FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.— In a major shift, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has withdrawn its state permit application for the Port Everglades Expansion dredging project. The withdrawal is the most significant progress in more than a decade of advocacy to protect Florida’s coral reef from this harmful project, which the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has said would result in “the largest impact to coral reefs permitted in U.S. history.”

“This hard-fought pause is more than a decade in the making and couldn’t have come at a more critical time for the future of our coral reefs,” said Rachel Silverstein, Ph.D., executive director and Waterkeeper at Miami Waterkeeper. “This is meaningful progress. Our advocacy is working, and our voices are being heard. But until there is clear confirmation that this project will not move forward in a way that harms our reefs and water quality, we must remain vigilant, engaged, and keep the pressure on.”

More than 35,000 people have signed a petition calling on regulators to stop the dredging project. Now the Corps has indicated that elements of the project description are being reconsidered, which may result in changes to the project’s scope.

“I’m cautiously optimistic that federal officials are rethinking this devastating dredging project, which could be the final nail in the coffin for our incredibly imperiled staghorn corals,” said Elise Bennett, Florida and Caribbean director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The amount of harm this project could do to our corals is staggering and really unprecedented, so I hope the Army Corps follows this withdrawal by going in a completely different direction. Our corals, queen conch and other vulnerable coastal creatures help make Florida a special place, and we can’t let them be annihilated by reckless dredging.”

For the past 10 years conservation groups, scientists, community members and advocates have raised concerns about the deep dredge. The pause is a critical opportunity to reevaluate a project would put more than 10 million corals at risk including some of the last remaining stands of threatened staghorn coral in the region, as well as queen conch, dolphins, turtles and fish.

“This milestone is the product of years of determined work by those who refused to accept the destruction of one of Florida’s most extraordinary ecosystems. We are energized by this progress yet recognize this in an inflection point, not a finish line,” said Sarah Gledhill, CEO of the Florida Wildlife Federation. “FWF remains fully committed to seeing this through and ensuring that staghorn corals, reef fish and the coastal wildlife that depend on them are protected so that future generations of Floridians can experience this irreplaceable treasure.”

“With this good news the Diving Equipment and Marketing Association and its hundreds of scuba diving business members, and the thousands of scuba divers in Florida they represent, know that the battle is not over,” said Nicole Russell, interim CEO and president of DEMA. “DEMA encourages the many divers from Florida and all over the U.S. who enjoy seeing this incredibly beautiful array of coral reefs in Fort Lauderdale to get involved and continue to contact Florida state and federal officials to put an end to this harmful dredging project, both on their behalf and on behalf of their own children who they hope will have the same opportunity to see these protected species of coral firsthand.”

“Hopefully, this pivot means that the Army Corps has finally recognized the extent of the harm this massive dredging poses to the many species that depend on this reef tract, including some of the very last staghorn coral colonies in Florida,” said Danika Desai, senior attorney with Earthjustice. “We will continue to monitor the situation to make sure the relevant agencies comply with their obligations to protect the vulnerable species and habitat at risk from this project.”

Florida’s coral reef stretches along the Atlantic Coast from Monroe to Martin counties. Staghorn coral, once abundant throughout the Caribbean and Florida Keys, has been listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act but recently suffered widespread mortality following a 2023 heatwave. Some of the only known survivors live next to Port Everglades. These surviving staghorn will be critical to the recovery of the species.

Advocates also warn that the project could harm a breeding aggregation of the threatened queen conch, located just south of the Port Everglades channel. Blasting activities to remove rock in the project area also pose a threat to the area’s dolphins.

Florida’s coral reef is the only nearshore coral reef in the continental U.S. and is home to hundreds of species. It supports fishing and diving and reduces wave energy by an average of over 95%. This equates to an estimated $675 million in coastal protection every year in averted damages to buildings and economic activity and provides flood protection benefits to more than 5,600 people annually in Florida. However, coral reefs have declined rapidly in recent years, with coral cover declining over 80% since the 1970s.

The push to halt Port Everglades dredging is rooted in hard lessons learned from PortMiami. During the 2013–2015 PortMiami dredging project, sediment plumes likely killed millions of corals and smothered more than 278 acres of reef — a staggering 84 times more than the 3.3 acres of damage predicted in the Corps’ environmental analysis.

Take action and stay informed by visiting StopTheDredge.com.