition of the Atlantic Sturgeon on the endangered species list. Environmentalists hope the move will give them more ammunition to block the deepening project.