NEWS
Port Commerce

170-98: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE , December 17, 1998

PORT AUTHORITY APPROVES NEW UNDERWATER DISPOSAL PITS -- Project Will Speed Critical Deepening of Shipping Channel


Port Authority Chairman Lewis M. Eisenberg today announced that the agency's Board has authorized a $250 million project that will speed dredging of key channels serving the Port of New York and New Jersey, by building up to 10 underwater containment pits for the disposal of dredged materials.

"This creative disposal solution will allow us to fast-track the crucial deepening of the Kill Van Kull and Newark Bay channels to 45 feet," Mr. Eisenberg said. "This technique, already proven at the existing underwater containment pit in Newark Bay and at other ports, is also more economical than upland disposal options."

Lillian C. Borrone, the Port Authority's Port Commerce Director, said, "This project for the safe disposal of dredged materials is a crucial part of our strategy for ensuring continued growth at the Port of New York and New Jersey. Constructing pits within a federal channel is an approach that has been used successfully in Boston. It offers an effective, proven disposal method that will help us get to 45 feet in our channels more quickly."

The containment pits, known as subchannel placement cells, will be constructed within the federal channel in Newark Bay and have a combined capacity of 10 million cubic yards. Construction will occur in two stages: first, five pits will be built, on an as-needed basis over about three years, to contain approximately 3 million cubic yards of contaminated dredged material from the Kill Van Kull/Newark Bay channel deepening project and other regional dredging projects. The cost for the first phase is $81 million.

Contaminated material generated from the construction of the first cell will be disposed of in the existing Newark Bay containment pit. The underlying clay material from the cell can then be used as a cap on the "mud dump," the former ocean disposal site now known as the Historic Area Remediation Site (HARS), subject to federal approval. The first cell can then be filled with contaminated dredged material from regional projects such as the Kill Van Kull/Newark Bay channel deepening. Before the first cell is filled to capacity, the second cell will be constructed and the contaminated upper layers of the second cell will be deposited in the first cell. A similar process will ensue for subsequent cells.

Deepening the Kill Van Kull and Newark Bay channels to 45 feet is critical to the port's operations. The Army Corps of Engineers is expected to begin that project in early 1999.

end

Hit the 'Back' key on your browser to go back to the list...