|
 The
challenge was how to achieve “win-win”
for the health of the river and the
health of the port economy, when APM
Terminals (parent company, Maersk)
planned to dredge 10 million cubic yards
of the healthiest part of the Elizabeth
River bottom.
The answer:
APM Terminals agreed to offset these
large impacts on the Mainstem of the
river by setting aside enough funds to
pay for restoring the health of the
river’s most severely contaminated
sediments, a few miles away.
Thus was
born The Living River Restoration Trust,
which received $5.2 million last June
from APM Terminals for two projects: to
clean up sediment contamination at Money
Point; and to construct two acres of
native oyster reefs in the river.
 The
Elizabeth River Project, under contract
to carry out the projects for the Trust,
actually constructed a 13-acre oyster
reef on May 31 -- the largest reef to be
constructed yet in the Elizabeth River.
More than six times the acreage
specified in the APM Terminals permit,
the reef was established alongside
Hospital Point at the mouth of Scott’s
Creek. The larger acreage was
accomplished by spreading the shell in a
thin blanket along the river bottom to
create a large area of centralized
habitat.
The
Elizabeth River Project, the US Army
Corps of Engineers and the Virginia
Department of Environmental Quality
negotiated the formation of the Trust as
the first “in-lieu fee” fund in the
country that is government sanctioned to
achieve “mitigation” of impacts to a
river bottom through off-site cleanup of
contaminated sediments.
Permits from
the Corps and DEQ for APM Terminals to
begin work on its large new port
facility stipulated the mitigation funds
for the Trust, an independent
organization with its own seven-member
Board of Trustees. Under terms of an
Operating Agreement, the Corps and DEQ
must authorize all expenditures of Trust
funds for mitigation projects.
 Currently
the Trust is contracting with The
Elizabeth River Project to manage the
two projects for which the APM funds
were provided: the cleanup at Money
Point and the oyster reef.
The
Elizabeth River Project has been raising
additional funds for the complex
planning and community involvement which
must take place before the off-shore
project can be implemented at Money
Point, including the revitalization of
the Money Point shoreline by industries
and residents to prevent
re-contamination.
For more
information about the Trust, see these
links (pdf files):
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Photo
Legend: |
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Top
right: |
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Barge shoots shells at
Hospital Point |
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Map: |
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Map of Hospital Point Shell
Plant (Click
here for larger map) |
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Bottom right: |
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Building oyster reefs...Joe
Reiger, Money Point project
manager, and Marjorie
Mayfield Jackson, Elizabeth
River Project's executive
director. |
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