Friday, March 18, 2005
JEREMIAH STETTLER THE SAGINAW NEWS
They got permission to build it. Now they have permission to fill it.
The state Department of Environmental Quality issued a water discharge permit to Saginaw County this week for dumping dredging spoils along the Saginaw River.
The permit comes less than a month after the state granted permission to build on 281 acres straddling the Zilwaukee/Frankenlust township line -- a move that now faces a legal challenge by a residents' coalition known as Citizens Against Toxic Substances.
This week's permit clears a major administrative hurdle for siting and ultimately constructing a facility that could hold up to 3.1 million cubic yards of sludge siphoned off the Saginaw River bottom by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The federal agency plans to dredge the navigation channel of the upper Saginaw River -- a $5.5 million project aimed at keeping the silt-clogged waterway open to shipping.
"This is outrageous," said Terry Miller, spokesman for the environmental watchdog group Lone Tree Council, which has opposed the dump site as ill-equipped for containing contaminants such as dioxin.
Gerald Saalfeld, environment manager for the DEQ Water Bureau, doesn't think so. He called the permit a "state of the art" document in terms of protecting the river and surrounding properties from pollution.
"This is probably one of the most pollution-preventing documents this agency has ever written," he said.
He said the permit prohibits site managers from discharging water that is any more polluted than the river it was taken from. It also requires the county to submit a management plan detailing how officials will protect residents and wildlife from chemicals carried onto the site with the river muck.
Outside the water quality permit, Saalfeld said the state is calling for a hydrogeologic study to ensure that the property can keep pollutants from seeping off-site. If needed, Saginaw County may have to seek a groundwater permit, he said.
"There needs to be a lot more review," said DEQ spokesman Robert McCann. "We will not move forward unless the ground and surface waters are protected."
Miller called it a "cart before the horse" scenario, in which regulators are giving approval before they have confirmed that the site poses no threat to the environment or human health.
"How do you get certification before you do the studies?" he asked. "They are giving out permits like it is Permits R Us."
Miller said Citizens Against Toxic Substances likely will mount a legal challenge.
The group filed a petition with the DEQ Office of Administrative Hearings this week to have an earlier permit, which authorized the construction of a 281-acre dump site in Zilwaukee and Frankenlust townships, thrown out.
Miller predicts a similar action. v
Jeremiah Stettler is a staff writer at the Saginaw News. You may reach him at 776-9685.
© 2005 Saginaw News
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