Multi-Agency Dredge Team Created by DEC

On July 24, NY State Dept. of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joe Martens announced the creation of a team of local, state and federal partners that will work together to develop strategies to maintain the depth of New York Harbor's shipping channels in ways that are environmentally responsible and economically feasible. With one- to two-million cubic yards of sediment removed from local waterways each year, officials have long wrestled with what to do with the dredged material.
 
Goals of the new team include developing more advantageous technologies and policies, facilitating the dredge permitting process, and identifying marine environment restoration projects and brownfield sites for reuse of the dredged sediment.

According to the DEC, commerce at the Port of New York and New Jersey generates more than $20 billion in economic activity in the region every year, including $5 billion in state and local tax revenue, and provides more than 230,000 jobs. New York's cruise industry provides an additional $145 million in direct spending to the local economy. Maritime support services, such as the tug and barge industry, provide nearly 12,000 jobs in New York, with a payroll of $1.1 billion annually.

The team will work with the Army Corp of Engineers, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and will be financed for its first five years with $3.7 million of Port Authority funds from the 1996 Joint Dredging Plan.

"Our ports are vital to the economic well-being of our region, and we must do all we can to ensure the unimpeded flow of ships and cargo into and out of our marine terminals," said Port Authority Executive Director Pat Foye. "At the same time, we have an absolute duty to be responsible stewards of the environment and protect it for future generations."

"The rising tide and hidden challenge of silt is an environmental and economic threat to our harbor," said Roland Lewis of the MWA. "DEC's new and necessary staff, made possible through the Bi-State Dredge funds, is critical to realizing an environmentally restored and economically vibrant 21st century waterfront. It is a great and timely waterfront investment."

Photo by Will Van Dorp/tugster.wordpress.com