US Army Corps of Engineers

BUILDING STRONG®

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Lisa A. Baron

28 March 2012

Mid-Atlantic Contaminated Sediment Symposium: Navigating through Contaminated Sediments to Achieve

our Vision of a World Class Harbor Estuary

BUILDING STRONG®

Hudson-Raritan Estuary

Planning for

Sea Level

Rise

Harbor Deepening

Project to -50 Ft.

Beneficial Use

of Dredged

Material

Jamaica Bay

Dredged Material

Management

Harbor Estuary Program

Storm Preparedness

Planning

Storm/Flood Risk

Management Projects

Harbor

Operations

Committee

Lower Passaic River

NJ Meadowlands

Bronx

River

Hurricane

Evacuation Plan

Channel Maintenance Liberty State Park

Drift Removal

Vision of a World Class Harbor Estuary

Comprehensive Port

Improvement Plan

Green Port

Improvements

Comprehensive

Waterfront

Planning

Comprehensive Plan

Public

Access

BUILDING STRONG®

Improved Sediment Quality

is critical to…

Maintain the Port’s Economic Viability

Reduce the Cost of Dredged Material

Management

Protect Human and Ecological Health

► Remove Fish/Shellfish Advisories

(Hg, PCBs, Dioxin, DDT)

► Achieve USEPA’s Fishable Swimmable Goal

► Allow communities to access and utilize the estuary

as a resource

Remove Impediments to Advance

Restoration

BUILDING STRONG®

Hudson-Raritan Estuary

Planning for

Sea Level

Rise

Harbor Deepening

Project to -50 Ft.

Beneficial Use

of Dredged

Material

Jamaica Bay

Dredged Material

Management

Harbor Estuary Program

Storm Preparedness

Planning

Storm/Flood Risk

Management Projects

Harbor

Operations

Committee

Lower Passaic River

NJ Meadowlands

Bronx

River

Hurricane

Evacuation Plan

Channel Maintenance Liberty State Park

Drift Removal

Comprehensive Port

Improvement Plan

Green Port

Improvements

Comprehensive

Waterfront

Planning

Comprehensive Plan

Public

Access

Vision of a World Class Harbor Estuary

BUILDING STRONG®

Significance of the Port of New York & New Jersey

Largest Port on the East Coast (59% share)

3rd in US (13% share); 15th in World

$114.5 B in cargo (over 5 million

TEUs per year)

1,031,540 automobiles (2008)

269,900 full time jobs (10/2011)

$11.2B in personal income (10/2011)

$2.2 B in NY/NJ state and local tax

revenue

35 percent of US population served

BUILDING STRONG®

NY & NJ Harbor Deepening Contract Areas As of March 27, 2012

BUILDING STRONG®

NY & NJ Harbor Deepening Contract Areas and Future O&M Projections As of March 27, 2012

Future Sand Mining

~432,000 CY/YR

Future O&M:

~500,000

CY/YR

Future O&M:

~53,000 CY/YR

BUILDING STRONG®

Dredged Material Management Pennsylvania Coal

Mine Reclamation

Capping Landfills & Brownfields in Port Region

Before

After

Goal is to utilize ALL material beneficially Total Dredged for Harbor Deepening and O&M (1999-2011): >53M CY

(not including ongoing contracts)

* >13M CY Non-HARS Placed upland + NBCDF

* > 35M CY HARS/Reef Site

BUILDING STRONG®

Restored:

• Elders East: 43 marsh acres

• Elders West: 40 marsh acres

Beneficial Use of Dredged Material in Jamaica Bay Ecosystem Restoration

And Shoreline Stabilization

Now using Harbor Deepening Ambrose 3B sand

to restore:

• Yellow Bar: 42 marsh acres (375,000 CY)

• Black Wall: 22 marsh acres (150,000 CY)

• Rulers Bar: 12 marsh acres (95,000 CY)

• 125,000 CY to stabilize the

shoreline at Plumb Beach

BUILDING STRONG®

Hudson-Raritan Estuary

Planning for

Sea Level

Rise

Harbor Deepening

Project to -50 Ft.

