EGLE: PFAS testing will be targeted for dredging; few harbors likely affected
Summary
EGLE told a House appropriations subcommittee that PFAS contamination testing for Corps-maintained harbor dredging will be used selectively, will be costly, and is likely relevant to a small number of commercial harbors.
Jared Sanders of EGLE told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Environment, Great Lakes and Energy that the agency is developing a targeted approach to testing dredged material for PFAS ahead of corps-maintained harbor dredging projects.
"PFAS is still a really new thing," Sanders said. He told the committee that testing is expensive and the contaminant "doesn't stick to sand," so testing and management will affect only a small subset of harbors where PFAS is suspected. He said fewer than 20 of the department's roughly 70 Corps-maintained harbors show a potential PFAS site or nearby contamination.
Sanders said EGLE either had issued or was about to issue a Clean Water Act Section 401 certification for the Menomonee River dredging project, and that Grand Haven is another large harbor under consideration. He said the agency was coordinating with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to determine whether dredging could proceed this year in some locations.
Sanders acknowledged that planning and budgeting timelines for Corps dredging can complicate agency review and that the timing of contamination testing and Corps project schedules created some difficulties earlier in the season. He said the department intends to focus testing where potential contamination is suspected rather than requiring broad, expensive sampling at every harbor.
