Management of Dredged Material Disposal: Public Sector Responsibility or Private Sector Opportunity?

Dredged material disposal is one of the biggest challenges facing most ports in the United States today. As our coastal and harbor areas continue to grow in population competition for use of waterfront property and adjacent harbor and ocean waters challenges our ability to dispose of dredged material in an environmentally appropriate and economically feasible manner. Increased sensitivity and knowledge of the impact of chemical contamination in some dredged material adds additional challenges to finding environmentally appropriate dredged material disposal alternatives in older urban ports like the Port of New York & New Jersey (the Port). This paper gives a brief history of recent dredged material disposal management efforts for the Port. It describes how other similar ports in the United States have dealt with their dredged material disposal management challenges and compares that with the current situation in the Port. Here emphasis and encouragement has been given to private sector development of beneficial uses for treated dredged material as cover material for "brownfield" or sanitary landfill remediation. This is a different approach than other ports have taken, where the public sector (federal and/or State agencies) has taken the lead in developing and managing dredged material disposal alternatives. This paper describes a new paradigm for dredged material disposal taking into account the current technologies and methods available, as well as the socioeconomic and political landscape of the Port. The future direction of dredged material management in the Port of NY & NJ needs to rely on a synergistic approach between the public and private sectors. Finally the paper compares the current situation concerning disposal management in the Port to this new paradigm.