With increasing water levels causing annual flooding at their port in Duluth, Minnesota , C. Reiss Company decided to relocate their shipping operations to Superior, Wisconsin. The facility in Superior had been unused for the last 30 years and much of it needed to be rehabilitated—our team was there to help.
We completed natural resources inventories for the site as well as provided complex wetland and waterway permitting support. This included wetland filling, stormwater pond construction, sea wall repair, dredging, an artificial wetland exemption request, construction site notice of intent permitting, and cultural and endangered resources reviews. We also performed habitat assessments for the state-threatened seaside crowfoot—a native plant that grows in brackish water.
Following our technical work, our North America Funding Program team researched, identified, and evaluated federal and state grant programs. This work culminated in developing a funding source matrix complete with 16 programs and a funding strategy of the top four programs to pursue.
In partnership with the Superior Port Authority and C Reiss, we assisted in securing several successful grant awards with the federal Port Infrastructure Development Program, the state Harbor Assistance Program, and partnerships with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. This totaled more than $12 million in cost shares and grant monies for this $22 million project. As a result, we’ve been able to complete design plans for the total redevelopment of the site including civil and dredging construction plans.
Ongoing environmental site investigations are underway to complete coordination with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) for Bureau of Remediation and Redevelopment Tracking System (BRRTS) site closure. C. Reiss will ultimately transfer operations from their current impacted site to the newly redeveloped Superior site, ultimately setting up the dock for years of use and expansion.
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