Category: Uncategorized

  • Council adopts position on Allied Paper site

    Council adopts position on Allied Paper site

    ADOPTED 26 August 2013 — Kalamazoo River Watershed Council position on cleanup of Allied Paper disposal site in Kalamazoo

    An unfortunate legacy of Kalamazoo’s industrial history is the existence of contaminated soils and sediments that are incredibly costly to clean up. The former Allied Paper site along Portage Creek, which contains paper waste contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), is just one of many examples. As the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) assesses options for stabilization or removal of the waste, many in the community have expressed support for total removal, the most expensive option being considered.

    This reaction is understandable, but it may be helpful to step back and think about the broader problem of PCBs in the river system as the EPA decides how to allocate the limited funds that are available.

    The Kalamazoo River Watershed Council has long been involved in advocating for protection and improvement of the entire river system and its watershed (the land that drains into the river). We believe that management and policy decisions must be based on the best, most current scientific evidence available. The science tells us that the most likely way that people or wildlife can be exposed to harmful levels of PCBs is by eating fish from contaminated waters. This is because PCBs accumulate in animal tissues and are concentrated, or “biomagnified”, at each step in a food chain, resulting in concentrations in some fish that can be more than a million times higher than those found in the sediments or water. Thus, for PCBs food chain contamination is the primary concern for the health of people and wildlife. This is most likely to happen when PCBs get into an aquatic environment.

    Some of the PCBs dumped in the mid 1900s along Portage Creek and the Kalamazoo River made their way downstream through 80 miles of river, floodplains, and reservoirs. Several decrepit dams between Plainwell and Allegan serve no purpose other than to hold back PCB-laden sediments, and it would cost nearly half a billion dollars just to remove the most contaminated sediments behind those dams. Unless and until that happens, PCBs will continue to enter the river food chain and make fish unfit to eat for people as well as fish-eating wildlife like bald eagles. We believe that these sites present a significant threat to the health of people and wildlife.

    The Allied site is just one of a number of PCB-contaminated landfills in our area. There are three along the river near Kings Highway and another downstream of Plainwell. These sites are right beside the river and have been “capped and contained” with EPA oversight. Monitoring indicates that they no longer leak significant amounts of PCBs to the river or groundwater. We would have preferred that they be moved away from the river, but that option was far too expensive.

    At the Allied Site, we are not aware of any credible evidence that people are being exposed to harmful levels of PCBs from the site, either by air or drinking water. However there may be some erosion of soil and seepage of groundwater containing PCBs from the Allied and Monarch landfills into the creek, affecting fish downstream, which is why containment is urgent. Once contained, surface and ground water around the site must be carefully monitored to ensure that PCBs do not escape in the future.

    Ideally adequate funds would be available to thoroughly remove contaminants from every site, but the reality is that funds as well as space in secure landfills are limited and we will not be able to fully remove all of the PCBs from the river and its watershed, even where they are concentrated in landfills. Thus we have to be careful to use available cleanup funds to address the areas of greatest risk for PCB exposure.

    Considering the very high cost of total removal, options to stabilize the Allied Site in place, similar to what has already been done at other local PCB-laden disposal sites, should be considered. If the total removal option were pursued, the extra money that would have to be spent should not in any way come from the funds available to do work elsewhere in the river system, where PCB contamination of the river food chain presents a clear risk to people and wildlife. While reuse of the Allied Site would be highly desirable, it is also important to consider that removal of the old dams would bring back a free-flowing river, restoring habitat and creating new recreational benefits, in addition to reducing PCB levels in fish and fish-eating wildlife and people.

    *Two members of the Board of Directors, Sue Foune and Michael Wetzel, abstained from voting on this position due to conflict of interest.

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  • Reflections three years after Kalamazoo River oil spill

    Reflections three years after Kalamazoo River oil spill

    by Steve Hamilton and Julie Doll

    When Enbridge Energy’s ruptured pipeline disgorged almost a million gallons of diluted bitumen (“dilbit”) oil into the Kalamazoo River three years ago, nobody imagined that we would still be dealing with the cleanup three years later, or that the cost would be approaching a billion dollars.

