Dredge facility's cost nearly triples
 Tuesday, September 11, 2007
 CRYSTAL McMORRIS THE BAY CITY TIMES

A dredging facility near the Saginaw-Bay county line was supposed to begin receiving dredged sediments from the Saginaw River last month. Instead, it likely will sit unused until at least next year, officials say.

Meanwhile, the price tag for the 281-acre spoils site has nearly tripled.

Saginaw County Director of Public Works James A. Koski said that while the site basically is complete, it needs improvements to ensure it will contain pollution from dumped sediments. The project, originally hoped to cost around $2 million, will end up costing closer to $6 million, Koski said.

The site is partly in Saginaw County's Zilwaukee Township and partly in Bay County's Frankenlust Township.

Dave Hamilton, chief of the Water Management Section of the Department of Environmental Quality, said the DEQ would like the facility up and running "sooner rather than later" but that it probably won't receive dredge spoils this year.

"We still have some work to do," Hamilton said. "We're working with the the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and waiting for them to give us a draft of operation and maintenance guidelines that we can review."

Les E. Weigum, chief of the Environmental Analysis Branch of the Corps, said the operation and maintenance plan is "a big document" with "many items in it" and therefore takes a certain length of time to complete.

The plan details operations, including what types and amounts of discharges the facility will have and other details.

Dow Chemical has pitched in about $300,000 for additional containment dikes at the Dredged Materials Disposal Facility. Additional "slurry walls," which will cost $800,000 to $1.2 million to construct, are in the planning stages.

The site will take sediment from the upper Saginaw River, where silt has hampered navigation.

"We've done some emergency dredging this year," Weigum said. "And the longer we delay, as water levels go lower, there could be some impact" on shipping.

A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit by the Bay City-based environmental group the Lone Tree Council aiming to prevent use of the facility. A hearing is set for Wednesday, Oct. 24, on another court action filed by the council and the National Wildlife Federation against the DEQ. The suit seeks to require the facility to treat contaminated water before it's discharged into the river.

But Koski said the legal wrangling has not delayed the project's timetable. v

©2007 Saginaw News
 

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