Posted on May 31, 2017 by Michael Hardy
On May 11, 2017, I published a blog piece about the efforts of the Army Corps of Engineers to circumvent the State of Ohio’s “anti-degradation” water quality rules for the disposal of contaminated sediments from portions of the Cleveland Harbor and Shipping Channel. Instead of dry land disposal in Confined Disposal Facilities (“CDF”), the Corp cited its own “Federal Standard” that justified, in its view, “open lake disposal” in Lake Erie at considerable cost savings. The United States District Court ruled on May 5, 2017 that action was “arbitrary and capricious” under the Administrative Procedure Act. The District Court showed no deference to the Corp’s “scientific” efforts to create its own rules in contravention to Ohio’s water quality standards.
The controversy arose in the context of the disposal of the contaminated sediments in the shipping channel of the Cuyahoga River, which makes up the last six miles of the River ( the northern end spilling into Lake Erie). The River travels approximately 85 miles in total and drains nearly 815 square miles in four counties. Just several miles south of the shipping channel is the 33,000 square acre Cuyahoga Valley National Park, with a number of significant tributaries feeding the River. These upstream waters provide significant sand and gravel loadings to the northern reach of the River.
Recognizing that it could not afford to build a new $150,000,000 CFD, the Port of Cleveland looked for ways to reduce the sediment loading upstream of the navigation channel. Adapting innovative “green” technology, the first of its kind at a port like Cleveland’s, the Port installed a “bed load interceptor” machine in the water about five miles upstream of the Shipping Channel that captures the sediment and extracts the clean sand for disposal into onsite piles. With less sediment coming downriver, the Port hopes to extend the life of the existing CDF for another 30 years. The collected sand has a financial value for use in composting, construction, landscaping and road fill. Here is a link to a recent The Plain Dealer(Cleveland.com) article that describes the technology, as well as its costs and resultant savings in dredging/disposal costs, and that depicts the process and the location of the interceptor.
The Port of Cleveland’s success with the interceptor has prompted other ports to examine the application of the technology to their locations, including a port on Lake Superior and sites in the Mississippi River delta.
Tags: United States Army Corps of Engineers, Port of Cleveland, Cuyahoga River, Green Technology