The work is expected to begin in early summer of this year. 2:55 pm, Jan. 27, 2021 ×
The ponds behind Erie Pier on Duluth s harborfront will be cleaned up in a $16 million project funded jointly by state and federal agencies. The area holds 45,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment. (Steve Kuchera / 2016 file / News Tribune)
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Minnesota Pollution Control Agency have agreed to a $16 million cleanup plan for the highly contaminated Erie Pier ponds area along Duluth’s harborfront.
The project agreement will remove 45,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment that built up in the area over the years. That’s about 3,200 large dump truck loads of material.
Jan 25, 2021
These are stamp sands deposited along the Lake Superior shoreline on Dec. 9. The harbor is located at the bottom of the photo. (Neil Harri photo)
From the Michigan
Department of Natural Resources
GAY The Michigan Department of Natural Resources has provided an update from the Buffalo Reef Task Force on developments to save the natural underwater reef in Lake Superior’s Grand Traverse Bay, off the eastern side of the Keweenaw Peninsula.
Over the past roughly 100 years, historic copper mine tailings from the Wolverine and Mohawk mines called stamp sands were deposited at a milling site in the community of Gay, along Lake Superior.
Map of Great Lakes Areas of Concern: Image: Adapted from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Editor’s note: This is the final part of a 5-part series by Kalah Harris, Audrey Porter, Yue Jiang and Claire Moore that focuses on trans-border U.S. and Canadian environmental research projects.
By Audrey Porter
During 35 years of restoration in the Great Lakes Areas of Concern, there has been gradual progress and a hopeful future ahead, according to a new study.
Development of a remedial action plan began in 1985 to restore heavily contaminated sites in 42 Great Lakes Areas of Concern (AOCs).
AOC restoration has not been easy as U.S. and Canadian researchers said in the study, and it requires focusing on gathering stakeholders, coordinating efforts and ensuring use restoration.
Jan 22, 2021
A rendering of the forthcoming Richard and Theresa Barch Center for Freshwater Research and Education Building and the site of the St. Marys River Green Stormwater Demonstration Project is shown. (Rendering courtesy of LSSU)
SAULT STE. MARIE Lake Superior State University will implement the St. Marys River Green Stormwater Demonstration Project in 2021, which will create the first green stormwater demonstration project along the St. Marys River and do so at a former industrial brownfield site.
The $250,000 project will be located adjacent to LSSU’s Center for Freshwater Research and Education and the city of Sault Ste. Marie’s Alford Park.