Predictable dredge stupidity continues

So, Hernando County's infernal, eternal dredge project is once more in trouble! What a shock. Who would have thunk!

This whole fiasco has been mismanaged by a procession of blundering, boneheaded bureaucrats from the get go, starting with whomever the genius was that decided the spoils could not be deposited on the existing islands that were created when the channel was first dredged. This decision alone added additional costs in the millions to the project.

The reason, I am told, was that the Environmental Protection Agency or whatever agency was responsible, decided that the existing islands along the channel consisting of about a mile or so of broken shoreline, had evolved into an estuary that had to be protected as rare ecological asset (as if we didn't have tens of thousands of miles of unspoiled estuary in the state).

Of course, no thought was given to the fact that if this valuable estuary had developed on its own in the first place, why would it not again soon redevelop on its own? Additionally no consideration was given to the fact that enlarging the existing islands and planting a few palms on them would have provided the county with a beautiful, idyllic recreation area for its residents and the boating and fishing enthusiasts living here for that reason in the first place.

That also would have negated the problems with the dewatering and silting concerns caused by the disposal of the spoils with which they are now faced, as well as providing a nesting place for the local sea birds.

I guess the protection of a few sea snails and puny stunted oysters or whatever aquatic denizens that would have temporarily been displaced trumps the concern for the quality of life of the local taxpaying residents one more time.

Then there is the topic of sea grass mitigation. That rascally, sea grass went ahead and planted itself in the originally delineated areas so we now have to plant it in other areas at a cost of several hundred thousand bucks.

Duh, did anyone know that sea grass grows and thrives on its own when given the right conditions anyway?

What a shameful waste of money, time and labor. Get the government - any branch - federal, state or local - involved in a project and the resulting mess is almost always predictable.

Tom Cannariato

Weeki Wachee