&EPA

United States

Environmental Protection
Agency

Plainwell PCB Cleanup Progress,
Updates, and Public Meeting

Informational open house

EPA is holding an open house
Wednesday, April 2, so you can learn
more about the latest developments
in the Kalamazoo River cleanup.

The open house will be at 6:30 p.m.
at the Comfort Inn and Conference
Center, 622 Allegan St., Plainwell,
Mich. A formal presentation will be
at 6:45 p.m.

EPA representatives and other
officials will make a formal
presentation and be available
to discuss site activities with
you individually. If you need
special accommodations, contact
EPA Community Involvement
Coordinator Don de Blasio (see
below) by March 28.

Contact EPA

For more information, or if you have
comments about the Kalamazoo river
cleanup, contact:

Don de Blasio

Community Involvement Coordinator
EPA Region 5 (P-19J)

77 W. Jackson Blvd.

Chicago, IL 60604-3590
312-886-4360 or 800-621-8431,
Ext. 64360,

weekdays 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
deblasio. don@epa.gov

For more information

You can read more information
about the Kalamazoo River cleanup
online at:

www.epa.gov/region5/sites/kalproject

Allied Paper/Portage Creek/Kalamazoo River Superfund Site

Kalamazoo, Michigan	March 2008

Cleanup work on the Kalamazoo River began in early March for the 2008
construction season. This starts the second year of an estimated two-year
project to remove 120,000 cubic yards of sediment (mud) containing 4,400
pounds of PCBs from the Kalamazoo River's Plainwell Impoundment.
Contractors hired by Millennium Holdings LLC and Georgia-Pacific LLC are
doing the work. The two companies are legally responsible for the pollution.

Polychlorinated biphenyls, better known as PCBs, are chemical compounds
with common industrial uses. At high concentrations and exposures they can
cause illness in humans and wildlife (see box on page 3).

In 2007, more than 37,000 cubic yards or 1,059 truckloads of PCB-
contaminated sediment were removed from the river and nearby banks. So far,
workers have removed sediment and restored the banks along some 7,800 feet
of river bank. This includes removal areas 1, 2, 3A and B, 4A and B, 5, 6A
and B, 7 and 8 (see map on page 2). They have completed work in the Phase

1	cofferdam area with construction of the western water diversion structure
(Phase 1 cofferdam), which maintains the current flow of the river over the
eastern spillway area. This allowed workers to dredge behind the dam, build
a water control structure, and remove the portion of the dam in the former
powerhouse area.

Phase 2 (2008) work will include excavation within removal areas 9
through 13, removing the Phase 1 cofferdam, and constructing a Phase

2	cofferdam system just upstream of the dam to allow drawdown/
dewatering, followed by excavation of sediment from behind the eastern
portion (spillway) of the dam. Some 83,000 cubic yards of PCB-
contaminated sediment will be removed this year. The water control
structure which was constructed during Phase 1 will remain in place

in the western channel as a means of managing the water level in the
impoundment to facilitate the dredging operations. After the mid-channel
and near-shore sediment removal activities are complete, the water control
structure will be removed, allowing the Kalamazoo River to flow freely
through the new western channel, past what was once the Plainwell Dam.

Kalamazoo River sediment dug up in the Plainwell Impoundment
cleanup this year will be sent off site to commercial landfills for disposal.
Approximately 20 to 30 trucks per day will be leaving the project area
to the landfills. The Plainwell waste is being divided into sediment
containing 50 parts per million (ppm) or more of PCBs and material with
lower concentrations. One part PCB per million parts sediment is a tiny
amount, similar to one second in 12 days.

Under the federal Toxic Substances and Control Act, EPA regulates the
use, storage and disposal of sediment with PCB concentrations exceeding


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50 ppm. Sediment with PCBs above this level will
continue to be sent to Environmental Quality Co.'s
Wayne Disposal Landfill in Belleville, Mich. Sediment
with less than this concentration of PCBs, which is
considered nonhazardous waste, will continue to be sent
to Allied Waste's C and C Landfill near Marshall, Mich.,
and its Ottawa Farms Landfill near Coopersville, Mich.

EPA Region 5 and state partner Michigan Department of
Environmental Quality continue to oversee this year's
dredging. The estimated cost of the time-critical removal
action is $30 million and is expected to continue
through December 2008. Site information including
new photographs is posted at www.epa.gov/region5/
sites/kalproject.

Kalamazoo River/Portage Creek
supplemental cleanup studies

A February 2007 legal agreement requires additional
study of the Kalamazoo River and Portage Creek.
Planners divided the river into seven areas for the
additional investigation. Area 1 consists of the
Kalamazoo River between Morrow Dam and Plainwell,
and Portage Creek between Cork Street and the
Kalamazoo River. Phase 1 of the investigation work
was conducted last fall. Phase 2 investigations are being
developed and will be conducted this spring.

Shoreline restored with river rock banks

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Removing vegetation and contaminated soil

Update for the landfills

In addition to the removal action at the Plainwell
Impoundment, cleanup developments on other parts of
the Kalamazoo River site are occurring.

• MDEQ is finalizing a cleanup investigation at the
Allied Paper Landfill. Copies of the study will
be given to members of the public and the city of
Kalamazoo. EPA met with the city and will be
working with them to make sure the study considers
all issues deemed important by the city. Shortly after
the public meeting, EPA will be engaging with the
public on reuse ideas.

•	After completing the emergency action to excavate
residuals out of the powerhouse channel, regrade and
pull back the eastern side of the 12th Street Landfill,
Weyerhaeuser is now working on the cleanup design
for the landfill. The reshaping will protect the landfill
and prevent erosion when the river is rerouted to its
original channel—part of the overall design for the
Plainwell Impoundment. EPA expects the design phase
to continue through 2008.

•	Willow Boulevard/A-Site Landfill will be capped and
a monitoring network installed. EPA is working
with the responsible parties about designing and
implementing a final cleanup plan for the work. The
trustees are working to make this a joint agreement.

•	A gas collection trench was built along King Highway
in late 2007.

What are PCBs?

PCBs are a group of toxic chemicals that were
produced in the United States between 1929 and 1978
for use primarily as industrial coolants, insulators and
lubricants. PCBs were used in hundreds of industrial
and commercial applications, including carbonless
copy paper—which contributed to the Kalamazoo
River contamination—and many other applications
because they were stable and resisted wear and
chemical breakdown.

The same chemical properties that made PCBs useful
to industry are now responsible for persistent levels
of PCBs remaining in the environment, including
the Kalamazoo River. PCBs last in the environment
because they adhere readily to organic material in

sediment and soil and tend to build up in the fatty
tissue of fish and other animals. PCBs have been
demonstrated to cause a variety of adverse health
effects m animals. PCBs cause cancer and may affect
the immune, reproductive, nervous and endocrine
systems. Studies suggest PCBs have similar effects
on people.

The different health effects of PCBs may be
interrelated, as alterations in one system may have
significant implications for other systems of the
body. The potential adverse environmental and health
effects of PCBs were not well understood until 1977,
when the government banned most uses of PCBs.

On the Web:

www.epa.gov/region5/sites/lcalproject

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Plainwell PCB Cleanup
Progress and Updates

Informational open house
Wednesday, April 2
(details inside)


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