Posted on July 27, 2017
By Laura Johnston, cleveland.com
Gov. John Kasich on Tuesday signed a law to give the Ohio EPA more power to protect Lake Erie and regulate landfills.
“We want to take good care of our environment,” Kasich said at the ceremony at the Great Lakes Science Center, overlooking Lake Erie. “This is one of the crown jewels of our state.”
Ohio EPA Director Craig Butler, Ohio Senate President Larry Obhof, Sen. Cliff Hite and Port of Cleveland CEO Will Friedman spoke on the importance of Senate Bill 2, which revises laws on Lake Erie protections, public water systems, landfills and construction debris recycling sites.
The Army Corps had battled for years with Ohio leaders over the cost of dumping sediment from the six-mile shipping channel of the Cuyahoga River into facilities instead of placing it in Lake Erie. The state said the sediment would harm the lake’s ecosystem if it was dumped there. The Army Corps disagreed, refusing to dredge unless the state paid to put the sediment into a facility.
“That’s like the craziest thing I ever heard,” Kasich said Tuesday, calling the bill a win for Cleveland, the state and Lake Erie.
The bill creates a regulatory framework to reuse dredge material as a construction commodity. It also gives the Ohio EPA the authority to waive, transfer, revoke or modify water quality certification.
“This is an important moment for Cleveland, Lake Erie, its tributaries and our state,” Friedman said. “The state of Ohio is getting it right when it comes to dredging.”
Source: cleveland.com
