Spirit Lake Earns WEDA Environmental Excellence Award

Hunt Valley, Maryland (10 November 2023)—EA Engineering, Science, and Technology, Inc., PBC (EA), a leading provider of interdisciplinary environmental services, is pleased to announce that the Spirit Lake Sediment Remediation Project has been honored with an Environmental Excellence Award for Partnerships and Outreach/Education by the Western Dredging Association (WEDA). Presented at their annual Dredging Summit & Expo held this summer in Las Vegas, Nevada, the award recognizes complex projects that establish partnerships among diverse stakeholder groups to identify and implement effective solutions. Collaboration plays a key role in the success of the Spirit Lake project by enhancing communication, building trust, and sharing knowledge among the various parties, which included multiple federal, state, and local agencies; local tribes; historic resource stakeholders; residents; and businesses.

Located within the St. Louis River Area of Concern in Duluth, Minnesota, the Spirit Lake Sediment Remediation Project involves a multi-discipline team that includes multiple consultants, contractors, the Great Lakes National Program Office within the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the U.S. Steel Corporation (USS). The project was undertaken to remediate impacted sediment across more than 200 acres in-water and on the shoreline of the St. Louis River, while also enhancing wetland habitat and creating new open water.

The Spirit Lake site presented many challenges for design, construction, and permitting, including a large geographic area, competing interests, consideration of sensitive resources and environmental work windows, balance of on-land and in-water construction operations, large-scale restoration planning, active and interested community involvement, significant cultural resources coordination, and adaptive management.

“Multiple tiers of partnerships and an effective community outreach program were essential to the success of the Spirit Lake Project,” said Jeff Boltz, Ph.D., EA Senior Vice President and Chief Scientist. “These strategies can be readily transferred to other complex remediation and restoration projects.”

The partnership between EPA, USS, and the design and construction team allowed for effective design development; proactive planning for design changes; and regular communication with state, federal, and local agencies and the public. Highlights of the project’s success include the environmental benefits of combining of large-scale remediation with habitat restoration and open water creation, partnership and collaboration through all project development phases, incorporation of engineering with nature strategies, and a detailed community outreach plan using an outreach team to engage regularly with local stakeholders.

About EA Engineering, Science, and Technology, Inc., PBC

EA is a 100% employee-owned public benefit corporation that provides environmental, compliance, natural resources, and infrastructure engineering and management solutions to a wide range of public and private sector clients. Headquartered in Hunt Valley, Maryland, EA employs more than 625 professionals through a network of 27 commercial offices across the continental United States, as well as Alaska, Hawaii, and Guam. In our 50^th year of business, EA has earned an outstanding reputation for technical expertise, responsive service, and judicious use of client resources. For more information about EA, visit www.eaest.com.

CONTACT:
Amy Lambert
EA Engineering, Science, and Technology, Inc., PBC
225 Schilling Circle, Suite 400
Hunt Valley, Maryland 21031
410-527-2410
alambert@eaest.com