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EPA Extends Comment Period On Proposed Cleanup Plan For Grand Traverse Overall Supply Superfund Site

Release Date: 12/02/2010
Contact Information: Jayna Legg, 312-353-0562, legg.jayna@epa.gov

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
No. 10-OPA145

CHICAGO (Dec. 2, 2010) --- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 is extending the public comment period on proposed changes to the soil cleanup plan selected for the Grand Traverse Overall Supply Superfund site in Traverse City, Mich.

EPA now will accept comments through Jan. 7, 2011. Copies of the proposed changes to the cleanup plan are available at the Traverse Area District Library, 22 Sixth St., Traverse City, Mich., and at the Elmwood Township Center, 10090 E. Lincoln Road, Traverse City, Mich.

Responsibility for the cleanup of remaining contaminated soil on the site has been transferred from EPA’s short-term removal program to the long-term remedial program. To meet the goals of the original, February 2008, cleanup plan, an additional 7,480 cubic yards of soil will be excavated and transported off-site for disposal.

EPA held a public meeting Nov. 9 and accepted comments on the changes. All the comments will be summarized and answered in a document included with the final decision. The report outlining the differences, along with other site-related documents, also will be available for review online at www.epa.gov/region5/sites/grandtraverse/index.htm.

Grand Traverse Overall Supply was a commercial laundering and dry cleaning facility covering 3.9 acres in Greilickville, Leelanau County, Mich. Laundry operations began in the early 1950s, and dry-cleaning machines were installed and used from 1968 through 1987.

Until 1977, the facility used a dry well, lagoons and Cedar Creek to discharge waste. In 1977, the facility began discharging waste into the sanitary sewer system. In 1987, studies showed ground water (underground water supplies) in the area was contaminated with volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including the ground water underneath the former Norris School west of the site.

The site was added to the Superfund National Priorities List in 1983. Sites on the NPL are among the most hazardous in the nation and are eligible for cleanup under the Superfund program.

Comments on the proposed changes should be submitted to:

Linda Martin
Remedial Project Manager
EPA Region 5 (mail code SR-6J)
77 W. Jackson Blvd.
Chicago, IL 60604-3590
Fax: (312) 692-2411
E-mail: martin.lindab@epa.gov
Online: https://www.epa.gov/region5/sites/grandtraverse/feedback.html

For more information about the site, contact EPA Community Involvement Coordinator Don de Blasio at deblasio.don@epa.gov or call 800-621-8431, Ext. 64360, between 9:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., weekdays.

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