EPA to remove Kalamazoo Twp. site from list of nation's most toxic places

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is preparing to remove a portion of a Michigan Superfund site from the list of the nation's most toxic places.

Cleanup is complete on six acres of the Allied Paper Superfund site in Kalamazoo Township. Periodic inspection, continued monitoring, maintenance and groundwater-use restrictions are all that is needed there, the EPA said.

The six acres once held a landfill that received waste contaminated by polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs. PCBs are chemicals formerly used in manufacturing but were banned in 1979. They cause cancer and other health problems.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services recommends against eating any fish from the Kalamazoo River because of PCB contamination, according to the southwest Michigan 2023 Eat Safe Fish Guide.

PCBs were put into the landfill through the disposal of carbonless copy paper residuals, the EPA said. The Kalamazoo River historically was used to power and dispose waste for paper mills. The EPA estimates there are more than 120,000 pounds of PCB-contaminated river sediment deposited in the river, though largely in four impoundment areas.

The site, called the Allied Paper Inc./Portage Creek/Kalamazoo River Superfund Site, was added to the Superfund list in 1990. It spans 80 miles of the Kalamazoo River from Morrow Dam to Lake Michigan. It includes old paper mill properties, downstream riverbanks and floodplains and a small portion of Portage Creek, a Kalamazoo River tributary that runs through Kalamazoo.

The EPA split the site into six areas. The EPA and Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy have cleaned three of the six operable units. Since 1990, the agencies have removed almost 470,000 cubic yards of contaminated material, cleaned and restored 12 miles of the Kalamazoo River and capped 82 acres of contaminated material.

The EPA is collecting comments on the proposed de-listing. Comments can be emailed to cibulskis.karen@epa.gov or submitted online.

ckthompson@detroitnews.com