The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality announced this week that the Army Corps of Engineers is pausing its review for the proposed Wilmington Harbor Federal Channel Deepening Project.
The DEQ Division of Coastal Management (DCM) received a note from the feds, asking to pause the review of the Corps’ consistency determination. DEQ granted that request.
According to a press release, “the decision to pause allows time for the Corps to review and consider issues raised by DCM and the public before DCM completes its review.”
No timeline has been established for when the pause may be lifted.
As previously reported by WHQR, the proposed plan to deepen and widen the harbor’s navigation channel is expected to cost well over $1 billion in state and federal funding; it would allow larger ships into the port, with an estimated $15 million annual economic benefit. That’s not a high mark by government standards, but does meet the threshold for the feds to stay interested in the project.
The project also came with considerable environmental impacts and was heavily opposed by advocates. Endangered species such as green sea turtles and Atlantic sturgeon could be harmed by both the deepening process and its long-term effects. There have also been concerns about PFAS-contaminated silt, some of which could end up on hundreds of acres of the region's "public beaches, bird-nesting islands, and imperiled wetlands," according to reporting from Lisa Sorg at Inside Climate News.
Organizations like the NC Audubon Society, Cape Fear River Watch, and NC Coastal Federation have opposed the project, suggesting the economic benefits don’t outweigh the severe impacts to the environment and watershed.
Several small towns and municipalities in the Cape Fear Region passed resolutions asking the DCM and Army Corps of Engineers for robust and well-funded environmental mitigation efforts and the due consideration of protecting the region’s natural resources. That included Leland, Southport, Bald Head Island, Kure Beach, and Sunset Beach, and Caswell Beach.
According to a DEQ Press release, the Corps found the project to be consistent with North Carolina’s coastal management program laws, regulations, and policies in October of 2025. The Corps requested DCM’s concurrence, as is required by the federal law. DCM then held a public hearing in November with strong public engagement and held a public comment session through December. That public criticism was apparently effective.
Once the review process resumes, DCM will decide whether to concur or object to the Corps’ determination for the proposed project. If DCM objects, it can offer alternatives or conditions that, if agreed to by the Corps, would allow the project to proceed.
For more information on the project, go to the NCDEQ website.
