Searsport Harbor dredging plan on the table

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is proposing maintenance dredging of the Searsport Harbor Federal Navigation Project (FNP).

According to an official announcement, USACE proposes to dredge approximately 40,000 cubic yards of material from shoaled areas within the Searsport Harbor FNP totaling about 7 acres.

Shoaled areas will be mechanically dredged to -35 feet Mean Lower Low Water (MLLW) plus two feet of over depth. This material is unsuitable for open water disposal. Two Confined Aquatic Disposal (CAD) cells will be constructed adjacent to the Searsport Harbor FNP to contain the unsuitable dredged material from the Searsport Harbor FNP.

CAD Cell A (Starter Cell) will be mechanically dredged to a depth of -62 feet MLLW and CAD Cell B (Primary Cell) will be mechanically dredged to a depth of -72 feet MLLW. The dredged material that is unsuitable for open water disposal from the CAD Cell A/B construction, approximately 23,000 cy, will be placed in CAD Cell A.

The dredged material from the Searsport Harbor FNP that is unsuitable for open water disposal will be placed within CAD Cell B. The dredged material from the CAD Cell A/B construction that is suitable for open water placement, approximately 62,000 cy, will be placed at Rockland Disposal Site (RDS) in Penobscot Bay, located approximately 25 miles south of Searsport Harbor.

Construction will take place between November 8 through April 8 in the year funds are available. Current planning is for the work to begin in November 2027 and end in April 2028.