Clean Ocean Advocate, October 2004
First Glacial Till Proposal Under USACE & USEPA Memo
The US Army Corps of Engineers’ (USACE) Public Notice (FP63-AKCA2-2004) is the first test of the "Joint Federal Position on Testing of Glacial Till Dredged Materials from Selected Areas of New York-New Jersey Harbor," established by the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) Region 2 and USACE New York District. The project states that 83,500 cubic yards of Pleistocene glacial till dredged material meets the required standards set forth in the joint memorandum and is therefore exempt from further testing and eligible for placement at the Historic Area Remediation Site (HARS). An additional 804,000 cubic yards was classified as Pleistocene Red Clay to be placed at HARS. It was necessary to request the additional "Glacial Till Determination" document to investigate specific information on core locations, numbers, and sediment descriptions for Contract Area 2. Upon review, COA found some serious discrepancies between the classification of the sediments as Pleistocene and the actual description of the sediments; including an area designated as "Pleistocene Glacial Till" that was described in the core log as containing black and gray silt material with a "petroleum odor" down to 50 feet. COA has documented our issues in a letter to USACE and requested a meeting.