DNR issues dredge rule

• By AMY WOLD
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: Feb 19, 2009 - Page: 11A - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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In an effort to make better use of material dredged from state waters, a new draft regulation would require some kind of “beneficial use” for any project that removes 25,000 cubic yards or more.

The draft regulation from the state Department of Natural Resources was presented for the first time to the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority during their Wednesday meeting in Baton Rouge.

The beneficial use of dredged materials is something that’s been talked about to turn projects, such as the digging of canals for oil companies, into a way of helping build or protect coastal marsh.

Currently, the decision on whether dredged material should be used in a protection or restoration project is done on a case-by-case basis, said Lou Buatt, assistant DNR secretary.

However, that hasn’t resulted in having many beneficial use projects, he said.

From 1997 to 2007, there were 234 projects eligible for a beneficial use of dredged material project, but only 53 projects were done, he said.

There are a number of reasons for that low percentage, including having dredged material that wasn’t suitable for use elsewhere, safety concerns or not having a place nearby that needed the material, Buatt said.

“Lots of reasons why it didn’t happen,” Buatt said.

The draft regulation presented to the coastal authority group lists four options that would be available to any person or company planning to dredge 25,000 cubic yards or more as part of the required state Coastal Use Permit.

Those four options would be: design a restoration project that would use the dredged material; join an existing federal, state or local project; build a project at a different location with a similar amount of material; or pay into a beneficial use fund.

The goal is not only to get 100 percent of dredged material used beneficially, but to also improve the quality of the projects built with the material, Buatt said.

“The beneficial uses under these cases weren’t high quality,” he said of the 53 projects that were built.

Instead, in many cases it was a “sand castle on a beach” approach where material was placed in an area, but it wasn’t designed to stay there and offer longer-term benefits, Buatt said.