Resolution: Making Beneficial Use of Dredged Material a Policy Priority
Adopted on May 16, 2001

Whereas, dredging in the Great Lakes has been undertaken for 150 years to deepen and maintain navigation channels and for other purposes such as waterfront construction, utilities placement and environmental remediation; and

Whereas, 80 to 90 percent of material dredged from Great Lakes waterways is either discharged into open waters or placed in a confined disposal facility (CDF); and

Whereas, most CDFs will be full or at design capacity during this decade and open water placement is prohibited by some Great Lakes states and is coming under increasing scrutiny; and

Whereas, most of the dredged material disposed of in open waters of the Great Lakes is not contaminated and can be used beneficially instead; and

Whereas, with proper testing and guidelines to protect human health and the environment, beneficial use of dredged material offers a sustainable long-term management option for dredged material management in the Great Lakes basin; and

Whereas, successful beneficial use projects have demonstrated that dredged material can provide an alternative source of material for beach/littoral nourishment, habitat creation and restoration, landscaping, topsoil creation and enhancement, land creation and reclamation, and in the manufacture of aggregates for marketable products such as cement or glass; and

Whereas, the Great Lakes Commission's Beneficial Use of Dredged Material Task Force has found that:

• Reuse and recycling of dredged material should take priority over disposal where possible
• Technological advances and risk assessment procedures can allow dredged material that is not pristine to be used safely and beneficially
• There is currently no federal regulatory framework governing the beneficial use of dredged material
• Great Lakes states have disparate and often insufficient, and sometimes contradictory policies and programs for testing and evaluating dredged material for beneficial use applications
• The lack of federal and state regulatory frameworks for beneficial use of dredged material is a major obstacle to beneficial use in the Great Lakes basin

Therefore, Be It Resolved, that the Great Lakes Commission recommends that its member states should make beneficial use a policy priority for dredged material management; and

Be It Further Resolved, that the Great Lakes Commission urges Congress to expand the authority of the Army Corps of Engineers under Section 204 of the Water Resources Development Act of 1992 to include a wide range of beneficial uses in addition to the protection, restoration and creation of aquatic habitat; and

Be It Further Resolved, that Great Lakes Commission recommends that its member states individually undertake multi-agency initiatives to evaluate existing state policies for purposes of developing comprehensive state programs for testing, evaluating and managing dredged material as a resource; and

Be It Finally Resolved, the Great Lakes Commission encourages it member states to work with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to coordinate state policies in the interest of developing of a regional framework for beneficial use.

Unanimously adopted by the eight member states of the Great Lakes Commission at the 2001 Semiannual Meeting in Ann Arbor, Mich., May 16, 2001. Contact Commission President/CEO Michael J. Donahue at mdonahue@glc.org for more information.