Company behind shoreline collapse on Detroit River proposes new seawall
Keith MathenyA company storing large piles of gravel-like material along the Detroit River, resulting in a November 2019 dock collapse spilling material into the river, wants to build a new, "state-of-the-art" seawall with a deeper channel facilitating even bigger boats dropping off piles.
The proposal is happening as the City of Detroit has ordered a review of the structural integrity of aging docks and seawalls along the Detroit River, and how they're being used for bulk storage. Concern is high that crumbling infrastructure, combined with record-high water levels, could lead to further environmental messes such as the Revere dock collapse.
Revere Dock LLC of Muskegon and its owner, Steve Erickson, propose removing material that spilled into the river at the Revere Copper and Brass site, off Jefferson Avenue near Historic Fort Wayne — and further deepening the channel near the shoreline to 27 feet. That would involve digging into river sediments containing 150 years' worth of industrial pollutants — potentially harmful materials that pose little risk settled at the river bottom, but may be more problematic if stirred up as a result of the project.
"That's something that we're worried about," said Andrew Hartz, supervisor of the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy's Water Resources Division's Warren district office, in an online information session and public hearing Tuesday on Revere Dock's permit request to rebuild the shoreline.
"That will certainly be part of our review. The deepening of the river itself is probably not a huge ecological impact — it's how it gets done."
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J. Adam Patton, vice president of Lansing-based PM Environmental, Revere Dock's engineering consultant on the proposed project, said turbidity curtains would be installed in the river up to 30 feet deep to capture sediment as work occurred, with monitoring of water quality both upstream and at numerous points downstream of the project area.
Revere Dock proposes a new seawall made of interlocking steel pipes and sheet piling driven from the surface to bedrock, a depth of about 95 feet.
"The design is a significant improvement over the current dock that will ensure the continued stability of the site and its productive use into the future," Patton said.The old wood, concrete and asphalt dock and seawall, possibly built in the early 1900s, partially collapsed Nov. 26. Detroit Bulk Storage was leasing the site from Erickson to store large piles of limestone aggregate along the river. A ship dropped off a large pile of aggregate at the site about a day before the collapse, and heavy rains and high water levels were likely contributing factors.
The collapse created great concern, as the Revere site at one time contained radioactive materials from the days when it was utilized for atomic bomb component and uranium rod development in the 1940s and 1950s. But testing by both the Great Lakes Water Authority, which has drinking water intakes in the Detroit River, and EGLE turned up no excessive amounts of radioactivity. Further testing found no excessive levels of industrial contaminants in the river water near the collapse site.
The city of Detroit’s Buildings, Safety Engineering and Environmental Department in December said that Detroit Bulk Storage was storing aggregate piles at the site without a permit. Revere Dock LLC was fined $10,000 by the city department.
EGLE staff in January expressed concerns about the inadequacy of interim response efforts to stop ongoing erosion at the collapsed dock site, and directed Revere Dock LLC and Detroit Bulk Storage to develop an improved plan.
A large amount of aggregate material spilled into the river in the November incident and has remained there, as it's providing protection to the unstable shoreline and its removal could lead to further significant erosion.
"First and foremost, the (new) seawall gets constructed," Hartz said. "We collectively agree at EGLE that we don't want that material removed until the shoreline is stabilized."
Removed materials will be disposed of at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Confined Disposal Facility at Pointe Mouillee in Rockwood.
Southwest Detroit resident and environmental activist Theresa Landrum sought assurances that no public funding is going to the work.
Though Revere Dock has not disclosed the cost of its proposal — and isn't required to — "this is all being privately funded, to our understanding," Hartz said.
Patton said the work could begin within 30 days of permit and restoration plan approval, and would take six months.
"I really hope EGLE will hold the company to their six-month timeline — it's been a very long time since the November collapse," said Justin Onwenu, healthy communities and social justice organizer for the nonprofit Sierra Club in Detroit.
Onwenu called on EGLE to impose fines as part of any permit approval "to serve as a deterrent to any further negligence by this company or any other company."
Jamesa Johnson-Greer, a policy specialist with the nonprofit Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition, called for ongoing testing of the river for potentially harmful contaminants, and echoed the call for fines against Revere Dock.
"This company has acted in the past as a bad actor," she said. "I'm hoping what we'll see is a precedent that will continue to be set by EGLE and the state of Michigan, that if you are acting in a way that puts people and the environment at risk, you will suffer consequences that will be more than just a slap on the wrist."
Revere Dock's restoration plan can be viewed online on EGLE's website. The public can comment on Revere Dock's proposal until June 26. Comments can be sent to Hartz via email at hartza@michigan.gov, or via mail to EGLE's Water Resources Division, 27700 Donald Court, Warren, MI 48092-2793. Reference application number HNZ-CFFR-6QM9F.
Contact Keith Matheny: 313-222-5021 or kmatheny@freepress.com.