News Releases from Region 05

EPA to Begin Public Comment Period on Proposed Cleanup Plan for Area 3 of the Kalamazoo River Superfund site in Kalamazoo, Michigan

CHICAGO (July 6, 2021) – U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will begin a 30-day public comment period on the proposed cleanup plan to address polychlorinated-biphenyls, or PCB, contamination in Area 3 of the Kalamazoo River Superfund site in Otsego, Michigan. Area 3 is a 3.4-mile stretch between Otsego City Dam and the former Otsego Township dam that flows through forested wetland areas predominately for recreational land use, although some residential parcels exist.    

EPA proposes to excavate approximately 58,500 cubic yards of floodplain soil and 11,300 cubic yards of riverbank soil and sediment along 6,600 feet of the river containing PCBs. The plan also includes site controls and capping or removal of floodplain soil from private recreational areas and long-term monitoring, inspections and maintenance of riverbank erosion controls.

In 1977, a public health advisory was issued recommending residents to not eat fish caught from the Kalamazoo River due to PCBs found in the fish. In 1990, the Kalamazoo River, as part of the Allied Paper Inc./Portage Creek/Kalamazoo River Superfund site, was placed on the National Priorities List, a list of the nation’s most contaminated sites.

Since 1998, EPA has removed nearly 470,000 cubic yards of contaminated material from the site, cleaned up and restored 12 miles of the Kalamazoo River and Portage Creek (including banks), and capped 82 acres of contaminated material.

EPA will review and respond to comments before finalizing a cleanup plan. The agency will accept comments on the proposal from July 8 to August 6. The public may submit comments:
 

• By mail: Diane Russell, community involvement coordinator, U.S. EPA Region 5, 1300 Bluff St., Suite 140, Flint, MI 48504
• Online: www.epa.govhttps://www.epa.gov/superfund/allied-paper-kalamazoo
• At the public meeting:

Date:            Thursday, July 15
 

Time:            6 p.m. – 8 p.m.
 

Link to join:   https://bit.ly/35qsNGj or, by phone toll-free: 888-475-4499

You will be instructed to provide the meeting ID and passcode listed below whether you join online or by phone: ID: 971 2500 1013, Passcode: 227278

For more information or to join the meeting from the website: www.epa.govhttps://www.epa.gov/superfund/allied-paper-kalamazoo.
 

###