A Saginaw City Council member wants to enlist help in the fight to dredge the Saginaw River.
Councilman Daniel L. Fitzpatrick asked city Attorney Thomas Fancher to draft a resolution calling for help from Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm to end a feud between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the state Department of Environmental Quality over clearing out the waterway.
"We have to ask the governor to (intercede) before we lose this river to the silt and needless red tape," Fitzpatrick said during Monday's council meeting.
"We're committed to do something with the Saginaw River," said T.J. Bucholz, spokesman for Lt. Gov. John D. Cherry. "We just don't know what that is right now."
The Army Corps could divert more than $2 million earmarked for
navigational dredging of the Saginaw River to other rivers. The state
Department of Environmental Quality believes a dredging site in the upper
Saginaw River requires a slurry wall.
Army Corps officials say a $5 million clay pit built to hold river spoils on
the Bay-Saginaw county line is adequate.
Saginaw River Alliance members are disappointed government regulators would wrangle over something so critical to the regional economy. Officials have said millions of dollars and more than 100 jobs could vanish.
Fitzpatrick said DEQ officials were "throwing Saginaw under the bus" by stalling the dredging.
http://www.mlive.com/saginawnews/news/index.ssf/2008/04/saginaw_river_dredge_fight_nee.html
For additional articles like this one, go to the Tittabawassee River Watch web site www.trwnews.net for complete coverage of the Tittabawassee River Dow Chemical dioxin contamination saga. . The Newspaper / Media page of our site contains an extensive archive of media articles dating back to January 2002. The source organization's web site link is listed to the right of the article, visit often for other news in our area. The Newspaper / Media page may be accessed by scrolling down to the bottom of the CONTENTS section and clicking on the Newspaper/Media link.