    Yet that is where we are, with major dredging operations set to begin in three reaches to remove the most concentrated hotspots of submerged oil and stop the sheening it produces. We can only hope these efforts are successful and that the river can return to normal. Already we can thank the many dedicated people who have worked long and hard to clean and restore the river and its floodplain.

    The oil spill—as well as the cleanup operations—has been hard on the river, not to mention the people who live along it and those who use it for recreation. But the plant and animal life in and along the river has displayed remarkable resilience. Many stretches of the river and riverbank have recovered, with invertebrates, fishes, wildlife, and plants returning to resemble what was there before the spill. Subtler, longer-term negative effects are certainly possible but have yet to be revealed. We hope continued monitoring can be funded in order to understand those long-term impacts.

    The Kalamazoo River Watershed Council has been engaged in the oil spill cleanup from the start, and members continue to provide advice on the cleanup and keep others informed. We have given talks to audiences ranging from university scientists to middle-school science students to the public at large. We have been present at countless meetings, and our President (Dr. Steve Hamilton) volunteers on the Scientific Support Coordination Group convened by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In addition, we continue to contribute to radio, television, newspaper and magazine reports in local, national and international venues.

    This catastrophe has attracted a great deal of attention because it was the first major spill of diluted bitumen oil, that is, heavy oil from the tar sands deposits in western Canada diluted with lighter hydrocarbons so it can be pumped in pipelines. This is important as tar sands are increasingly looked to for providing new petroleum sources to North America and the world. Many lessons have been learned about how difficult it is to clean this material from an aquatic environment, which should incite us to redouble efforts to make pipelines safer and responses to spills faster and more effective.

    But more importantly, tragedies such as the Kalamazoo oil spill and the devastating train wreck in Canada this month should encourage us to think hard about the costs of our ever-escalating quest for new petroleum sources to feed our ravenous global appetite for fuel.

    The costs of exploiting new fossil fuel sources like the tar sands go way beyond the devastation of an occasional spill; these costs will be borne by future generations as the carbon dioxide pumped into the atmosphere wreaks havoc on our climate. For centuries after this period of reckless fossil fuel consumption comes to an end, its ramifications on our climate will continue to negatively affect every aspect of our Earth. On this dark anniversary, that’s worth a few moments of reflection. How can we lessen the damage we are creating and leave a clean, fruitful world for future generations? How can we make conscience-driven choices about how we use our natural resources that take the future into account? How can we live in a way that ensures a stable climate, clean air and water, and healthy food for everyone, now and far into the future?

    We have countless opportunities to think creatively and work together to build vibrant, healthy communities that are not dependent on fossil fuels. Economic development does not have to suffer when we take action to stop climate change. The Council will do our part to make sure that the lessons gained from the Kalamazoo River oil spill were not learned in vain. We look forward to working with leaders and members of our community to move Kalamazoo towards a safer and more sustainable future.

  • Next Kanoe the Kazoo event, July 27

    Next Kanoe the Kazoo event, July 27

    Haven’t enjoyed a Kanoe the Kazoo paddle trip yet this summer? Your next opportunity is Saturday, July 27 in Albion. The trip starts at Reiger Park and ends at Stuart’s Landing in Marshall. For more information and to register for the paddle trip, call the Greater Albion Chamber of Commerce at 517-629-5533 or email president@greateralbionchamber.org.

    A full schedule of Kanoe the Kazoo events can be found on our website.

  • Love the river, lose the litter

    Love the river, lose the litter

    The Hillsdale Conservation District is hosting river clean-up events this summer, including two near the headwaters of the Kalamazoo River. Check out this opportunity to pitch in and do your part to keep our river clean. For more information on how you can get involved and volunteer to support the District’s work, visit their website or call (517) 849-9890.