West coast port remediation ideas sent East By PHILIP SPADARO Hart Crowser Some of the most important Puget Sound port facilities have been developed through an innovative combination of ideas using nearshore confined disposal facilities (CDFs) to isolate contaminated dredged materials, as well as to create new terminal areas, increase channel depth and facilitate improved marine habitats. Prominent regional examples of fresh approaches to old problems include the SeaLand Terminal expansion in the Port of Tacoma, in which contaminated sediments dredged from the Sitcum Waterway were used to fill the Milwaukee Waterway, and construction of a new Washington State Ferries maintenance terminal in Eagle Harbor, where a nearshore CDF increased valuable upland area. Now ideas such as these are being considered at the Port of New York and New Jersey, where loss of the ocean disposal option for dredged sediments has created a crisis in maintaining or deepening existing channels. An example of regional technology to export to the Northeast: Nearshore CDF currently under construction at the Washington State Ferry Maintenance Terminal. Hart Crowser designed the CDF and Wilder Environmental is the contractor. The Winslow Ferry is at the top of the picture. Photo by Soundview Aerial Photography. Hart Crowser, a Seattle-based consulting engineering firm, has been actively exporting such ideas to New York and New Jersey harbors. Since opening an office in Jersey City, N.J., several months ago, the firm has stimulated thinking about several projects, including filling two obsolete slips at a former shipyard in South Kearny, N.J., with contaminated material from a nearby navigation channel. Other nearshore CDFs are under consideration. Characteristically, developing a nearshore CDF involves removing contaminated material from navigation channels to fill and cap an obsolete slip or berthing area. In many cases, these slips themselves contain contaminated sediments. By filling an obsolete slip, port facilities can be expanded to accommodate more modern vessels. Dredging channel sediments also restores the necessary navigation depth. As part of the process, new aquatic habitats, such as marshes and intertidal sand or mud flats, may be built to mitigate the loss of marine habitat, in accordance with federal permitting requirements. The crisis in New York Harbor has been evolving for several years. The results of sediment testing have indicated acute toxicity and bioaccumulation of contaminants in marine organisms. Sources of contamination include the dioxin-contaminated sediments at a former chemical plant on the Passaic River in Newark, N.J., and the PCB-contaminated sediments in the upper Hudson River above Troy, N.Y. Both are federal Superfund sites. As a result of an Executive Order issued in July 1996, the existing ocean disposal site, called the Mud Dump, will no longer receive contaminated material after September of this year. The situation is exacerbated by the need to deepen several important channels to accommodate the next generation of modern container vessels. Equally important is the pressing need to prevent recontamination by undertaking source control (remedial actions, environmental dredging or capping) in the rivers leading to the harbor. Alternative means of disposal or decontamination and beneficial reuse of the sediments are critical to the survival of the Port of New York and New Jersey. The situation in New York and New Jersey is more complicated than usual, because responsibility for operating the Port and permitting the dredging activity is divided between two states, several federal agencies and a bi-state Port Authority. Hart Crowser has worked hard to foster and participate in public-private partnerships aimed at solving the dredging crisis. One possible site for a nearshore CDF in New Jersey is the River Terminal Development Facility in South Kearny, N.J. Photo courtesy of Hart Crowser. Working together, representatives from New Jersey's Department of Commerce Maritime Resources Division and Department of Environmental Protection, New York's Department of Environmental Conservation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Corps of Engineers and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, have made significant progress in the last year toward alleviating the crisis. The nearshore CDF project at South Kearny, N.J., could serve as a model for upgrading obsolete port facilities while containing contaminated sediments. About 250,000 cubic yards of material could be contained and a new, shallow-water habitat constructed to mitigate the loss of the filled area. As part of the redevelopment, a barge berth and associated cargo handling facilities also would be constructed. If permitted, such a project could be a template for redevelopment of other waterfront land in New York and New Jersey. The use of nearshore CDFs could be an important tool for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey as they plan their facility improvements and operations for the future. In addition, Hart Crowser is working with a utility company in Elizabeth, N.J., to develop a shore-based sediment processing facility that will allow contaminated dredged material to be used as cover at closed landfills. Hart Crowser also is developing conceptual plans for redevelopment of the waterfronts at Newburgh and East Kingston, N.Y., using processed dredged material from the harbor. The project in Elizabeth is part of a public-private partnership between a utility company and the federal Water Resources Development Act program sponsored by the EPA, Region II. Funding from the State of New Jersey and support from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey have also been proposed. The proposal at Newburgh, N.Y., which also could include a sediment processing facility, follows a similar path involving the EPA, Corps of Engineers and state of New York. Here, the concept specifically earmarks the dredged material for use in redevelopment of the waterfront. Processed dredged material would be placed behind a bulkhead and used to cap contamination at an auto junkyard. The capped area would become a parking lot for a municipal marina. The proposed sediment processing facilities will be another tool the Port can use to solve the dredging crisis -- decontaminating the dredged material will make it suitable for other, beneficial uses. Hart Crowser is allocating significant resources to addressing the issue of contaminated sediments in New York and New Jersey. Staff from our Seattle and Chicago offices frequently travel to New York and New Jersey to participate in project planning and execution. In placing this emphasis on the region, Hart Crowser will make a lasting contribution to the solution to the area's dredging crisis. Solutions that have been successful for Northwest ports may provide at least part of the answer in New York and New Jersey. Philip Spadaro is Hart Crowser's director of sediment remediation services.