EPA Announces $2.5 Million Plan to Advance Detroit River Area Cleanup

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has signed a $2.5 million agreement to design a project that will reverse contaminated sediment and create a substantial new habitat at a waterfront park under development in Detroit.

The contaminated sediment is within the Detroit River Area of Concern (AOC), television station WXYZ reported. The United States and Canada has identified the area as one of 43 toxic hotspots in the Great Lakes basin.

Work will be funded through a Great Lakes Legacy Act cost-sharing partnership with the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy.

The project agreement allows EPA to evaluate and develop a plan to remediate contaminated sediment along the shoreline of the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Centennial Park, a 22-acre site located between Rosa Parks Boulevard and Eighth Street along the Detroit Riverfront. Work will also include habitat restoration in a cove that will provide imp nortant fisheries habitat for the AOC.

“The shoreline restoration and habitat that will be created through this project are essential components of Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Centennial Park," Detroit Riverfront Conservancy President and CEO Mark Wallace told WXYZ. "This is a tremendous example of a public- private partnership where local community priorities and investment can be accelerated with the leadership of the EPA.”

The Detroit Riverfront Conservancy has agreed to contribute nearly $900,000 to the total project cost of $2.5 million.

This project is part of the larger effort to restore and protect the Great Lakes through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI).

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