A shallow section of the Clinton River that causes havoc for some boaters would be dredged by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers under a bill approved this week by the House of Representatives.

A $660,000 allocation secured by U.S. Rep. Sander Levin would dredge the channel to a depth of about 8 feet from the Interstate 94 freeway bridge west to the Crocker Bridge in downtown Mount Clemens. The river is so shallow that some of the docks in the downtown area have been roped off because the depth near the seawall is only about 1 foot.

A steady decline in the river’s depth and a buildup of sediment has caused problems for the Clinton River Cruise Co. in Mount Clemens, which operates a small cruise ship. The Clinton Friendship makes about 200 trips a year — ferrying about 14,000 passengers — from Mount Clemens to Lake St. Clair and back.

“It (the ship) just makes it. We’re getting close to the bottom in a lot of places,” said Paul Gallas, owner of the company, who said the depth near his docks is about 5 feet. “(The dredging) is going to help me immensely. This, right now, is a nightmare for me.”

But money for the project, contained in a $7.4 billion energy and water bill, still faces Senate approval. President Bush has vowed to veto spending bills that the White House views as too loaded with special projects, or “earmarks.”

“Passage of this funding by the House is a good start. Now, we have to get a final energy and water bill through the Congress and get the president to sign it,” said Levin, a Royal Oak Democrat who represents most of Macomb County.

A similar effort to secure dredging funds for the Clinton ran aground last year when Congress failed to pass an energy and water bill.

The current bill, which would provide funding for the 2008 fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, would address a backlog of $1 billion worth of Army Corps of Engineers projects.
 
Funding for the Clinton, a federally authorized navigation channel, was requested by Levin on behalf of the city of Mount Clemens.
  
City Manager William Cooper said the project would provide an economic boost by encouraging more boaters to visit shops and restaurants.
  
“The conditions make it difficult for a boat of any decent size to maneuver down there,” Cooper said.
  
The city could contribute supplemental funding to the project, Cooper said, so that the contractor would dredge the downtown dock areas in addition to the shipping channel.
  
The project is also expected to improve the sluggish flow in the river, which should improve water quality.
  
If federal funding is finalized, the project would likely be undertaken next summer and would take three to four months to complete.
  
A federal dredging project was approved in 2005 for a lower section of the Clinton River in Harrison Township, beginning at the lake. That project was secured by U.S. Rep. Candice Miller, a Harrison Township Republican, and funded dredging to Interstate 94, the boundary of Miller’s congressional district.