Ohio senator questions Corps’ cut in Cleveland dredge funds

The chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations is seeking answers to why the Army Corps of Engineers’ budget to dredge the Cuyahoga River Ship Channel for the Port of Cleveland was cut by more than a third.    Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, who serves as chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, is seeking answers to why the Army Corps of Engineers’ budget to dredge the Cuyahoga River Ship Channel for the Port of Cleveland was cut by more than a third.
   Specifically, President Obama’s budget request for fiscal year 2016 included $9.54 million for the Cleveland Harbor project, which was enough money to safely dispose of the material. The final appropriations bill, however, reduced that amount to $5.94 million.
   Portman said his committee will examine allegations that the Corps deliberately reduced its budget for the Cleveland Harbor project to render itself unable to dispose of material in a manner required by law. It’s alleged the agency took this action after the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency determined that the dredged material from the ship channel is not safe for open lake placement and poses a threat to the City of Cleveland’s drinking water and the lake ecosystem.
   “The Cleveland Harbor project is vital to all of Ohio and these allegations are troubling,” Portman said in a statement. “I want answers and will use every tool available to make sure our Great Lake is protected.”
   Port of Cleveland President and Chief Executive Officer Will Friedman applauded the Senate permanent subcommittee’s effort to “examine the circumstances of this troubling budgetary action by the Army Corps.”