Next Phase of Dredging Project Underway in Black Rock Channel

After decades of contamination, environmental dredging is underway in the Black Rock Channel in an effort to clear it of toxins and sediment.

“Black Rock Channel was considered dead zone as most of the rivers in Buffalo as was Lake Erie at one point but we’ve come a long way but we still have a ways to go,” said Congressman Brian Higgins.

More than $2 million in federal funding is being spent on the project under the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. It aims to clean up contaminants after decades of industrial waste was dumped into Buffalo waterways. Once sediment from the Black Rock Channel is dredged, it will be moved to a confined disposal facility.

“In total, the project will be about 250 thousand cubic yards of sediment. If we were to place that in a dump truck loads that’s about 20,000 dump truck loads,” said U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Commander Lt. Col.Karl Jansen.

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE