“. ..think of it as the dirt and dust of far-off lands…”
Charlie Brown referring to “Pig Pen” in a Charlie Brown
Christmas http://bit.ly/gO5ERi
“Sort of makes you want to treat me with more respect doesn’t it?”
Pig-Pen
Like sole supportive Charlie Brown, the panel showed us how to look at mud differently ...“This is a problem that can be solved…we need to learn from the recycling industry how to better engage people. People don’t realize all dredged material is not contaminated”
Suzanne Mattei, NYS Dept of Environmental Conservation
Did you know the first of four levels of dredge is classified “not dirty”? In the Chesapeake Bay such clean material was used to restore an island!
"People need to lead the process, helping all stakeholders.” Rick Sheckles, ExoLogic Group Inc.
There were 130 stakeholders that worked together to lead the process, identify community benefits and set institutional policy in the Chesapeke Bay. Only when there was a split in the Port of Baltimore, between Seaports and the Corps of Engineers, did the initiative loose control of the rhetoric and momentum.
Grey Hartman explained there are two types of dredging 1) pipeline dredge, 90% of which is water and 2) mechanical to barge. A case study from Tacoma demonstrated the process of treatment of contaminated material (PCBs) within a confined aquatic disposal (CAD). The issues are transportation, maintenance and political - though not in that order.
For the most dreaded dredge - level four, NYNJ now has a plan; that's the good news. The bad - it’s expensive and requires a regional process facility. Most tough, there needs to be a behavioral shift in public and private partnership for it's implementation.
Thinking differently, illuminates opportunity:
“With regard to the containment of sediments, many ports & harbors are at the same place. The bi-state character of the port of New York New Jersey could provide a valuable implementation model to this global challenge.”
Eric Stern, ERM
Historically, a working port has counter cycled Wall Street with 50,000 indirect jobs and 20 million to the region - even more if environmentally friendly valuations are applied.
Funding, we were told, will be there when timing and appropriate needs are met.
"Fast decisions are as often wrong as they are right…we need to identify those issues people can get behind to make progress…for example somebody needs to pay attention to the mix and match of materials. ..no one wants to come back and see the same material in five years.”
Peter Davidson, Empire State Corporation
We can agree we don't want to see the same material in NYNJ Harbor in five years. And mixing users and matching materials sounds like a job for an aggregator, no? So... all you developers out there, got a Holiday app for that?
Moderator: Scott Douglas, NJDOT http://www.state.nj.us/transportation/
Peter Davidson, Empire State Development Corp.
http://www.empire.state.ny.us/
Greg Hartman, MWH Global
http://www.mwhglobal.com/
Suzanne Mattei, NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation
http://www.dec.ny.gov/
Rick Sheckells, EcoLogix Group Inc.
http://www.ecologixgroup.com/
Eric A. Stern, Environmental Resource Management (ERM)
http://www.erm.com
*About the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance The Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance works to transform the New York and New Jersey harbor and waterways to make them clean and accessible, a vibrant place to play, learn and work, with great parks, great jobs and great transportation for all.(www.waterfrontalliance.org) Nearly 400 civic, companies, utilities, union locals and more, united to make the New York and New Jersey Metropolitan Waterfront everthing it deserves to be.
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