Remediation

EPA has started a $12 million cleanup at the Lake Linden Recreation Area in Lake Linden, Michigan. Crews will remove about 13,300 cubic yards of sediment contaminated with lead, zinc, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).

Multiple cleanups around Detroit, including Monguagon Creek, Harbortown and Lower Rouge River’s Old Channel, will help restore the Detroit and Rouge Rivers. EPA and partners have already addressed about 400,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment and restored more than 320 acres of habitat within the Detroit River AOC.

With the completion of the Thomson Reservoir project, all eight sediment cleanup projects are now complete for the Minnesota side of the St. Louis River Area of Concern. More than 1.9 million cubic yards of contaminated sediment have been addressed and over 1,000 acres of habitat have been restored across the AOC.

On March 30, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency resumed dredging contaminated sediment from the Lower Rouge River Old Channel in Detroit, Michigan. More than 100,000 cubic yards of sediment contaminated with coal tar and petroleum products will be remediated.

In early March, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency began the second year of its cleanup project on the Cuyahoga River in Gorge Metro Park. Throughout the duration of the project, EPA expects to remove more than 850,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment from the river.

The project will remove over 240,000 cubic yards of contaminated canal and river bottom sediment and remediate over 100 acres of sediment at two sites in the AOC.

In September, Muskegon Lake became the 8th overall U.S. AOC delisted and the 7th delisted under the GLRI. The designation comes after years of restoration and remediation work which restored more than 134 acres of habitat and 6,000 linear feet of shoreline.

The recent removal of the 128th Beneficial Use Impairment (BUI) marks the completion of a Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) Action Plan III target.

Utilizing funding from GLRI, the National Park Service Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program (RTCA) has supported the City of Duluth, Minnesota, to improve and expand park and trail spaces near historically disadvantaged neighborhoods located along the St. Louis River Estuary. The initial revitalization efforts to improve Waabizheshikana: The Marten Trail will enhance residents’ opportunities to connect back to a cultural and ecologically significant area of the waterfront. Partners are working together to preserve and enhance this trail while promoting awareness of the interconnectedness between Indigenous heritage and environmental stewardship.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) celebrates the completion of the first of two construction seasons at the Thomson Reservoir Remedial Action project in the St. Louis River Area of Concern.