YOUNGSTOWN Congress cuts funding for Mahoning River study
The $200,000 reduction won't alter the study.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Congress reduced funding to pay for a feasibility study on dredging the Mahoning River by $200,000 from its original appropriation.
But it will not impact the study, according to its project manager.
U.S. Sens. Mike DeWine and George V. Voinovich, both Ohio Republicans, announced Wednesday that approval was given by Congress to provide $742,000 for the study as part of the 2004 Energy and Water Appropriations bill.
The Senate in July had approved providing $942,000 for the study. But $200,000 was reduced during a joint House-Senate conference to reconcile differences the two legislative bodies had over the appropriations bill.
The bill goes to President Bush for his signature.
"The health of the Mahoning River affects the water supply of everyone in the region," DeWine said. "Cleaning up the water and sediment is essential to meeting the drinking-water needs, improving the fish and wildlife habitat, and ultimately improving overall quality of life."
Adequate funding
The money will fund the final phase of a $3 million study that focuses on removing industrially contaminated sediment from 31 miles of the Mahoning River from Warren to the Pennsylvania line.
"The reduction in funding won't impact the study," said Carmen Rozzi of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Pittsburgh. Rozzi is the project's manager. "We can get it done for $742,000."
Actually, it's more than enough, Rozzi said. There will be $200,000 left over from the federal funding that will go toward preconstruction and engineering design for the dredging project, he said.
The feasibility study should be finished by September 2004.
The dredging is estimated to cost about $100 million and would take 12 to 15 years. About 65 percent of the cost is expected to come from the federal government, with the rest to come from local or state funding. The dredging would be broken into phases.
There is about 750,000 cubic yards of sediment in the river contaminated by decades of accumulation from steel and other industries from Warren to Lowellville.
The Ohio Department of Health has maintained an advisory since 1988 against swimming or wading in that section of the river or eating fish caught there.
skolnick@vindy.com