Some dreams never die, even when they should. Take the dream of a bustling Port of Fort Pierce, as an example. 

The Port of Fort Pierce was a good idea when it was proposed in 1919 by Commodore Edwin Binney, a Fort Pierce benefactor and founder of Crayola maker Binney and Smith. Fort Pierce was fairly isolated in those days, with only the Florida East Coast Railway as a means to receive freight and passengers in large amounts. There were no good roads, aviation was in its infancy, and the river and ocean offered the best and cheapest forms of transportation. 

Binney and other community leaders pushed hard in the Congress and Florida Legislature for funds to create the seaport; they also contributed sizable amounts of their personal fortunes to the project. The seaport and inlet opened in 1922, and for a few years there was some shipping. Eventually, as Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Miami opened their seaports, business slacked off in the Port of Fort Pierce.

But the dream has never died among some Fort Pierce interests, who still dream of crowded docks, cargo cranes, and a commercial port of the 1900s. 

Today, the dream of a bustling cargo port is more like a nightmare, because of what we have learned over the passing years. A look north and south shows that most seaports are either converting to cruise ships or containerized cargo. The latter requires vast parking areas and good rail yards, none of which are sufficiently available in Fort Pierce. 

Surveys ordered by the county economic agencies have shown that the port would most likely serve only seven relatively lightly populated counties, and that the most likely cargo would be lumber. The surveys seem to have some validity; the unused cement silos, once touted as a generator of jobs and revenue, testify to the errant predictions of entrepreneurs without good business plans. 

Even more important, we have come to understand that the Fort Pierce Inlet, the Indian River Lagoon, and the offshore waters of the Atlantic shelter one of the most diverse collections of marine life in the world. The diversity has brought into being Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution, and the Marine Research Station of the Smithsonian Institution.

Marine research offers an opportunity for growth and wealth in the Treasure Coast area. When that opportunity is joined with the agricultural and other research facilities of the University of Florida, Florida Atlantic University, Indian River Community College and the local school systems, our area has the possibility of even greater scientific development.

Construction of a commercial seaport used frequently by cargo vessels poses a threat to the ecological wealth that is the greatest treasure. Ships coming from foreign lands could seed the area with non-native species of marine life which could destroy the diversity now available to scientists. There is also the probability of oil spills and pollution by waste from the ships that must be considered in any development plan.

The Florida Institute of Technology did a study of seaports and the Indian River Lagoon for the Marine Resources Council of East Florida, according to an article by Tribune staff writer Drew Dixon. The study said development of the port would only endanger the ecology of
the lagoon without economically benefiting Fort Pierce or any other Treasure Coast area.

The study was presented to St. Lucie County commissioners and was almost as quickly minimized by a consulting firm. The firm said the study would help them design a dredging program to minimize the impact on the ecological system. The consultant also said the port should lean toward ecotourism, and recreation, with only a small portion set aside for commercial usage. 

May I suggest there is an even better way to minimize impact on the ecology which offers our best possibility to become a major facility: Just don't dredge.

Science and technology offer the best areas of growth for our region and neither requires vast expenditure of money on environmentally damaging projects. If we destroy or damage the ecological resources which undergird the research, then we not only lose the attractant for educational and research institutions, but also forfeit our chance to be the place where products can be developed which will benefit the whole world. Once the environment is damaged, the opportunity is gone and we are left with only the infrastructure of an inefficient and outmoded port.

The old dream of a commercial seaport of cargo cranes, giant ships and large rail yards on land needs to die, and be replaced by one in which science, education, and technology merge to find new and better things at sea and on land for the whole world.

Joe Crankshaw is a columnist for the Stuart/Port St. Lucie News. Contact Crankshaw by telephone at (561) 221-4181, or e-mail crankshaw@stuartnews.com.