A long-running dispute over how dredged sediment from the Mobile Harbor Shipping Channel is disposed of has emerged as a new point of contrast in Alabama’s gubernatorial race, with Democratic nominee Doug Jones staking out a clear position against the practice while Republican nominee and sitting U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville has so far declined to weigh in.
The issue centers on a disposal method known as thin-layer placement, in which sediment dredged by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to keep the shipping channel navigable is sprayed from a hopper barge back into other parts of Mobile Bay rather than hauled away. It is one of several methods used to manage the roughly 90 million cubic yards of material expected to be dredged from the bay over the next decade to maintain the channel that serves the Alabama Port Authority’s operations in Mobile.
A Practice Drawing Rare Bipartisan Concern
Thin-layer placement has become an unusual unifying issue among Mobile Bay area residents who otherwise sit on opposite ends of the political spectrum. The environmental group Mobile Baykeeper, along with commercial fishermen and oyster farmers who work the bay, argue the sprayed sediment smothers underwater grasses and other habitat that marine life depends on. They also note that the method is not widely used in other coastal disposal projects. The Corps of Engineers, for its part, has maintained that thin-layer placement can be less disruptive to the broader bay ecosystem than hauling dredged material out to open water, and it remains one of the least expensive disposal options available.
That cost difference is a significant part of why the debate persists: cheaper disposal methods reduce the federal price tag for channel maintenance, but critics say the savings come at the expense of the bay’s ecology and the industries that depend on it.
Legislative Momentum, State and Federal
Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers have moved on the issue this year. During its most recent session, Alabama’s Republican-controlled Legislature passed House Bill 181, which requires that 70 percent of material dredged from the channel be directed toward what the law defines as beneficial use projects, including shoreline restoration efforts already underway on Dauphin Island. That state requirement, however, depends heavily on federal funding decisions the state cannot control on its own.
At the federal level, U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures, D-Mobile, has introduced language through the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2026 that would seek to ban thin-layer placement outright. His effort has drawn support from Alabama’s senior U.S. senator, Republican Katie Britt, who has separately used WRDA provisions to help secure additional funding aimed at avoiding thin-layer placement in favor of alternative disposal methods.
Jones Stakes Out His Position
Asked this week to clarify where he stands, Jones’s campaign responded Thursday with a detailed statement. Jones described Mobile Bay as one of Alabama’s most valuable natural resources, citing its role in supporting recreational activity, commercial fishing and the broader coastal economy. He pointed to a steep decline in the bay’s oyster population — down more than 80 percent since 1950 — as evidence of the ecological strain already facing the estuary, and argued that continued thin-layer placement would deepen that decline.
Jones credited state lawmakers for HB 181 but said it does not go far enough on its own. “The Corps of Engineers’ practice of thin-layer placement is not a ‘beneficial use,'” he said in the statement, adding that state law alone cannot compel a federal agency to change its practices. He called on Alabama’s full congressional delegation to support Figures’ WRDA amendment, framing federal legislation as the only mechanism capable of ending the practice outright. Jones also argued that the federal government should fully fund proper restoration work tied to channel maintenance rather than relying on lower-cost disposal shortcuts, saying the money needs to be available to do the job properly so that both the shipping channel and the bay’s ecology are protected.
Tuberville’s Silence on the Issue
Tuberville has not taken part in any of the recent public efforts surrounding thin-layer placement, and requests to get his position on the record have gone unanswered. As a sitting U.S. senator representing a state with a direct stake in both the shipping channel’s federal funding and the health of Mobile Bay, his stance — or lack of one — is likely to draw continued attention as the fall campaign progresses, particularly given that fellow Republican Katie Britt has already been active on the issue at the federal level.
Why the Bay’s Health Matters to the Region
Mobile Bay is central to south Alabama’s economy and identity, supporting commercial and recreational fisheries, tourism, and a working port that moves goods in and out of the Gulf. Oysters and other filter-feeding species play an outsized role in maintaining water quality in the estuary, and their decline has been tied to a combination of factors including habitat loss, water quality changes and disease, in addition to disposal practices tied to dredging. Continued shoreline restoration projects, such as those on Dauphin Island funded in part through beneficial-use requirements like HB 181, are intended to help rebuild some of that lost habitat even as the debate over disposal methods for new dredge material continues.
What Comes Next
With the November election approaching, the disposal debate is likely to remain a live issue in south Alabama, both as a matter of environmental policy and as a test of where the state’s next governor and its federal delegation stand on protecting the bay. Southal News will continue to follow developments in the WRDA process, the implementation of HB 181, and any further statements from candidates as the campaign continues.