# Kalamazoo River cleanup - $21 million Plainwell project



## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

U.S. EPA REGION 5 NEWS RELEASE
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MEDIA BRIEFING 2 P.M. EST TODAY: Representatives from EPA and partner agencies will be available to speak to media at 2 p.m. at the Plainwell Comfort Inn, 622 Allegan St. Please contact Mick Hans, (312) 353-5050, to arrange an interview at another time.

CONTACT: (EPA) Mick Hans, (312) 353-5050, [email protected]
(EPA) Don de Blasio, (312) 886-4360, [email protected]
(MDEQ), Bob McCann, (517) 241-7397, [email protected]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
No. 07-OPA030

Agreements boost Kalamazoo River cleanup;
$21 million Plainwell project begins

CHICAGO (Feb. 28, 2007) Cleanup of the Kalamazoo River is one step closer, thanks to two legal agreements between U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the State of Michigan and two of the companies responsible for PCB contamination. 

One agreement, between EPA, Michigan, Georgia-Pacific and Millennium Holdings, requires the companies to perform a projected $21 million cleanup of the Plainwell Impoundment Area, including removal of a portion of the Plainwell Dam. The other agreement, between EPA and the two companies, requires the companies to perform about $15 million in additional environmental sampling and investigation throughout the Kalamazoo River Superfund site.

The agreements were produced during mediated discussions that began in late 2004 among EPA, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Michigan Attorney General and Departments of Environmental Quality and Natural Resources, and the two companies. The discussions are part of the ongoing intergovernmental effort to address PCB contamination along an 80-mile stretch of the river. 

"This is an important step forward," said EPA Regional Administrator Mary Gade. "The removal of more than two tons of PCBs near Plainwell is real progress toward recovery of the Kalamazoo River system."

"Today's announcement is a milestone in our efforts to address this legacy of contamination," said MDEQ Director Steven E. Chester. "Through this partnership effort we will make a positive impact on the health of the Kalamazoo River that will last for generations to come."

"The bottom line is that these agreements will help clean up contamination in the Kalamazoo River," said Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox. "And because these agreements require additional studies, testing and research, the health of the river will continue to improve."

State and federal natural resource trustees, who represent the public interest for natural resources at the site, support the agreements.

The Plainwell Impoundment cleanup aims to remove 4,400 pounds of PCBs (132,000 cubic yards of material) from a 1.5 mile segment of the river upstream of the Plainwell Dam between Plainwell and Otsego. The two-year project targets contaminated river banks, in-stream sediment and floodplain hotspots primarily located on land owned by MDNR. EPA, in consultation with MDEQ, will oversee the work performed by contractors hired by the responsible parties. 

Construction equipment will begin arriving at the site in the next few weeks, with work slated to begin in early April and continuing through late fall or early winter. The project will follow a similar schedule in 2008. About 20 to 30 loads of dredged material will be trucked daily to a landfill in Kalamazoo. Steps to control dust from the construction activities have been built into the work plan. 

The supplemental sampling effort by the companies will build upon data previously collected and help determine additional cleanup steps. Initially, samples will be collected and analyzed from locations along a 20-mile upstream stretch of the river between the Morrow and Plainwell Dams, including a 3-mile segment of Portage Creek. 

A public meeting will be held 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., March 15 at the Plainwell High School cafeteria, 684 Starr Rd. The government partners will also host an open house meeting at the Plainwell Community Schools

Administration Building, 600 School Drive, from 1:00 to 3:30 p.m., to answer questions in a less formal setting. There will not be a presentation at the afternoon open house. A fact sheet about the agreements and upcoming work has been sent to EPA's mailing list for the Superfund site. It is also online: http://www.epa.gov/region5/sites/kalproject/.

Site documents are available for review at the Allegan, Douglas, Kalamazoo and Otsego Public Libraries, Plainwell's Charles Ransom Library and Western Michigan University's Waldo Library. Residents with questions or who need special accommodations at the public meeting may contact EPA Community Involvement Coordinator Don de Blasio at (800) 621-8431, ext. 64360 (business hours), or [email protected].

PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) are a group of toxic chemicals that were widely used in carbonless copy paper, and as coolants, insulators and lubricants. PCBs are of concern because they concentrate in the food chain resulting in health hazards to people, fish and wildlife. Congress banned the manufacture of new PCBs in 1976 and PCBs still in use are strictly regulated.


