Three dredging companies appeal survey rule for Allegheny, Ohio rivers

The Fish and Boat
Commission contends
dredging harms fish.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Three river dredging companies have appealed a state requirement to survey fish populations before extracting sand and gravel from the Allegheny and Ohio rivers.

The surveys are costly and of questionable scientific value, one company contends.

Every five years, commercial dredgers must renew their permits with several regulatory agencies, including the state Department of Environmental Protection.

The DEP renewed dredging permits in June 2006, but added new requirements for pre-dredging surveys of mussels and fish, tests of the oxygen levels in the water and funding for habitat restoration.

The fish surveys, paid for by the dredgers, will determine if the companies can dredge in areas not dredged before. The DEP can deny the plans or request additional surveys where threatened and endangered fish species are found.

The dredging companies, Glacial Sand and Gravel, Hanson Aggregates PMA and Tri-State River Products, accepted all requirements but the fish survey.

The surveys “do not and cannot tell you whether a fish will be affected by dredging or whether dredging has had any effects on fish, nor do they tell you anything about long-term fish habitat,” said Mark Snyder, corporate secretary for Glacial Sand and Gravel, which filed its appeal with the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board last year.

Though dredgers contend there is no evidence that dredging harms fish, the Fish and Boat Commission contends it can.

Dredging can “adversely impact and poses significant risks to sensitive fish communities and must be properly planned and permitted so that areas that are identified to support sensitive species are protected,” John Arway, chief of environmental services division for the Fish and Boat Commission.

Although the survey requirement is in litigation, Glacial has completed its first fish survey. Results were being compiled, Snyder said.