A superintendent with the N.C. Ferry Division pleaded guilty Thursday in U.S. District Court to federal charges that he ordered workers aboard a division workboat to illegally cut a channel in Currituck Sound near Corolla.
According to court records, Billy R. Moore, 60, of Grantsboro, dredge and field maintenance superintendent, committed a felony by ordering the workers to “prop wash” a channel in the sound even though he knew a permit had not been issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. One of the charges could bring Moore up to three years in prison.
The dredging was done in May of 2004. The channel, which created a berm and a navigational hazard, was about 730 feet long, four to five feet deep, and 120 feet across at the widest point.
Moore pleaded guilty to the charges after he had entered a plea agreement with U.S. Attorney Frank D. Whitney. Moore was project manager for the channel, which was to be used by a new ferry service from the Currituck mainland to Corolla.
The other dredge crew workers, Herbert F. O’Neal, 51, of Aurora, and Douglas A. Bateman, 55, of Aydlett, had pleaded guilty Nov. 21 to misdemeanor charges in federal court in Elizabeth City. All of the men were convicted of violating the U.S. Clean Water Act and the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899.
After being questioned by the Corps of Engineers about the dredging, Moore lied when he said the channel was created by accident, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. Moore also told another person to create a false statement to the Corps about the dredging.
As superintendent, Moore was responsible for making all day-to-day decisions for dredge and maintenance projects to which he was assigned, and for the N.C. Department of Transportation’s compliance with permits issued under the Rivers and Harbor Act and the Clean Water Act.
NC DOT planned to establish the ferry service and to build a landing site at Heritage Park inlet, next to the Whalehead Club and near the Corolla lighthouse. In 1996 and 2000 Currituck County officials had applied for permits to dredge a channel at the site. The permits were denied because of concerns the dredging would harm fish, wildlife, and other aquatic resources.
“Areas such as the one impacted by this unlawful conduct are extremely important to the citizens of North Carolina in terms of water quality improvement and the protection of aquatic wildlife habitats. Public officials who are entrusted with our state’s resources cannot ignore environmental laws designed to protect those same resources, whether motivated by private or other interests,” Whitney said.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the SBI, the U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service, and the Corps conducted the investigation of the dredging.
Judge Terrence Boyle accepted the defendants’ plea agreements. Sentencing for Bateman and O’Neal will be at a later date, but could include up to one year in prison for each man. Stephen G. Smith, another employee charged with participating in the dredging activity, did not appear in court.
Their plea agreements require Bateman, O’Neal and Moore to fully cooperate with the ongoing investigation and to testify in court if asked.
Both Moore and Ferry Division Director Jerry Gaskill initially said the boats got stuck while marking the channel and accidentally dredged the area. Their claims contradict Bateman’s and O’Neal’s admissions that the dredging was intentional. Gaskill has not been charged with any crimes.
Proponents of the ferry service said the route was necessary to transport approximately 40 schoolchildren from the Currituck Outer Banks area to the Currituck mainland. The students had previously attended school in Dare County but were forced out because of crowding concerns. They face a lengthy bus ride without the ferry, say ferry supporters.
With Sen. Marc Basnight of Dare County as the driving force, the N. C. General Assembly appropriated $834,000 in June 2003 to get the ferry service started. DOT ordered a 50-foot, 49-passenger, enclosed-cabin pontoon boat from a Florida boat builder. The boat could operate in shallow water, but Gaskill had already determined that dredging at the Corolla site would be required, nonetheless.
“Although a pontoon vessel configuration operates in very shallow water, the approach channel into Corolla would still require some dredging,” Gaskill wrote in a letter to DOT Secretary Lyndo Tippett in January 2003. “The Ferry Division recommends establishing a channel that is 40’ wide by 6’ deep. It is important to note that the appropriate CAMA permits be acquired prior to the commencement of the dredging phase of this project. This could be a very lengthy and costly process if Environmental Impact Statements and other documents are required.”
Documents show that DOT was expecting Currituck County to apply for the dredging permit. At the time of the illegal dredging, the project was behind schedule, and neither DOT nor Currituck County had applied for a permit.
A feasibility study submitted to the General Assembly by Gaskill failed to mention that the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers had previously denied Currituck County permits to dredge in the same area.
The circumstances used to justify the project have changed considerably. Dare has since built new schools, so crowding might no longer be an issue. The number of students involved in the long bus ride has dwindled to one elementary school student. Parents have either moved or made other arrangements for school or school transportation.
Don Carrington is executive editor of Carolina Journal. Editor Richard Wagner also contributed to this story.