Posted on October 17, 2018
An environmental cleanup project for the Rouge River took another step forward after a Muskegon-based firm was awarded a multimillion-dollar federal contract.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency awarded about $16 million to Great Lakes Dock and Materials to dredge and cap portions of the Lower Rouge River Old Channel adjacent to Zug Island.
Part of the EPA’s Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, the project aims to restore the Rouge River by removing sediment and debris. Designated an “area of concern” by the EPA in 1987, the Rouge River watershed “contains the oldest and most heavily populated and industrialized area in southeast Michigan,” according to the EPA website.
In conjunction with Honeywell, Inc., the EPA has been working on cleaning up a 0.75-mile stretch of the LRROC since 2010. The contract awarded recently is the final phase of a decade-long effort.
The scope of work includes installing temporary shoreline protection, removing about 70,000 cubic yards of toxic sediments and capping areas where dredging isn’t feasible. The company also anticipates removing at least a dozen vehicles as part of the effort.
“This is a major milestone for the cleanup of the Rouge River and yet another example of the continuing progress being made under the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative,” said Christopher Korleski, director of the EPA’s Great Lakes National Program Office. “The contaminated sediments being removed represent the legacy of over a century of waste discharge to the river.”
In November 2017, stakeholders from the EPA and USACE held a public meeting on the project and released a fact sheet outlining its purpose: “The purpose of the sediment cleanup project is to reduce exposure to people and the environment of coal tar contaminated sediment, and improve habitat and aquatic life.”
A needs assessment was released by researchers at Purdue University and the University of Illinois in February 2018 and another public meeting was held in March.
Karl Laub, community development director of River Rouge, said the city has been informed throughout the project, but is not directly involved.
Though no start date has been set, the work “will begin soon,” according to a press release, and is scheduled to be completed in June 2020.
Source: News-Herald
