Upgraded status sought for once-dead Cuyahoga River

CLEVELAND (AP) — State environmental officials and a regional clean water group have asked that large portions of the once-dead but still-symbolic Cuyahoga River be removed from an international list of polluted Great Lakes areas because the water quality has greatly improved.

A 1969 fire on the river in Cleveland that involved floating oil and debris helped spur the environmental movement and widespread reforms, including the federal Clean Water Act.

If the request by the Ohio EPA and the Cuyahoga River Remedial Action Plan to “delist” parts of the river is approved, it would be the first official change in status since 1985, when the river was named one of 43 polluted areas on the Great Lakes.

Kelvin Rogers of the Ohio EPA said the agency was hopeful the federal Environmental Protection Agency would approve the request.

Two spots in Canada and one in New York have been delisted; one spot in Canada and one in Pennsylvania are in recovery.

The proposed delisting covers 40 miles of the Cuyahoga River between Akron and Cleveland but does not include the 5.6-mile Shipping Channel through the Flats area of Cleveland.

Environmentalists are observing 2009 as “The Year of the River.” They hope the middle portion of the Cuyahoga is certified as meeting federal clean water standards by June 22, the 40th anniversary of the fire.

“That’s our goal, and we think it’s going to happen,” said Jim White, executive director of the Cuyahoga River Community Planning Organization.

“The numbers are there to show that the fish have returned.”

An EPA survey of the river last summer found 40 fish species between Akron and Cleveland, including steelhead trout, northern pike and other fish that can live only in clean water.

“The fish are healthier because the aquatic bugs are healthier, and that means our river is healthier,” White said.

“We have little doubt that this impairment can come off the list.”

Several impairments, or problems, are cited on the International Joint Commission’s list.

The Ohio groups want the U.S. EPA to remove certain impairments, including those for degraded fish and aquatic insect populations, the loss of fish habitats and fish deformities.

They also asked the agency to rescind three additional impairments: tainted fish-wildlife flavors, degradation of wildlife populations and animal-bird deformities/reproductive problems.

Rogers said there is no evidence those problems exist along the Cuyahoga River.