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## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

EPA announces agreements for cleaning up Kalamazoo River

http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/mich...11/117268111996560.xml&storylist=newsmichigan

02/28/07 By JAMES PRICHARD The Associated Press

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP)  Two companies identified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as responsible for contaminating the Kalamazoo River with potentially carcinogenic pollutants in past years have agreed to an estimated $21 million cleanup of a portion of the stream, the EPA said.

Georgia-Pacific Corp. of Atlanta and Millennium Holdings LLC, a holding company owned by Houston-based Lyondell Chemical Co., also agreed to spend $15 million on additional environmental studies and investigation throughout the 80-mile Kalamazoo River Superfund site, agency officials announced Wednesday.

The two legal agreements were produced as the result of mediated discussions that started in late 2004 among the two companies, the EPA, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Michigan attorney general's office, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

"The companies are pleased to be partnering with the agencies to take another step in addressing the cleanup of the Kalamazoo," said Dan Spaulding, a Michigan-based spokesman for the two companies. "It is our belief that the successful completion of this project will help to significantly reduce any risk to human health or the environment, and it will also enhance this great natural resource."

The cleanup agreement involves the removal of 4,400 pounds of toxic polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, believed to be contained within 132,000 cubic yards of contaminated river banks, in-stream sediment and flood plains primarily located on DNR-owned land. Some PCBs have been linked to cancer.

The polluted materials will be removed from a 1.5-mile stretch of the Superfund site upstream from the Plainwell Dam, between Plainwell and Otsego. Part of the old dam also will be removed during the two-year project, which is to begin in April, the EPA said in a written statement.

Saugatuck resident Dayle Harrison, an environmentalist who has been advocating for the river's cleanup for more than 30 years, called the agreements "woefully inadequate."

Harrison, president of the Kalamazoo River Protection Association, said between 225,000 and 250,000 pounds of PCBs lie within about 5 million cubic yards of sediment that needs to be removed from the Kalamazoo and its flood plains.

"We don't need another $15 million of studies on the river," he said. "We know where all the contamination is, where it is in the wildlife, where it is in the fish. We don't need to study it anymore. We need to get the contamination cleaned up now to restore this beautiful resource."

The EPA, in consultation with the DEQ, will oversee the work performed by contractors hired by the responsible parties. About 20 to 30 loads of dredged material will be trucked daily to a landfill in Kalamazoo.

"This is an important step forward," said Mary Gade, the top official in the EPA's regional office in Chicago. "The removal of more than two tons of PCBs near Plainwell is real progress toward recovery of the Kalamazoo River system."

DEQ Director Steven E. Chester called the announcement "a milestone in our efforts to address this legacy of contamination."

The 123-mile-long river bisects the city of Kalamazoo and meanders through Allegan en route to Saugatuck, where it empties into Lake Michigan. The government says paper mills and manufacturing plants, most of which no longer are in business, fouled the river for decades with their industrial wastes.

In 1990, the presence of unsafe levels of PCBs in the river's sediment led the federal government to make two-thirds of the Kalamazoo  plus a five-mile portion of a tributary, Portage Creek  a Superfund site eligible for long-term remedial action.

PCBs contaminate sediment in the river and its flood plains between the Morrow Lake Dam just east of the city of Kalamazoo and the river's mouth. Much of the silt lies behind the Plainwell Dam and two other state-owned dams, which are old, in poor condition and no longer serve a purpose.


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## hoythunter (Feb 23, 2005)

Thanks for posting.


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## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

Kalamazoo River cleanup gets moving

http://www.mlive.com/news/kzgazette/index.ssf?/base/news-22/1172769960261250.xml&coll=7

03/01/07 By Chris Killian Special to the Gazette

PLAINWELL -- A $21 million cleanup to remove pollutants from the Kalamazoo River will begin in April. 

At a press conference Wednesday, officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources provided details about a project to remove thousands of pounds of polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, from a 1.5-mile section of the Kalamazoo River upstream from the Plainwell Dam. Part of the dam also will be removed. An 80-mile stretch of the waterway was declared a Superfund site in 1990. 

Two paper-manufacturing companies -- Georgia-Pacific Corp. and Millennium Holdings Inc. -- have agreed to clean up that stretch of river.

