Portman-Brown Bill to Protect Cleveland Harbor from Toxic Sediment Is Now Law

Press Release

U.S. Senators Rob Portman (R-OH) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) today announced that legislation they co-authored to help keep toxic material dredged from the Cuyahoga River out of Lake Erie has been signed into law as part of the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation (WIIN) Act. A provision of the bill makes clear that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) cannot determine that dumping dredged material into Lake Erie is environmentally acceptable unless it meets the state of Ohio's water quality standards. This law will help protect Lake Erie from the Corps' repeated attempts to dispose of contaminated sediment into the Lake.

"Protecting the Cleveland Harbor Project is vital not only to the local environment, but to our economy as well," said Senator Portman. "This new law ensures that dredged material will not harm either the City of Cleveland's water supply or Lake Erie's ecosystem and that commercial navigation will continue safely. This is a big win for Cleveland."

"This is a win for local businesses and jobs along the Cuyahoga River and Port of Cleveland," said Brown. "Dredging is key to protecting our lake and keeping the channel open for businesses. This law will hold the Corps to our state's water quality standards so we can keep Lake Erie clean."

The Portman-Brown bill included in WRDA means that the Corps must follow Ohio's water quality standards when determining how to dispose of the dredged material.

According to the State of Ohio, more than $10 billion of the state's nearly $40 billion tourism industry is derived from counties along the Lake Erie shoreline. Further, the Great Lakes play a vital role in transporting food, raw materials, and other goods necessary to support Ohio jobs. But in order for this to continue, the Great Lakes' harbors and channels must be dredged in an environmentally safe manner.

In January 2016, Portman and Brown urged USACE Assistant Secretary Jo-Ellen Darcy to use at least $2 million of its $273 million unallocated operations and maintenance budget to make up for its irresponsible request for less money to dredge the Cleveland Harbor. The Corps requested $3.6 million less than the President had requested in his budget, an amount that will not be sufficient to safely place the dredged material upland. Portman and Brown's letter urged the Corps to respect the State's Water Quality Standards and pay for the cost of disposing of the toxic dredged material responsibly rather than dumping it into Lake Erie.

In February 2015, Portman and Brown wrote to Assistant Secretary of the Army and the Chief of Engineers at USACE to call for full funding of Great Lakes navigation projects and to direct additional resources to address a significant dredging backlog.

Source