Photo: NC PortsThe U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is pushing forward its proposal to deepen the Wilmington Harbor by an additional 5 feet and widen segments of the shipping lane up the Cape Fear River. A peer-reviewed study published by the Royal Science of Chemistry in 2022 confirms the presence of PFAS in the sediment in areas of the Cape Fear River. “One of the interesting things about the Cape Fear River is, as you move down the river, of course the salinity is going to increase. There’s just a lot of questions out there and it’s not just the Cape Fear, there are other waterbodies as well that are impaired.” The proposed plan to offset impacts to freshwater wetlands include preserving high-quality freshwater forested wetlands and upgrading lower-quality sites along the lower Cape Fear.