Ohio EPA to Continue Restoration Work

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded $1.3 million to the Ohio EPA to continue restoration work at four highly contaminated sites on the Great Lakes and to coordinate the state’s management plan for Lake Erie.

This EPA funding is the first installment of an approximately $3.7 million Great Lakes Restoration Initiative grant to Ohio EPA.

“This GLRI investment moves us that much closer to delisting toxic Areas of Concern in Ohio and protecting the waters that communities depend on,” said EPA Region 5 Administrator Cathy Stepp.

Under the 1987 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, the United States and Canada targeted 43 highly contaminated Areas of Concern, or AOCs, for cleanup.

EPA’s GLRI grant supports work toward “delisting” the four AOCs in Ohio:

• Maumee River
• Black River
• Cuyahoga Estuary
• Ashtabula River

Since 2010, EPA has provided states with GLRI funds totaling more than $300 million. Through these federal-state partnerships, more than 4 million cubic yards of contaminated sediment have been removed or otherwise addressed and more than 195,000 acres of habitat have been restored.