Corps of Engineers Relents, Will Dredge Cleveland Ship Channel

James F. McCarty reports in the Cleveland Plain Dealer on October 3, 2016:

CLEVELAND, Ohio – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced late Monday that it would dredge the upper reaches of the Cuyahoga River shipping channel where sediment has been piling up, forcing cargo ships to "light load" during deliveries to the ArcelorMittal steel mill.

The Army Corps ended its year-long refusal to dredge on the condition that, if the agency prevails in a federal court lawsuit, Ohio would reimburse the Corps for the additional costs required to dump the sediment into Dike 10, a confined disposal facility on the Lake Erie shoreline near Burke Lakefront Airport.

The Army Corps has maintained the sediment is nontoxic and safe enough for open lake disposal. But the Ohio EPA disagreed and blocked that action, maintaining that the sediment is too polluted with PCBs.

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2016/10/us_army_corps_of_engineers_agr.html 

ArcelorMittal Steel - Cleveland

OCTOBER 16, 2016 UPDATE: Following court proceedings, the Corp of Engineers has awarded a $3.7 million contract to dredge the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland. It is anticipated that dredging will start soon.

http://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2016/10/13/army-corps-awards-contract-cuyahoga-dredging-to-begin-soon

Deny Monsanto Immunity for PCB Damages

SHOULD MONSANTO BE IMMUNE FROM LIABILITY FOR PCB DAMAGES?

Monsanto Plant

“Waterkeeper Alliance and 55 Waterkeeper member organizations and affiliates across the country are urging President Obama to oppose an attempt by Congress to protect Monsanto from liability for billions of dollars of damages caused by toxic polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).”

“ ‘Monsanto’s PCBs have contaminated more than 80,000 miles of streams and rivers and 2.9 million acres of lakes and reservoirs in the United States alone,’ said Executive Director Marc Yaggi. ‘Rather than be shielded by Congress, they must be held accountable for the damage inflicted on people and natural resources across the country.’ ”

http://waterkeeper.org/waterkeeper-alliance-opposes-monsanto-shield-provision-in-chemical-safety-reform-legislation/?utm_source=Waterkeeper+Alliance+Master+List&utm_campaign=8fc2174e18-May_2016_Currents5_5_2016&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e059bc1919-8fc2174e18-72806225

Ask our people in Congress to hold Monsanto accountable - NO IMMUNITY!

Army Corps' Move May Thwart Ohio EPA, Federal Judge

Corps' political end run intended to dodge Ohio EPA and federal judge on dredging?

In the Cleveland Plain Dealer on January 7, 2016, James F. McCarty wrote (excerpts):

The dispute between the Port of Cleveland and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers heated up again this week after Army brass obtained a cut of  more than $3 million in funds budgeted for dredging the Cuyahoga River shipping channel.

Port of Cleveland President & CEO Wil Friedman wrote to Senators Sherrod Brown and Rob Portman on Tuesday to express his dismay at the "troubling actions" of the Army Corps and to seek their assistance in recouping the money.

At the root of the dispute are the Army Corps' ongoing efforts to dump dredged sediment from the river channel directly into the open Lake Erie, rather than to continue its longstanding practice of storing the sediment in lakefront containment dikes. Port officials and the Ohio EPA contend the sediment is potentially toxic and unsuitable for open-lake disposal...

In the original federal budget, $9.54 million was earmarked for dredging Cleveland Harbor, Friedman said. But unknown to port officials or the Ohio congressional delegation, Army Corps brass advised a congressional Appropriations Committee to cut the budgeted money for dredging the harbor to $5.94 million -- a reduction of $3.6 million, he said.

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2016/01/3_million_cut_from_federal_bud.html

(See Part 3: Murky Waters, this blog, 11-17-15.) 
  

UPDATE   Posted by Sam Allard on Scene & Heard, Jan 25, 2016:

Both Ohio Senators Sherrod Brown and Rob Portman are now in "open war" with the USACE, the [Cleveland Plain Dealer or PD] said, and are demanding the agency use its own flexible account to cover costs for safe disposal of the sludge.  

Money is required, they say, because Congress allocated a lot less money to the USACE this year at the agency's request:  

The only reason Congress in December didn't allocate more money for the harbor's dredging, the senators said, is because the Corps quietly went to congressional appropriators and slyly asked for a lower amount — at least $2 million less than was needed and $3.6 million less than even the White House had sought for Cleveland Harbor dredging. Ohio lawmakers didn't notice the change until after the bill, a 2,200-page spending measure for 2016 that Congress rushed through at year's end, had passed.

By seeking and getting less money, Portman and Brown contend, the Corps could cry poor when time comes this year to do the work.  

In an editorial published Sunday, the PD laid into the Engineers for their sleazy, deceptive maneuvers, saying that with a reduced budget, they can now "shake down" the state…

http://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2016/01/25/secret-strategy-us-army-corps-of-engineers-may-want-to-turn-cleveland-population-into-mutants

 

PCBs: The Nature of the Beast

(first in a series)

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are an assortment of man-made chemical compounds that were commonly used as coolants and electric insulators. Oils containing PCBs were carelessly discarded for decades. They are found all over the place in southeast Michigan, contaminating many of our waters. Even low levels of PCBs can have acute, chronic health consequences, including cancer. Consider these particulars from Wikipedia:

Because of PCBs' environmental toxicity and classification as a persistent organic pollutant, PCB production was banned by the United States Congress in 1979 …

The maximum allowable contaminant level in drinking water in the United States is set at zero, but because of water treatment technologies, a level of 0.5 parts per billion is the de facto level.

[PCBs] … are chemically fairly inert, being extremely resistant to oxidation, reduction, addition, elimination, and electrophilic substitution.

The resistance of PCBs to oxidation and reduction in the natural environment makes them very stable compounds, not decomposing readily. They have a long half life (8 to 15 years) and are insoluble in water, which contributes to their stability.[11] Their destruction by chemical, thermal, and biochemical processes is extremely difficult, and presents the risk of generating extremely toxic dibenzodioxins and dibenzofurans through partial oxidation. Intentional degradation as a treatment of unwanted PCBs generally requires high heat or catalysis…

Like many lipiphilic toxins, PCBs biomagnify up the food chain. For instance, ducks can accumulate PCBs from eating fish and other aquatic life from contaminated rivers, and these can cause harm to human health or even death when eaten.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polychlorinated_biphenyl

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) have endeavored to remedy PCB contamination in Michigan for about 40 years with varying levels of success. This series will examine one such effort that has been botched badly.