LOCATION AND PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
The Black River enters the south shore of Lake Erie at Lorain Harbor, in north-central Ohio between Cleveland and Sandusky (Figure 1). This river system drains approximately 1,210 km2 of Lorain, Medina, Ashland, Huron, and Cuyahoga Counties. The geographic limits of the Area of Concern (AOC) are considered to be the entire river basin.
The Black River drainage basin is
dominated by agricultural and rural
land uses (89%); residential,
commercial, and recreational uses
make up the remaining 11% and are
concentrated in the lower regions of
the river. Although USS/KOBE Steel
Company is the primary industry in
the lower river (between RM 5.4 (8.7
km) and 3.3 (5.4 km)), several other
major facilities are located further
upstream.
The Area of Concern has 45 National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permitted dischargers; 26 industrial and 19 municipal. Of the industrial dischargers, only one is considered to be "major" (discharging >1 million gallons/day) by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); that facility is USS/KOBE Steel. Until 1982, USS operated a coking facility which is considered to have been the major source of PAH and metal contamination within the area.
PROJECT GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
A 1985 Consent Decree (U.S. District Court - Northern District of Ohio 1985) mandated USS/KOBE Steel Company to remove 38,000 m3 of PAH-contaminated sediment from the mainstem of the Black River. The goal of the sediment remediation project was to remove PAH-contaminated sediment in order to eliminate liver tumors in resident brown bullhead populations.
SEVERITY AND GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT OF PROBLEM
1980 sediment tests confirmed the presence of elevated levels of cadmium, copper, lead, zinc, cyanide, phenols, PAHs, oils, and grease in sediment adjacent to the former USS steel coke plant outfall. PAH concentrations in this area totaled 1,096 mg/kg (Baumann et. al. 1982). Tests also confirmed the presence of low levels of pesticides (DDT and its metabolites) in both the mainstem and the harbor regions (Black River Remedial Action Plan Coordinating Committee 1994). As a result, all mainstem and harbor sediment dredged during U.S. Army Corps of Engineers maintenance operations required disposal in a confined disposal facility. This sediment exceeded U.S. EPA's Heavily Polluted Classification for Great Lakes Harbor Sediments.
High sediment PAH levels corresponded to a high frequency of liver tumors in resident populations of brown bullheads (Black River RAP Coordinating Committee 1994). Although sediment PAH levels had declined since the USS's coking facility was shut down, levels were still of concern.
DESCRIPTION OF REMEDIAL ACTIONS
Sediment remediation occurred as a result of an enforcement action upstream of the federal navigational channel in the vicinity of the coke plant outfall (Figure 1). Dredging of the sediment began in 1989. The operation utilised a closed, watertight, clamshell dredge to reduce the loss of sediment to the water column. To prevent the spread of oil, an oil bloom was erected. The sediment was moved from a dredge barge to a containment cell on the USS/KOBE site using specially designed vehicles. Although the sediments were not considered hazardous waste, the disposal site had special design requirements to clean all hazardous waste from the cell, line it, allow for dewatering of the dredged sediment and collection of the decanted water for treatment, capping after the dredged materials were deposited, and post-closure monitoring. Without these conditions, the placement of the dredged sediment in the cell would have exacerbated existing ground water contamination and violated Resource Conservation and Recovery Action (RCRA) requirements for closure. A contingency plan, in the event of a spill, was defined and environmental monitoring was conducted prior to, during, and following dredging. A total of 38,000 m3 of sediment were removed during the operation. This action was completed in December 1990.
COST
Under the Consent Decree, USS/KOBE Steel paid $1.5 million for the dredging and containment of the sediment.
REGULATORY CONSIDERATIONS
USS/KOBE Steel was required to comply with the 1985 Consent Decree (U.S. District Court - Northern District of Ohio 1985). The Consent Decree was issued to deal with violations of the Clean Air Act, but included several supplementary environmental requirements, one of which was the dredging of the PAH-contaminated sediment. In additional, disposal of dredged sediment had to comply with U.S. RCRA requirements. The dredging project also required permits under the Clean Water Act for NPDES, Section 404 dredge and fill, and a Section 401 water quality certification.
CLEAN-UP TARGETS AND ENDPOINTS
The primary cleanup target was the removal of sediment in the area of the former USS coke plant to "hard bottom", or the underlaying shale bedrock. No quantitative environmental targets or endpoints were established, although post-dredging sampling was required to test for remaining areas of elevated PAH concentrations.