The waste will be removed, laid out on ``de-watering pads'' to dry, and loaded on trucks. The trucks will make 20 to 30 trips daily to the Allied Paper Inc. landfill in Kalamazoo, where the waste will be dumped. 

Depending on the level of PCBs present, land at least 30 feet and as far as 150 feet from the riverbank will be cleaned, and excavated areas will be reclaimed with native vegetation. 

The work will run though December 2008, with breaks during the winter months. A stretch of the river from the Plainwell Dam to just west of downtown Plainwell will be closed to boaters during the project. 

``This is a significant step forward in terms of improving the river and the area,'' said Sam Borries, on-scene coordinator for the EPA. 

The 123-mile-long river bisects the city of Kalamazoo and meanders through Allegan en route to Saugatuck, where it empties into Lake Michigan. The government says paper mills and manufacturing plants, most of which no longer are in business, fouled the river for decades with their industrial wastes. 

Officials met behind closed doors with representatives from Georgia-Pacific Corp. and Millennium Holdings for nearly three years to hash out the cleanup arrangement. 

One agreement requires companies to pay an estimated $21 million for the cleanup. A second agreement mandates the companies also pay $15 million for more study of possible PCB hot spots throughout the 80-mile stretch. The EPA will provide $3 million in funding. 

Stephen Hamilton, president of the Kalamazoo River Watershed Council, said the council questioned the lack of public input during the negotiation process. The council also protested the need for more study, saying the need was ``unclear.'' 

Saugatuck resident Dayle Harrison, an environmentalist who has been advocating for the river's cleanup for more than 30 years, called the agreements ``woefully inadequate.'' 

Harrison, president of the Kalamazoo River Protection Association, said between 225,000 and 250,000 pounds of PCBs lie within about 5 million cubic yards of sediment that needs to be removed from the river and its flood plains. 

``We don't need another $15 million of studies on the river,'' he said. ``We know where all the contamination is, where it is in the wildlife, where it is in the fish. We need to get the contamination cleaned up now to restore this beautiful resource.'' 

Once the work is completed, 88 percent of the PCBs will have been removed from the site. The remaining 12 percent will be tested to determine if any human or animal threat is posed. 

Groundwater wells will be installed east of the site to monitor possible PCB leeching. It will take two years for data to be gathered from the wells and four to five years for the EPA to certify the site as clean.


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## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

A clean Kalamazoo River is at least seven years away, according to EPA plan 

PLAINWELL -- It will be at least seven more years before cleanup work on the Kalamazoo River reaches Saugatuck under a new, expedited cleanup plan unveiled by the Environmental Protection Agency Tuesday night.

Officials unveiled a preliminary schedule for removal of contaminated sediments from the river bottom and banks, working downstream from Plainwell to Lake Michigan one segment at a time. It is the first talk of "even nebulous plans to work downstream," said Gary Wager, president of the Kalamazoo River Cleanup Coalition.

Tuesday's proposed timeline divided the river into annual project areas with the following start times:

 Area 2, Plainwell Dam to Otsego City Dam, July 2, 2010.
 Area 3, Otsego City Dam to Otsego Dam (across from Bittersweet Ski Resort), September 2011.
 Area 4, Otsego Dam to Trowbridge Dam (26th Street), September 2012.
 Area 5, Trowbridge Dam to Allegan City Dam, September 2013.
 Area 6, Allegan City Dam to Lake Allegan Dam, September 2014.
 Area 7, Lake Allegan Dam to Lake Michigan, September 2015.

Although details are still to come, the general concept is for cleanup to occur simultaneously on multiple projects, said James Saric, EPA remedial-project manager.

http://www.mlive.com/kzgazette/news/index.ssf/2008/09/a_clean_kalamazoo_river_is_at.html


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## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

River cleanup 'a big success': PCB removal nearly complete for 1.5-mile section of Kalamazoo River

PLAINWELL -- Within a few weeks, the first significant cleanup of polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, from the Kalamazoo River since it was declared a federal Superfund site in 1990 will be completed.

Only 7,000 of the 120,000 cubic yards of sediment slated for removal still need to be excavated along the 1.5-mile stretch of river near Plainwell. Part of a structure used to manage water levels while the Plainwell Dam was being partially demolished during excavation still needs to be removed before the river can return to its natural banks.

http://www.mlive.com/kzgazette/news/index.ssf/2008/11/river_cleanup_a_big_success_pc.html


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