TIVERTON — As part of the review process for a controversial plan to dredge Mount Hope Bay to clear room for tanker ships that would supply a proposed liquefied natural gas terminal in Fall River, the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management is holding two public hearings starting tonight. The hearing will be held at Tiverton High School, 100 North Brayton Rd., and is scheduled to start at 6:30 and end at 10. The second is set for next Monday at Mt. Hope High School, 199 Chestnut St., Bristol. It will also run from 6:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. The public may attend the hearings and comment on the dredging plans.

Weaver’s Cove Energy and Hess LNG are proposing to build a $250-million natural gas facility in Fall River’s north end. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the construction of the 73-acre facility last year, but the terminal awaits a host of local and state approvals before it goes forward, including permits for dredging from the Rhode Island DEM and the state’s Coastal Resources Management Council.

If the terminal is built, tankers would travel through Rhode Island waters to reach it. They would pass through Narragansett Bay, under the Mount Hope Bridge, across Mount Hope Bay and up the Taunton River.

However, the shipping channel in Mount Hope Bay is too shallow for the tankers, and the companies propose dredging a seven-mile stretch of the channel to deepen it from 35 feet to 37 feet.

About 2.6-million cubic yards of sediment would be removed from 191 acres in the Taunton River and Mount Hope Bay. The companies are seeking a water-quality certification from DEM to dredge 140,000 cubic yards of sediment from 33 acres in the Rhode Island portion of the bay. The sediment would be deposited in Rhode Island Sound, 6.5 miles east of Block Island.

The companies say they would limit dredging to seven months a year from mid-June to mid-January to minimize damage to habitats for winter flounder and other fish in the 200-acre project area. And they say the dredging could be completed over a three-year period.

But opponents of the project, including coastal communities and state elected officials from Rhode Island and Massachusetts, have complained that the dredging would coincide with the summer boating season and could harm tourism and fishing. They have also said that the work could stir up potentially hazardous materials, such as zinc and lead, that were deposited years ago.