en.Wedoany.com Reported - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) proposes to dredge approximately 40,000 cubic yards of material from shoal areas within the Searsport Harbor Federal Navigation Project (FNP), covering a total area of about 7 acres, and plans to construct two Confined Aquatic Disposal (CAD) cells to contain a portion of the dredged material.

The shoal areas will be mechanically dredged to a depth of 35 feet below Mean Lower Low Water (MLLW), plus an additional 2 feet of overdepth. This material is unsuitable for open-water disposal, so two Confined Aquatic Disposal (CAD) cells—CAD Cell A (startup cell) and CAD Cell B (primary cell)—will be constructed near the Searsport Harbor FNP. CAD Cell A will be mechanically dredged to 62 feet below MLLW, and CAD Cell B to 72 feet below MLLW.

Dredged material unsuitable for open-water disposal generated during the construction of CAD Cells A and B (approximately 23,000 cubic yards) will be placed in CAD Cell A. Meanwhile, dredged material from the Searsport Harbor FNP that is unsuitable for open-water disposal will be placed in CAD Cell B. Dredged material suitable for open-water placement (approximately 62,000 cubic yards) from the construction of CAD Cells A and B will be transported to the Rockland Disposal Site (RDS) in Penobscot Bay, located approximately 25 miles south of Searsport Harbor.

Construction will take place between November 8 and April 8 of the year in which funding is available. The current plan is to begin construction in November 2027 and complete it by April 2028.