A dispute over a permit for a $600 million dredging of the Savannah River shipping channel is in the hands of the South Carolina Supreme Court.

According to ajc.com, a lawsuit was filed last month by the Southern Environmental Law Center. It was filed on the behalf of the Savannah Riverkeeper, the South Carolina Coastal Conservation League, the South Carolina Wildlife Federation and the Conservation Voters of South Carolina.

The lawsuit states that the board of the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control illegally approved a water quality certification because the authority over river dredging was given to the state’s Savannah River Maritime Commission.

It is argued that the dredging of the channel, which is necessary so that Georgia ports can take in larger ships after the widening of the Panama Canal is finished, would harm wetlands on the South Carolina side of the river and also the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge.

On Monday, the South Carolina Supreme Court took original jurisdiction in the case so that it does not have to go through the lower courts.

Dredging Today Staff, April 10, 2012;