City expecting final dam-removal permit in March
TOLEDO - Fremont's law director said the city now expects to be awarded a final permit for the Ballville Dam's removal in the first week of March.
Once the city gets the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Section 404 permit, it would have all the federal and state permits needed to begin removal of the 103-year-old dam.
However, the Sierra Club is still weighing its options on whether it will pursue a federal lawsuit against the city and federal agencies to halt the removal.
Law Director Jim Melle said Monday that the city was informed in a pretrial status conference call for the Ohio Sierra Club's pending lawsuit that the Army Corps' Section 404 permit would be awarded in March.
Attorney Richard Sahli, who is representing the Sierra Club, said U.S. Department of Justice attorneys indicated on the call the 404 permit would likely be issued within the next two weeks.
"We definitely want to look at that 404 permit," Sahli said.
The city, Sierra Club and all involved federal agencies are scheduled to meet March 1 on another call, Sahli said.
He said the Sierra Club's decision regarding the dam project could hinge on what's in the permit.
On March 1, the sides could decide on a litigation schedule for a summary judgment motion on whether the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's environmental impact statement for the project was lawful, Sahli said.
The Sierra Club attorney said the legal process to make that determination could extend through the spring and early summer. He said there was a consensus from all sides to get a resolution as fast as possible.
Melle said in January the city was waiting on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to issue a record of decision on its supplemental environmental impact statement. The city expected to get the Army Corps' Section 404 permit shortly after that SEIS record of decision is released.
Melle said at the time he saw no reason why the U.S. Army Corps would not award Fremont the needed permit.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released its final supplemental environmental impact statement on the dam project Oct. 28 and a record of decision on Feb. 2.
New U.S. Fish & Wildlife report supports dam removal
In the SEIS and ROD, the agency announced that incremental removal of the dam and construction of an ice control structure remained its preferred option.
Sierra Club Director Jen Miller said in October that what she had read from the SEIS vindicated the Sierra Club's decision to file for a federal injunction in July 2015 to halt the project. The Sierra Club director said the environmental statement showed the removal of the dam could double the output of phosphorus loading from the Sandusky River to Lake Erie.
A large, growing dead zone in the lake's central basin, caused by nitrogen, also could be expanded by the dam's removal, Miller insisted.
Miller said the Sierra Club would ultimately like to see the dam removed, but only if the sediment behind the dam is removed first.
dacarson@gannett.com
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