A Local Canal I Know Well

5/2/2026

“An Answer about the Cape Cod Canal … And Yes, Brazil Again!”

One small piece of information I wanted to record here and, now, connect it up to some other things I’ve been writing about, is this… 

That Cape Cod Canal I’ve crossed so many times?  Well, the canal and its bridges (the Sagamore and Bourne) are owned and controlled by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, a Department of Defense agency that is, in essence, a public engineering branch of the government that builds and maintains water-based infrastructure projects, manages water resources, helps with disaster response, and constructs military facilities. The ACOE purchased the Cape Cod Canal in 1928 for $11.5 million from a company owned by August Belmont. He reportedly sold it because the Canal was losing money. The ACOE purchased it to make it toll free, and also to improve it for use for larger vessels, widening it and deepening it. The ACOE has owned it ever since.

The ACOE is new to me. I had never heard of it, but it sounds like something every country should have. So does Brazil have one?  Does it use something like this to protect the Amazon Rainforest?  It does. Brazil has the “equivalent” type of agency, the Brazilian Army Department of Engineering and Construction. This agency is supposed to both protect the rainforest, and also build infrastructure such as highways, bridges and dams to connect remote and hard to reach areas of the country with the more populated areas. As a result, certain of its undertakings tend to create concern that its efforts have an adverse impact on the ability to protect the rainforest. But this Department of the government of Brazil does reportedly provide logistical support to the Brazilian military, including "Operation Green Brazil," which involves monitoring the rainforest to curb illegal logging and deforestation.