Advancing the Regeneration of the Cuyahoga Valley

This 2006 report by the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) for the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission outlines a strategy to integrate environmental restoration with economic development along the Cuyahoga River ship channel in Cleveland. It proposes a transition from traditional industrial land use to a 'restoration economy' through projects focusing on stormwater management, aquatic habitat restoration, brownfield remediation, green industrial building standards, and industrial symbiosis (Waste = Revenue).

• The Cuyahoga River ship channel suffers from poor water quality and low dissolved oxygen levels, partly because the river's flow rate drops from 4.5 miles per hour upstream to 0.024 miles per hour in the channel due to dredging from a natural 5 feet to 23–28 feet.
• Dredging the ship channel is a costly operation, with annual sediment removal of approximately 350,000 cubic yards costing about $2 million, plus additional costs for confined disposal facilities, totaling an estimated $3.7–$4.9 million per year.
• The report identifies a critical need for a new stormwater management regime in Cleveland, noting that 90 percent of land within city limits is not governed by stormwater regulations because existing ordinances only cover municipal separate storm-sewer systems (MS4), which represent only 10 percent of the overall system.
• Low Impact Development (LID) technologies, such as green roofs, porous pavement, and bioswales, are proposed as cost-effective alternatives to centralized infrastructure like the $1.6 billion tunnel system planned by the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (NEORSD).
• To restore aquatic habitat in the ship channel, the report proposes four options: pocket wetlands, green bulkheads, fish shelves, and tributary restoration. Green bulkheads are envisioned as a prototype that could replace steel sheet pile bulkheads while providing fish habitat and potentially earning wetland mitigation credits.
• Brownfield remediation is essential for habitat restoration because removing bulkheads without prior cleanup could allow soil contaminants to enter the river. The County Brownfields Redevelopment Division (BRD) can provide up to $6,000 for Phase I assessments and $35,000 for Phase II assessments.
• The report advocates for a green building standard for Cleveland’s Industrial Land Bank (ILB) to reduce operating costs and environmental impact. It suggests using the LEED rating system or a tailored local standard focusing on energy, site design, local materials, and water.
• The 'Waste = Revenue' initiative promotes industrial symbiosis, where industries trade waste byproducts as useful resources. A roundtable including companies like Alcoa, Mittal, and Zaclon has already identified over twenty project ideas to turn waste into business assets.
• The Cuyahoga Valley Initiative (CVI) requires a dedicated organization to coordinate its projects. The Cuyahoga County Planning Commission (CPC) has engaged the consulting firm Currere to design this organization, with a target completion date of summer 2007.

APA

RMI (2006). Advancing the Regeneration of the Cuyahoga Valley. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_ER06-05_RegenCuyahoga.pdf

Chicago

RMI. Advancing the Regeneration of the Cuyahoga Valley. 2006. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_ER06-05_RegenCuyahoga.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=Advancing the Regeneration of the Cuyahoga Valley |date=June 2006 |url=https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_ER06-05_RegenCuyahoga.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2006advancing, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{Advancing the Regeneration of the Cuyahoga Valley}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2006}, month = jun, url = {https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_ER06-05_RegenCuyahoga.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }