EGLE approves permit requiring removal of material from river
The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) and Revere Dock LLC have approved an Administrative Consent Agreement related to the November 2019 collapse of the company’s dock along the Detroit River. Revere Dock agreed to pay a total of $60,000 in penalties for violating the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act (NREPA).
The consent agreement cited four alleged violations of NREPA: discharging a substance into the waters of the state that is or may become injurious to the public, animals or fish; unlawful occupation and filling of floodplain and stream channel; violations of due care responsibilities; and filling of Detroit River bottomlands without a permit.
The fines, which must be paid by Oct. 17, are compensation for the cost of investigation and enforcement activities and violating the Water Resources Protection and Inland Lakes and Streams sections of NREPA.
In conjunction with the consent agreement, EGLE also has issued a permit with stipulations allowing Revere Dock to proceed with its restoration plan, submitted in March, to install a 600-foot steel seawall at the site at 5851 West Jefferson Avenue in Detroit. Revere Dock will also remove sediment and bank failure material that spilled into the river when approximately 200 feet of dock collapsed after the placement of a large aggregate stockpile near the shoreline. The work plan includes measures to limit the disturbance of historically contaminated sediments in the river and to properly dispose of material dredged from the site. The consent agreement compels Revere Dock to complete the permitted work.
The restoration work is to be completed by July 2021.
The dock collapse occurred on Nov. 26, 2019, and EGLE was notified of the collapse and spill of material into the Detroit River on Dec. 4, 2019. During an inspection of the site, EGLE staff confirmed that soils, asphalt, concrete, steel and aggregate had been displaced into the river. Subsequently, a sinkhole also developed on the site after the removal of some of the aggregate material onshore.
The site was the former location of Revere Copper and Brass Co., which operated at the site for more than 60 years, most of that time before modern environmental laws were in place, resulting in environmental contamination. In the 1940s and ‘50s, Revere manufactured uranium rods on the site under a contract with the U.S. Department of Defense. After the manufacturing facility was closed and demolished, the Atomic Energy Commission (which is now the Department of Energy) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency determined there was no radiological contamination on-site. Tests by EGLE following the dock collapse registered the presence of radiation at normal background levels.
Stay up to date with developments at the Dock Collapse into Detroit River webpage.
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