POST-PROJECT EVALUATION OF EFFECTIVENESS
Sediment
Prior to dredging, PAH concentrations ranged from 8.8-52.0 mg/kg within Black River sediment. As a result of dredging, PAH concentrations in sediment declined (Table 1).
| PAH compound | 1980a | 1984b | 1992c |
| Phenanthrene | 390.0 | 52.0 | 2.6 |
| Fluoranthrene | 220.0 | 33.0 | 3.7 |
| Benzo(a)anthracene | 51.0 | 11.0 | 1.6 |
| Benzo(a)pyrene | 43.0 | 8.8 | 1.7 |
USS coking facility closed down 1982
Dredging occurred in 1989-1990
aBaumann et. al. (1982)
bFabacher et. al. (1988)
cBlack River Remedial Action Plan Coordinating Committee (1994)
Brown Bullheads
PAH levels in brown bullheads, which had been monitored since the early 1980s (Baumann et. al. 1982; Baumann and Harshbarger 1997), suggest some very interesting relationships between liver neoplasms and the dredging of sediment. Figure 2 illustrates the prevalence of hepatic tissue conditions (cancer, non-cancer neoplasm, altered hepatocytes, normal) found in fish of age 3 during 1982 (during coke plant operations), 1987 (after coke plant closing, prior to dredging), 1992 (exposed to dredging as age 1), 1993 (exposed to dredging as young of year), and 1994 (hatching after dredging was completed) studies.
The incidence of liver cancer in bullheads of age 3 decreased between 1982 and 1987, corresponding with decreased PAH loadings following the coke plant closure in 1982. There is general consensus that the increase in liver cancer found in the 1992 and 1993 surveys is a result of PAH redistribution which occurred during the 1990 dredging efforts. No instance of liver cancer was found in 1994 samples of age 3 brown bullheads. Further, the percent of normal liver tissues increased from 34% to 85% between 1993 and 1994. This elimination of liver tumors and the increase in the percentage of normal tissues in the resident brown bullhead populations, as a result of sediment remediation, provides substantial evidence of the efficacy of the remedial strategy.
CONTACT PERSONS OR AGENCIES
Linda Lagunzad, Black River RAP Coordinator
Ohio Environmental Protection Agency
Northeast District Office
2110 east Aurora Road
Twinsburg, Ohio 44087
(330) 963-1169
linda.lagunzad@epa.state.oh.us
Dr. Paul Baumann
Biological Resources Division, USGS
The Ohio State University
School of Natural Resources
2021 Coffey Road
Columbus, Ohio 43210
(614) 292-7432
baumann.1@osu.edu
KEY REFERENCES
Baumann, P.C., W.D. Smith, and M. Ribick. 1982. Hepatic tumor rates and polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbon levels in two populations of brown bullhead (Ictalurus nebulosus). Polynuclear Aromatic Hydrocarbons. Sixth International Symposium on Physical and Biological Chemistry. eds. Cook, M.W., A. J. Dennis, and G.L. Fisher. BaTelle Press. Columbus, Ohio. Pp. 93-102.
Baumann, P.C. and J.C. Harshbarger. 1995. Decline in liver neoplasms in wild brown bullhead catfish after coking plant closes and environmental PAHs plummet. Environmental Health Perspectives. 103(2):168-170.
Baumann, P.C. and J.C. Harshbarger. [in press]. Liver Neoplasm Trends in Black River Bullhead. 18 pp.
Black River Remedial Action Plan Coordinating Committee. 1994. Black River Remedial Action Plan Stage One Report: Impairment of beneficial uses and sources of pollution in the Black River Area of Concern. Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and the Black River Coordinating Committee, 9880 South Murray Ridge Road, Elyria, Ohio.
Fabacher, D.L., C.J. Schmitt, J.M. Besser, and M.J. Mac. 1988. Chemical Characterization and Mutagenic Properties of Polycyclic Aromatic Compounds in Sediment from Tributaries of the Great Lakes. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 7:529-543.
Hartig, J.H. and M.A. Zarull. 1991. Methods of restoring degraded areas in the Great Lakes. Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology 117:128-154.
U.S. District Court - Northern District of Ohio. 1985. Consent Decree with USS/KOBE Steel.
U.S. EPA-Great Lakes National Program Office. 1993. A summary of contaminated sediment activities within the United States Great Lakes Areas of Concern.