Sep 24, 2019 2 min read

MARIANNA – Concerns about the release of contaminated sediment if, or when, the Marianna dam on Ten Mile Creek would be removed have been put to rest.

American Rivers, an environmental group under contract to remove the aging dam, has completed testing on the sediment, which found no serious issues with what erosion has deposited behind the structure, said Lisa Hollingsworth-Segedy, a director of river restoration for the organization.

“The bottom line is the sediment is cleaner than elsewhere in the stream,” Hollingsworth-Segedy said.

She said many people were opposed to the removal of the dam over beliefs that it would release a lot of contaminants into the tributary to the Monongahela River.

“That’s not true,” she said.

Environmentalists have been calling for dam removal projects across the nation to allow fish to migrate upstream.

The low-head dam removal project in Marianna deeply divided this small, former coal mining community.

A new majority on council last month rescinded the borough’s agreement last year with American Rivers to remove the century-old dam and restore Ten Mile at no cost to taxpayers.

Hollingsworth-Segedy said there is no language in the agreement that would allow either part to cancel the plan.

“It stands until Dec. 31, 2022, she said. “As far as we’re concerned, it’s not revoked.”

She said American Rivers placed the project’s design phase on hold because it would need borough council signatures on a demolition permit application to the state Department of Environmental Protection.

She said she doubts the borough would move forward with that application at this time.

Borough solicitor Lane Turturice said the borough has notified American Rivers that it no longer wants to proceed on the dam with its assistance.

“They’re all against it,” Turturice said Monday.