Tale of two rivers: N.Y.’s Hudson River PCB dredging disposal shows differences in how Mich.’s Saginaw River project is being handled
By Eartha Jane Melzer 6/2/09 12:43 AM Michigan Messenger
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s dredging of PCBs from New York’s
Hudson River is being watched by Michigan environmental groups concerned with
dioxin in the Saginaw River watershed as an envied example of the federal
government taking action on a long-stalled case. A recent story in The New York
Times shows some important differences between how contaminants in the two
rivers are being handled.
The cleanup of the Hudson River, a declared Superfund site, will involve sending
2.5 million cubic yards of PCB-contaminated sediments to a plastic-lined
landfill near the town of Eunice, N.M. — which sits near the border with Texas —
where some locals are concerned the toxic sludge could contaminate the Ogallala
aquifer.
In Michigan, the EPA is still in the early stages of negotiating a plan for
environmental cleanup of the dioxin in the Saginaw Bay watershed. Instead of
environmental cleanup, the federal government, through the Army Corps of
Engineers, is treating the accumulated contaminated sediments as a navigational
issue. The Army Corps is in the process of removing 600,000 cubic yards of
sediments and disposing of them in an unlined pit in rural Frankenlust and
Zilwaukee townships.
Despite concerns that the disposal site is prone to flooding and that the dioxin
could harm neighbors and the adjacent wildlife preserve, a federal court here
ruled that the Army Corps did not need to prepare environmental impact statement
for the project.
Officials from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and EPA have
allowed the Army Corps’ dredging project to begin without sediment traps to
prevent downstream migration of contaminants in the river. The DEQ also
acquiesced to the Army Corps’ insistence that the landfill be constructed
without a plastic liner.
Michigan is also receiving toxic waste from Massachusetts — PCB-contaminated
sediments removed from New Bedford Harbor are being sent to a the Michigan
Disposal Waste Treatment Plant in Wayne County near Belleville.
Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this post misstated that the town of Eunice
was located in Texas. It is located in New Mexico, very near the Texas border.
For additional articles like this one, go to the Tittabawassee River Watch web site www.trwnews.net for complete coverage of the Tittabawassee River Dow Chemical dioxin contamination saga. . The Newspaper / Media page of our site contains an extensive archive of media articles dating back to January 2002. The source organization's web site link is listed to the right of the article, visit often for other news in our area. The Newspaper / Media page may be accessed by scrolling down to the bottom of the CONTENTS section and clicking on the Newspaper/Media link.