Ahead of this extensive cleanup project, NOAA’s Assessment and Restoration Division and several partners proceeded this week to collect contaminated sediment from eighteen locations in the Saint Louis River. NOAA will be testing the sediment to characterize the toxicity of the current conditions near the Superfund site to benthic invertebrates, small animals that dwell in the river bottom and provide food for fish and other natural resources. NOAA and five other state, federal, and tribal trustees are conducting a natural resource damage assessment for the U.S. Steel Duluth Superfund site. 

The sediment collection and laboratory toxicity testing is one of several steps that the Trustees will perform to gather information to determine how the historical contamination releases from the U.S. Steel site adversely affect the ecosystem and human uses of the resources. 

For more information please contact Greg.Baker@noaa.gov.

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