WKSU Stories

Greater Cleveland Partneship Urges Gov. Kasich to Pass a Bill to Protect Lake Erie, Other Waterways

Ideastream Public Media | By Mitch Felan

Published July 6, 2017 at 4:54 PM EDT

Dredging removes sediments from shipping lanes.

The Ohio EPA says the new guidelines include classification and possible uses of dredge material.

The Greater Cleveland Partnership is urging Governor John Kasich to sign a water quality bill sent to him last week.

The bill creates stronger protections for Lake Erie by focusing on efforts to reduce phosphorous runoff. The legislation also would allow the Ohio EPA to establish stronger guidelines for use and disposal of dredging materials.

The partnership’s Marty McGann says the dredging proposals will benefit the Cuyahoga-Cleveland Port Authority.

“The materials that are coming out of the Cuyahoga River -- just about every year when they go through the dredging process at the Army Corps of Engineers. Those need to go someplace and the state has, over the past couple of years, prohibited all open-disposal of sediment materials. So there needed to be a regulatory framework around this.”

Both the group and the Ohio EPA expect Kasich will sign the bill.