CONTAMINATED SEDIMENTS: PROJECTS AND PROPOSALS
Clean Ocean Action reviews and provides comments on dredging projects in the NY/NJ Harbor region, as well as along the coast of NJ. For more information about the projects or to discuss COA's comments, please contact our COA Staff Scientist at 732-872-0111.
PROJECT COMMENTS:
- NY/NJ Harbor Deepening Study - January 2021
- Shrewsbury River Dredging 2009
- BP Products North America, Inc. Carteret, NJ - October 2008
- Whale Creek in Newtown Creek, Brooklyn, NY - October 2007
- Newark Bay Confined Disposal Facility Request for Permit Extension
- Naval Weapons Station Earle Proposed Plan to Remove Discarded Military Munitions from Material Dredged during Pier Complex Replacement work in Sandy Hook Bay
- Berry's Creek Wetlands Fill Application
- Atlantic Highlands Municipal Harbor dredging project. Also, see update in Action Alerts, "Potential Permit Violations and NJDEP Stop-Work Order."
- Dredged material decontamination project at Bayshore Recycling Corporation
- Raritan River Maintenance Dredging Project Jan 2005
COA also has a page for comments on dredging projects that included disposal at the Historic Area Remediation Site (HARS), please visit the HARS page to read these comments.
2009 Final Bayshore Region Dredged Material Management Plan (Bayshore DMMP) Released
The Bayshore DMMP is a comprehensive plan developed through Bayshore community and citizen involvement and collaboration to properly plan and manage dredged material. Marinas and bays fill in with sediments and require dredging to maintain boating channels. Most dredged material from the Bayshore is not contaminated and meets the standards for beneficial reuse. Planning simplifies and creates predictability in permitting requirements associated with dredging and storing dredged material. The current volume of material associated with maintenance dredging, storage capacity limitations and management issues associated with boating and navigation are all described in the plan. The DMMP also identifies environmentally sound alternatives for dredged material use, costs associated with different types of dredging, savings associated with municipal coordination, different methods for beneficial use, and pertinent regulatory requirements.
Click here to visit the Bayshore Regional Watershed Council Website to view the report.
2008 Updated Dredged Material Management Plan (DMMP) for the Harbor
COA recently submitted comments on the US Army Corps of Engineer’s 2008 Updated Dredged Material Management Plan for the Port of New York and New Jersey. We commend this documents strong emphasis on utilizing dredged material as a resource, promoting/exploring beneficial reuse opportunities and eliminating from consideration many previously listed aquatic disposal options that COA considers environmentally harmful. We expressed our disappointment over the lack of public participation in the planning and development of a dredged material processing facility and the plan’s failure to acknowledge the USEPA/NJDOT’s expensive and unsuccessful efforts to develop economically viable, environmentally sound decontamination technologies. Clean Ocean Action will continue to participate in efforts to improve water/sediment quality in the Harbor, develop economically viable and environmentally sound beneficial reuse options for dredged material and reduce the need for aquatic disposal. We welcome opportunities to work cooperatively with the ACOE and USEPA to these ends. Visit the USACE website at http://www.nan.usace.army.mil/business/prjlinks/dmmp/index.htm to view the Updated DMMP.
