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EPA: Kalamazoo River Superfund Update Meetings Dec. 1 in Plainwell, Dec. 3 in Kalamazoo

Release Date: 11/30/2009
Contact Information: Mick Hans, 312-353-5050, hans.mick@epa.gov Don de Blasio, 312-886-4360, deblasio.don@epa.gov

(CHICAGO - Nov. 30, 2009) U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 hosts two meetings this week to update Kalamazoo area residents on portions of the Kalamazoo River Superfund site.

A general site update meeting will be held Tuesday, Dec. 1, at 6:30 p.m., at the Comfort Inn, 622 Allegan St., Plainwell. The presentation will include an update on planned cleanup activities in Plainwell.

A meeting focused on the Allied Landfill portion of the site will be held Thursday, Dec. 3 at 6:30 p.m., in the Prairies Room of the Radisson Plaza Hotel, 100 W. Michigan, Kalamazoo. This meeting will include a presentation on responsible party Millennium Holdings' recently developed feasibility study covering a range of cleanup alternatives for the former Allied Paper Landfill. EPA will review the study this winter.

Representatives from partner agencies including Michigan Department of Environmental Quality are expected at both meetings.

The complete Kalamazoo River Superfund area stretches 80 miles from Saugatuck on Lake Michigan to the Morrow Dam. EPA and MDEQ's cleanup efforts primarily focus on the removal and containment of PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls. PCBs 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 PCBs in 1976, and PCBs still in use are strictly regulated.

For more information or special accommodation at the Dec. 1 and 3 meetings, contact EPA Community Involvement Coordinator Don de Blasio at 800-621-8431, Ext. 64360, or deblasio.don@epa.gov. See site information online: https://www.epa.gov/region5/sites/kalproject