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It’s time to speak on open lake dredging
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By Larry Limpf News Editor news@presspublications.com The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has scheduled a public information session and hearing Feb. 18 on a proposal for dredging of the Toledo Harbor navigation channel. The meeting will be held at Toledo City Council Chambers, One Government Center, 640 Jackson Street. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has applied for the certification for the project, which would involve dredging from the channel’s upper lake approach to the lower end of the channel near the mouth of the Maumee River. Dredged material would be disposed in an open-lake area about 3.5 miles from the Toledo Harbor Lighthouse. Dredging would not start before July 1. Ohio EPA staff will present information about the proposed project during the informational session, which will be followed by a hearing for submitting public comments and questions for the record regarding the Corps’ application. The EPA will also accept written comments on the application through Feb. 25. Comments and requests to be placed on a mailing list for information should be sent to: Ohio EPA, Division of Surface Water, Permits Processing Unit, P.O. 1049, Columbus, O. 43216-1049 or email epa. dswcomments@epa.ohio.gov. The application and related materials are available online. The EPA will accept comments until Feb. 9 on a study commissioned by the Corps on the effect open-lake dumping of dredge material has on the formation of algal blooms in the lake’s western basin. “In summary, weight-of-evidence from the cumulative findings of this study indicates that the open-lake placement of Toledo Harbor dredged material has no measurable impact on Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) in the Western Lake Erie Basin (WLEB),” the study concludes. The study also notes “there is a strong weight-of-evidence that open-lake placement has little impact on the already ongoing internal phosphorus loading from WLEB bottom sediments.” Phosphorus is linked to the formation of algal blooms in the lake. The issue of dumping dredge material in the lake came to the forefront last summer when the City of Toledo issued a drinking ban on its water due to algae problems. “No other feasible management alternatives currently exist for this dredged material; open-lake placement is the federal standard as it is the least costly, environmentally acceptable alternative that is consistent with sound engineering practices,” the study concludes.
Level 3, spirits, get lifted
Tim Morrison and his son Brock, a 4th grade student at Jerusalem Elementary, make the best of a snowday on the sledding hill at Maumee Bay State Park. (Press photo by Ken Grosjean)
‘City of Duck Hunters’ apparel takes off By J. Patrick Eaken Press Staff Writer news@presspublications.com The City of Oregon was all over national news because of the Ohio State Buckeyes’ 42-20 national championship victory over the Oregon Ducks. Now, Mayor Mike Seferian says the publicity is turning into an economic development and promotion tool. The momentum started when Oregon natives and Whitmer teachers Matt Squibb and Mark Rabbitt began an online petition to have the city’s name changed for the day of the national championship game. The petition went viral, garnering 2,000 signatures within three days, so Seferian felt compelled to take action. Not wanting to be identified with the University of Oregon football team, the city of Oregon changed its name by proclamation to “Oregon, Ohio Buckeyes on the Bay, City of Duck Hunters” for one day, Monday, January 12 — when the Buckeyes and Ducks played for an NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision championship. Everyone from The Sporting News to ESPN Magazine and ESPN cable got on the media bandwagon. For example, ESPN.com reporter Dan
Murphy wrote about how “100 citizens from the 20,000 person town congregated at Mike Bihn’s clubhouse on the edge of the water, just down the road from the Bay Shore Supper Club. They were there to celebrate the end of an unexpectedly busy week for the normally Rockwellian town. “The front yard was dotted with duck decoys. An inflatable Brutus Buckeye peeked out from a blind in a boat parked in the driveway. Inside, at the mercy of a space heater, some of the only smiling Oregonians in America watched as Ohio State slayed away, taking down the No. 2 Ducks 42-20 for the first national championship in college football’s playoff era.” Seferian even made a bet with one of at least 13 Oregon state radio personalities he talked to before the game. The pronunciation of the city and state are different, with different syllables accented, so that was the basis. “Oddly enough, if the Buckeyes win, he’s got to pronounce Oregon (our way) for a week,” Seferian said. “I said, you guys say Oregon — you kind of leave off the “e”, drop a syllable, and he goes, ‘Yeah, we’re saving our energy. We don’t waste all the energy when we say it.’ They were fun.” After Ohio State’s win, Seferian was unable to confirm if the radio personal-
ity followed through on his promise because the media onslaught was so intense, Seferian was confused about which one he had bet with. Seferian, who did a total of about 150 media interviews that week, says the publicity was so good that now he thinks businesses are taking a second look at the Toledo suburb. Plus, the media interviews are still coming, only not as many. City of Duck hunters apparel Immediately after the game, the city and the Oregon Economic Development Continued on page 2
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