A private dredge operation is shown underway in 2019 at a Carteret County marina. Photo: Carteret County Shore Protection Office
More than two years have passed since the Army Corps of Engineers announced that only sand pumped from federal projects could be placed in Corps-maintained dredged material disposal sites, leaving local governments, marinas and private property owners the challenge to find land on which to put sand removed from clogged waterways.
Since then, state and Corps officials have been working on a plan to identify nonfederally maintained sites, information that may be rolled out incrementally in the months leading up to the release of the first phase of the plan, according to Todd Horton, the Corps’ deputy chief of navigation.