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JU’s Quinton White to Florida Times-Union on port expansion: ‘I don’t see where all these jobs are’

Dr. Quinton White, executive director of Jacksonville University’s Marine Science Research Institute

Dr. Quinton White, executive director of Jacksonville University’s Marine Science Research Institute, says in a Jan. 4 Florida Times-Union article that he is unconvinced that expanding Jacksonville’s port will have a positive economic impact.

“I’m not an economist, but I don’t see where all these jobs are,” White told said in the Times-Union article. “I don’t see where all the benefit is. I hope we’ll have a better understanding (from a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers study) of what the positive impact will be on Jacksonville because it’s going to have a negative impact on the river.”

The Corps of Engineers is using computer models to anticipate the consequences of deepening the river’s 40-foot channel to as deep as 50 feet, making way for increases in international shipping. Environmentalists say the dredging’s impact on nearby creeks and marshes need to be determined before a decision is made on the project.

Later this month, the Corps is expected to reveal details of its study and issue a tentative ruling on the river’s optimal depth.