Ann Arbor may seek EPA intervention for Gelman plume cleanup

March 10-- Mar. 10--ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Ann Arbor officials are considering seeking U.S. Environmental Protection Agency intervention to press for a full-scale cleanup of the Gelman dioxane plume.

After decades of watching the plume spread and the last two years spent trying to negotiate a better cleanup via litigation against Gelman Sciences in Washtenaw County Circuit Court, with pushback from the polluter, there's been no resolution.

The legal case could eventually go to trial in Judge Tim Connors' courtroom in Ann Arbor.

But even if Connors, who lives atop the plume, might be sympathetic to the city's concerns, some City Council members worry Michigan's lax environmental laws don't bode well for the city, allowing for pollution containment strategies, rather than actual cleanup.

"Containment isn't working," said Council Member Kathy Griswold, D-2nd Ward. "And I think the only way we're going to get cleanup is to get the EPA directing it."

The local Coalition for Action on Remediation of Dioxane is expected to take up the issue at its next meeting, after which City Council members may advance a resolution to try to get Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on board with seeking a full EPA review of the plume.

Griswold is working on the issue with fellow Council Members Jack Eaton, D-4th Ward, and Jeff Hayner, D-1st Ward. CARD member Vince Caruso has drafted a resolution.

The toxic chemical plume that has plagued Ann Arbor for decades originated on the city's west side, on the border between Ann Arbor and Scio Township, between the 1960s and 1980s. Gelman Sciences used dioxane in its filter-manufacturing processes and discharged massive of amounts of it on the company's Wagner Road property.

Dioxane has spread for miles through the city's groundwater and is now infiltrating the Allen Creek drain pipes at West Park that flush out to the Huron River. With dioxane in shallow groundwater, some worry it could seep into home basements and pose vapor-intrusion risks.

The city also recently discovered trace amounts of dioxane in the city's treated drinking water from Barton Pond.

Dioxane is classified by the EPA as likely to be carcinogenic to humans by all routes of exposure. It also can cause kidney and liver damage, and respiratory problems.

Just a few parts per billion in drinking water, with long-term exposure, poses a 1 in 100,000 cancer risk, according to the EPA.

Under the current management plan, the plume is allowed to spread through the city at high concentrations to the Huron River, passing through a groundwater use prohibition zone.

Gelman is doing a limited amount of pump-and-treat remediation. Treated water with lower levels of dioxane is discharged to a tributary of Honey Creek, which flows to the Huron River and then Barton Pond.

Not content with the current approach, which does not aim to fully restore the poisoned groundwater aquifers, the Sierra Club's Huron Valley Group, along with Ann Arbor Township and Scio Township, petitioned the EPA for a Superfund cleanup in 2016.

Ann Arbor leaders at the time were hesitant about a Superfund designation and decided not to join the effort.

In 2017, after an initial review, the EPA decided to suspend the Superfund designation process, letting the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality continue to oversee the polluter's efforts to manage the plume, though the EPA reserved the option to pursue enforcement action in the future if necessary.

It doesn't have to be a Superfund cleanup, but it's time for the EPA to get more involved, Eaton said, explaining why turning to Donald Trump's EPA may be preferable to Whitmer's DEQ.

"Without regard to who staffs the DEQ or who leads their philosophy, we're limited under the state environmental regulations," Eaton said.

"There is a limit to what we can accomplish under state law, and so federal law is much stronger about holding a responsible party responsible. Again, this whole prohibition zone idea is really limiting, whereas the EPA could actually seek a cleanup."

As Griswold sees it, the best-case scenario is to get the EPA to do a full assessment and then direct the DEQ to achieve federal standards, meaning cleanup rather than containment.

"The EPA will defer to the state environmental agencies where appropriate, but if they come in and they do a high-level review of this site and find that our state regulation of this pollution doesn't meet their standards, they could either insist that the state do more or they could step in and do something," Eaton said.

Griswold added, "And I could see that happening without actually declaring it a Superfund site, which is just an emotional issue."

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