Post by Logan on Jan 23, 2016 5:33:29 GMT -6
Sens. Sherrod Brown and Rob Portman 'demand' that Cleveland Harbor dredging be handled properly
WASHINGTON -- Ohio's U.S. senators, in open war with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over the handling of waste from Cleveland Harbor dredging, today demanded that the Corps spend more than Congress budgeted so it can dispose of the waste properly and not just dump it in the open waters of Lake Erie.
The Corps should take the money from a flexible account that it can tap at its discretion, said Sens. Rob Portman and Sherrod Brown in a letter to the Corps. There is more than enough money in that account to dispose of harbor sludge safely, without threat of contaminating Cleveland's drinking water and Lake Erie fish, the senators said.
The only reason Congress in December didn't allocate more money for the harbor's dredging, the senators said, is because the Corps quietly went to congressional appropriators and slyly asked for a lower amount -- at least $2 million less than was needed and $3.6 million less than even the White House had sought for Cleveland Harbor dredging. Ohio lawmakers didn't notice the change until after the bill, a 2,200-page spending measure for 2016 that Congress rushed through at year's end, had passed.
By seeking and getting less money, Portman and Brown contend, the Corps could cry poor when time comes this year to do the work. The Corps could try to claim it lacks the money to do things the way the senators and others in the Cleveland area want -- that is, transport the sludge, which accumulates at the Cuyahoga River's mouth and can impede commercial shipping, to safe containment dikes near Burke Lakefront Airport.
Continued at www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2016/01/sens_sherrod_brown_and_rob_por_1.html .
WASHINGTON -- Ohio's U.S. senators, in open war with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over the handling of waste from Cleveland Harbor dredging, today demanded that the Corps spend more than Congress budgeted so it can dispose of the waste properly and not just dump it in the open waters of Lake Erie.
The Corps should take the money from a flexible account that it can tap at its discretion, said Sens. Rob Portman and Sherrod Brown in a letter to the Corps. There is more than enough money in that account to dispose of harbor sludge safely, without threat of contaminating Cleveland's drinking water and Lake Erie fish, the senators said.
The only reason Congress in December didn't allocate more money for the harbor's dredging, the senators said, is because the Corps quietly went to congressional appropriators and slyly asked for a lower amount -- at least $2 million less than was needed and $3.6 million less than even the White House had sought for Cleveland Harbor dredging. Ohio lawmakers didn't notice the change until after the bill, a 2,200-page spending measure for 2016 that Congress rushed through at year's end, had passed.
By seeking and getting less money, Portman and Brown contend, the Corps could cry poor when time comes this year to do the work. The Corps could try to claim it lacks the money to do things the way the senators and others in the Cleveland area want -- that is, transport the sludge, which accumulates at the Cuyahoga River's mouth and can impede commercial shipping, to safe containment dikes near Burke Lakefront Airport.
Continued at www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2016/01/sens_sherrod_brown_and_rob_por_1.html .