Well, after being on the EPA's National Priority List since 1990, the massive
Allied Paper, Inc. / Portage Creek / Kalamazoo River Superfund Site has just been granted...National Priority Status.
The difference seems to be in new language that identifies the site, along with 20 other national superfund sites, to receive "immediate and intense attention" due to environmental and health concerns. Allusions are made here that not enough progress has been made quickly enough. No word on if this means there will actually be more funding for the cleanup efforts. Much work has already happened in several phases along this 80 mile stretch of Kalamazoo River and surrounding banks, tributaries, etc.
Quote:
Kalamazoo River Superfund cleanup gets priority status by EPA
By John Tunison | MLive
December 8, 2017
KALAMAZOO, MI -- The decades-old contamination cleanup plan for the Kalamazoo River is getting priority status by the Environmental Protection Agency, federal officials say...
...The Kalamazoo area Superfund site -- listed on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency National Priorities List in 1990 -- is described as follows: "PCB-contaminated soil and sediment in landfills, paper mill properties, about 80 miles of the Kalamazoo River, adjacent riverbanks and contiguous floodplains, as well as a 3-mile stretch of Portage Creek.."
"...By elevating these sites we are sending a message that EPA is, in fact, restoring its Superfund program to its rightful place at the center of the Agency's mission," EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said...
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