Beneficial Use

of Dredged

Material

Jamaica Bay

Dredged Material

Management

Harbor Estuary Program

Storm Preparedness

Planning

Storm/Flood Risk

Management Projects

Harbor

Operations

Committee

Lower Passaic River

NJ Meadowlands

Bronx

River

Hurricane

Evacuation Plan

Channel Maintenance Liberty State Park

Drift Removal

Comprehensive Port

Improvement Plan

Green Port

Improvements

Comprehensive

Waterfront

Planning

Comprehensive Plan

Public

Access

Vision of a World Class Harbor Estuary

BUILDING STRONG®

Hudson Raritan Estuary

Comprehensive Restoration Plan

• Provides a SHARED vision and

blueprint for future restoration

• Coordinates and aligns regional restoration activities

• Identifies more than 300 Restoration Opportunities

• Harbor Estuary Program’s Regional Master Plan for Restoration – Not just the USACE’s Plan

• Feasibility Study evaluates all opportunities for future programmatic authorization

• Model for large-scale ecosystem restoration programs

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Target Ecosystem Characteristics

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Sediment Contamination

TEC Goals

2015 Goal: Isolate or Remove at least 25

acres of contaminated sediment

2050 Goal: Isolate or

remove at least 25 acres

every 2 years

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Programs/Studies:

► Regional Environmental Monitoring and

Assessment Program (REMAP)

►Contaminant Assessment and Reduction

Program (CARP)

►Harbor Project (Harbor Consortium)

►Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs)

►CSO Abatement Programs

Track Down and Contaminant Reduction

BUILDING STRONG® REMAP 1993-1994 and 1998

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Sediment Contamination Reduction

Opportunities (2,3,7,8-TCDD)

Insert Dioxin TEC map

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Superfund- CERCLA

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)

WRDA Section 312 Environmental Dredging

Section 204 of WRDA 1992: Beneficial Use of Dredged Material for

protection, restoration and creation of aquatic and ecological habitats

($15M/yr; up to $5M/project)

Section 207 of WRDA 1996: Beneficial Use of Dredged Material (no

annual limit)

Section 2037 of WRDA 2007:

► Broaden Sec 204 to include flood control/flood damage reduction ($30M/yr limit; up to

$5M/project)

► Authorizes Regional Sediment Management (RSM) Plans ($5M)

Mechanisms and Authorizations for

Sediment “Remediation”

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Lower Passaic River

Restoration

Feasibility Study

1) Remediation of

contaminated sediments

Dredging/Capping

Disposal Options

including

decontamination,

CAD/CDF or Off-site

2) RESTORATION

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Future

Restoration

Planning

Known

Contaminated

Sites within ½ mile

of each CRP

Opportunity

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Future

Restoration

Planning

Superfund Sites

within

Lower Passaic

Hackensack River

Newark Bay

Planning Region

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Sediment Remediation:

• Hudson River Phase 1: 283,000 CY Removed (2009)

• Hudson River Phase 2: 2,400,000 CY (started June 2011)

• Lower Passaic River Tierra Removal Action: Dredging of 40,000 CY (initiated 19

March 2012)

• Harbor Deepening and O&M Navigation: Removal of > 13M CY Non-HARS

sediment (+ ongoing contracts in Newark Bay, Port Jersey and Arthur Kill)

• Honeywell/Hackensack River (pending)

• Berry’s Creek (pending)

Studies: • Lower Passaic River RI/Feasibility Study

• 8 Mile Focused Feasibility: Possible Removal of 4.2 M CY to 11 M CY

• Time Critical Removal Action at RM10.9: < 30,000 CY

• Gowanus Canal: RI (Jan 2011) and FS (Dec 2011) Completed

• Newark Bay RI/FS Study

• Newtown Creek RI/FS Study

• Raritan River

Advancements to Date…

BUILDING STRONG®

Challenges to Ecosystem Restoration

►Duration of Remedial Investigations and

remedial actions in Priority Watersheds

►Funding

►Widespread Contamination in Urban Estuary]

►Fear of “Attractive Nuisance”

►Lack of “Big Picture” Thinking

• Be Innovative and Creative

►Habitat Exchange

►Overcoming Regulatory hurdles

►Lack of Consensus on acceptable levels of

contamination = “HARBOR CLEAN”

BUILDING STRONG®

Contaminated Sediments: Future Next Steps

Advance recommendations from the RSM Plan ► Strengthen regional coordination on regulatory issues, watershed planning and

DMMP

► Develop sediment quality map that prioritizes cleanup

► Accelerate Hudson River and Lower Passaic remedial actions

► Identify and reduce sediment loads

► Update research, monitoring and modeling

Advance Local Decontamination Technologies

Ensure funding for O&M

Complete HRE FS

Use existing authorities to aggressively address contaminated

sediments

Achieve Consensus to proceed with restoration in an

contaminated urban environment – without being paralyzed

BUILDING STRONG®

Achieving our Vision of a World Class

Harbor Estuary

Lisa Baron

917-790-8306

Lisa .a.Baron@usace.army.mil