Posted on August 16, 2016
By Peregrine Frissell, greenwich time
Greenwich’s plans to dredge local waterways has dodged a bullet.
Last week, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced he was going to sue the federal Environmental Protection Agency for agreeing to make permanent a temporary off-shore dump site in eastern Long Island Sound, near New London. The dumped materials would be silt and detritus dredged out of the waterways near the Connecticut coastline.
Connecticut has long pinpointed three sites for silt dumping: a western dump site, a central dump site and the one on the eastern portion, which is the focus of Cuomo’s suit.
“It shouldn’t have any effect on Greenwich,” said George Wisker, an environmental analyst 3 at the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
The Army Corps of Engineers has given its approval for dredging the clogged Mianus River and dumping the dirt and plant material in deep water in the western portion of Long Island Sound, about halfway between Stamford and Long Island.
“There’s capacity for quite a few million cubic yards at that location,” Wisker said. “The chances of it being used up in the next 30 years or so is very slim.”
Because the Mianus River dredging project is headed for the western dump site, Wisker said, work would not be delayed by any legal action New York would take against the EPA.
“New York doesn’t like open water disposal of dredged material, they claim it causes all sort of impacts which frankly the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers don’t agree with.,” Wisker said. “There are no long term adverse affects we have seen.”
Any material dumped off shore has to have both state and federal permits. New York has sent its own dredged material through Connecticut to the Sound once or twice a year, Wisker said.
Many soils contain trace amounts of toxic materials, Wisker said, and the amount within the soil that is to be dumped is regulated. Within that limit, dredged materials with the higher amount of contamination are laid down first and covered with cleaner sediment.
“You help protect the environment by sequestering the material, keeping it away from critters and the water column,” Wisker said. “It’s known to be very effective.”
Cuomo, in a letter to President Obama protesting the EPA’s decision, claimed the EPA had not demonstrated the need to make the temporary dumping site a permanent one. He suggested dumping the silt on land, a move Connecticut’s DEEP said is too expensive.
“One of the things you hear people say is that dredging is necessary, but open water disposal isn’t. That you can do other things with this material,” Wisker said. “It’s way too expensive, though.”
Source: greenwich time
