Logistical Considerations for Beneficial Use

Framework for Dredged Material Management

May 2004

beneficial uses. However, fine-grained sediments are also suitable for some beneficial

uses, such as wetland habitat development, soil creation and improvement and

construction blocks. Testing procedures to determine the suitability of dredged material

for beneficial uses is provided in Winfield and Lee (1999). Dredged material that is

contaminated may be useful for beneficial uses if some treatment is applied to reduce

contamination. Low-cost treatment alternatives include bioremediation and

phytoremediation. Procedures for determining the suitability of dredged material for

these remediation alternatives are provided by Fredrickson et al. (1999) and Price and

Lee (1999).

6.4 Logistical Considerations for Beneficial Use

A number of procedural and logistic factors can also greatly influence the

feasibility of specific beneficial use proposals. Examples of logistic considerations

include: distance of the proposed beneficial use site from the dredging project; site

accessibility; required equipment to dredge the channel (e.g., hopper dredge in high-

energy approach channels) versus equipment required to efficiently transport the material

to the site (e.g., quite often a pipeline dredge); material rehandling requirements; size of

project versus intended beneficial use and size of disposal site (e.g., a 30-in. dredge

required to efficiently move large volumes of shoal material may very quickly

overwhelm a small wetland restoration site); and timing of the beneficial use need (e.g.,

beach nourishment) versus maintenance dredging needs.

Less understood, but perhaps one of the greatest potential constraints to many

potential beneficial use proposals is what may collectively be termed real estate

considerations. These include state, county, and local land-use zoning laws (which can be

extremely variable and complex); issues of ownership of the material (e.g., Submerged

Lands Act); whether disposal sites are fee-owned or disposal is through easements; and

the closely related issue of sponsor requirements for acquiring and managing disposal

sites as contained in the project-specific authorizing legislation. A typical example would

be disposal sites acquired through easement by the project sponsor under his assigned

responsibility within the authorizing project legislation. Ownership of the material may

well reside with the landowner, not the Federal government or project sponsor, which

could eliminate further consideration of that site for certain beneficial uses. In some

cases, such constraints might be overcome if the sponsored landowners are willing to

renegotiate the real estate agreements. In other cases, however, specific Federal and/or

state/local legislation would be required to overcome such constraints.

6.5 Determination of Environmental Suitability

Generally speaking, highly contaminated sediments will not normally be suitable

for most proposed beneficial uses and particularly for proposed habitat

creation/restoration projects. Conversely, if the material is exempt from testing (e.g., 40

CFR 230.60) or testing indicates the material is suitable for open-water disposal, that

material would likely be deemed suitable for a wide range of beneficial use applications

from the standpoint of contamination. Most beneficial uses involve either open-water or