East Chicago Waterway Management District
N/AOUTCOME: Ongoing
Since 2008, Ellen Gregory has served as environmental counsel to the East Chicago Waterway Management District, a local/State governmental body established to promote the sustainable and environmentall ... y-friendly redevelopment along the waterways within the City of East Chicago, Indiana. The Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal has historically been the home to large industrial facilities which, over the years, have contributed to contamination of sediments on the bottom of the Harbor and Canal. Ms. Gregory represents the District in all of its environmental matters. This includes handling negotiations with the U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Indiana Department of Environmental Management, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to achieve the District’s goals of redeveloping the waterways of East Chicago. These negotiations include entering into Consent Decrees and various other agreements with these government agencies and a number of private companies with industrial operations in East Chicago. In the course of the representation, Ms. Gregory has coordinated with the US Army Corps of Engineers on behalf of the District, which serves as the local sponsor for the construction, operation and maintenance, and closure and post-closure of a disposal facility currently being constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on property owned by the District. When completed, the nearly $180 Million disposal site will receive contaminated sediments that will be dredged over the course of a decade from the Harbor and Canal to maintain the waterways for navigation purposes and to further the environmental remediation of contaminated areas of the Canal. Ms. Gregory has also coordinated with expert land value appraisers, accountants, and environmental consultants to accomplish the redevelopment goals of the District.
