GRAND HAVEN, Mich. — After months of uncertainty, dredging on Grand Haven's inner harbor has been approved, safeguarding the tens of millions of dollars the harbor brings to the local economy each year.
In May local leaders from Ottawa County and the tri-cities sent a letter to Governor Gretchen Whitmer demanding action.
WATCH: Dredging in Grand Haven's inner harbor given approval
"We need to have a consistent well well-dredged harbor here in Grand Haven. It's important to the city, it's important to the state," Rep. Greg VanWoerkom (R-Norton Shores) explained.
Dredging in the Great Lakes has created a navigation system allowing large freighters carrying supplies to pass through, saving the country about $4 billion every year. Grand Haven's harbor is responsible for about $88.8 million of those dollars, supplying materials across the state for projects including road construction.
"One of the big issues we're talking about in Lansing is the roads and the road plan and how you get the roads built," VanWoerkom stated. "Grand Haven is a catalyst for that," VanWoerkom said.
Despite the need, dredging of Grand Haven's inner harbor was put on hold this year as the state Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy tested for PFAS.
"We have to get approval from our headquarters in order to test for PFAS. Our headquarters was not supportive of that just yet because EGLE didn't have the framework that they needed in place," explained Nick Zager, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Detroit District Chief of Operations.
The Army Corps' Detroit District Chief of Operations says EGLE was able to identify a couple of locations where PFAS were released. They teamed up to identify areas where they could begin dredging without risk of contamination.
"We looked at our harbor and said okay upstream and downstream from those, we could potentially dredge those areas," Zager said.
EGLE and the U.S. Army Corps came to an agreement as local and state officials applaud their collaboration.
"This is a critical harbor for the economy, in the state of Michigan, west Michigan and particularly people here in Grand Haven," VanWoerkom said.
Dredging of the outer harbor began on Friday, and EGLE confirmed in a statement that they have given the green light to the Army Corps of Engineers.
The 30-day bid process begins Jun. 27. The Army Corps could potentially award a contract in mid to late August. Depending on the availability of the contractor they could be out dredging as early as September or October.
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