Panel calculates impact of protecting mussels
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Designating five species of freshwater mussels as threatened or endangered would eliminate commercial sand and gravel dredging on 6 percent of the Allegheny River now available to the industry, according to the state Fish and Boat Commission.
The commission released its calculation after its proposal to add the mussel species to the state protected lists was roundly criticized by the dredging industry and several state and local officials. The criticism came at a public meeting this week in Kittanning that was attended by a largely pro-dredging crowd of about 150.
The commission's proposal to designate the snuffbox, rabbitsfoot and salamander mussels as endangered and the sheepnose and rayed bean mussels as threatened would restrict dredging mostly in sections of Allegheny River pools 5 and 8, said John Arway, chief of the state Fish and Boat Commission's environmental services division.
Only the salamander and rayed bean mussels have been found in those pools on the Allegheny. The other species are found in tributaries of the river where no dredging occurs.
Much of the area affected by the proposed new listings, Mr. Arway said, would overlap river bottom areas already off-limits to dredging because they contain beds of northern riffleshell and clubshell mussels, two species on the federal endangered species list.
But industry officials testifying at the public meeting predicted protections for the salamander and rayed bean mussels could result in dredging bans on half the area now available and kill the industry, which supplies 20 percent of the high-grade glacial sand and gravel used by PennDOT for road and bridge construction.
Industry officials questioned the assessment techniques and science used by the Fish Commission to recommend the listings and said limiting dredging could delay and increase the costs of road and bridge projects.
"The Fish Commission estimate is bull," said Dan Giovannitti, an aggregates industry spokesman. "We don't think they have the facts to assess the impact of what listing five species would be and make that determination."
He said the Fish Commission estimate is based on known salamander and rayed bean mussel locations and doesn't take into account any additional river locations where the rare bivalves might be found in the future.
The aggregates industry has waged a decades-long battle against increased state and federal regulation of the publicly owned river bottoms. Although the areas available for commercial dredging have been slowly shrinking over the past decade as environmental concerns have increased, commercial dredging is still permitted on about 50 percent of the bottom within a 100-mile stretch of the Allegheny and Ohio rivers.
Each year the three companies involved in commercial dredging operations -- Hanson Aggregates PMA Inc., Glacial Sand and Gravel Co. and Tri-State River Products Inc. -- scoop about 4 million tons from the rivers and pay royalties totaling about $800,000 to the Fish and Boat Commission.
Dredging can remove the sand and gravel habitat of mussels, many species of which are already in decline in the Ohio and Allegheny rivers due to pollution, river damming and increased siltation.
First Published March 7, 2009 12:32 am
