Snag over harbor dredging

TOLEDO, Ohio - Dredging Toledo's Harbor, so ship traffic can come in and out, is good for our area's economy. But some say the process has a flaw. The problem is where the material goes after.

The Army Corps of Engineers wants to dump it in Lake Erie.

Some local people, who attended an Ohio EPA public meeting Thursday, want the dredge material to become man made islands for things like bird sanctuaries. They're against the idea of open lake dumping because of the algae it may cause. More algae in the lake means fewer tourists and boaters in the water.

The proposed dredging in the harbor would be from roughly the grain elevators near the DiSalle Bridge, all the way out to the lake. About 2 million cubic yards will be dredged annually until 2012.

The man made islands are more expensive than the open lake dumping but some feel like it could be a safety issue.

"One of our greatest resources we have is water and our ability to provide clean drinking water. Where they talking about dumping essentially is very close to the water intake and it takes a lot more machinery and operations to essentially clean the water of these toxins," said Toledo city councilwoman Lindsay Webb.  

The Ohio EPA needs to grant a permit to the Army Corps to do the dredging. EPA officials admitted Thursday, they have never said no to a permit, but they have put restrictions on them about the amount of material that can be dumped.

While all the details of those man made islands are worked out, the idea is to put the material on port property. The Army corps wants to start dredging in roughly July, so the Ohio EPA will need to make a ruling before then.