Work in Area 1

The supplemental investigations in Area 1, which began in September 2007, are complete. The project team is currently reviewing the additional data and developing a plan for moving forward in this portion of the Site.

Safety Message

If you see field crews working on or along the Kalamazoo River, for your safety and the safety of our field crews, please remain a safe distance away.

For More Information

Questions? Contact us:
Kalamazoo.Questions@
arcadis-us.com

Call USEPA: 1.800.621.8431

Under the terms of an agreement with the USEPA reached in February 2007, Georgia-Pacific LLC and Millennium Holdings, LLC began a new series of investigations of the Kalamazoo River’s fish, sediment, floodplain soils, and surface water, as well as groundwater in certain areas. The information collected during these investigations will be used to enhance the extensive database developed over the past 14 years of work at the Kalamazoo River Superfund Site. Since the bankruptcy of Millennium Holdings in January 2009, Georgia-Pacific has continued the investigation work in collaboration with USEPA and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment (MDNRE).

USEPA divided the Kalamazoo Site into seven distinct areas (see map below), and current plans call for the investigation work to proceed sequentially from the most upstream (Area 1) to the most downstream (Area 7).

USEPA described the primary goals of the supplemental investigations in the Statement of Work that accompanied the February 2007 agreement. The new work is to add to existing information on:

• the nature and extent of PCBs in sediment, soils, fish, and surface water at the Site
• any current or potential threats to public health, welfare, or the environment posed by releases or threatened releases of PCBs from the Site
• the understanding of each Area necessary to develop and evaluate potentially effective cleanup options

To achieve these goals, the new work in each of the seven Areas will include site reconnaissance (evaluation surveys, mapping, field assessments of conditions, etc.) and investigations of soil, sediment, air, groundwater, surface water, and ecological conditions.

Ultimately, the goal of this new phase of work at the Site is to assemble enough data to develop and evaluate a range of cleanup options for each Area of the Site that would be protective of both human health and the environment.

Field work in Area 1 started in September 2007. This effort included multiple phases of investigation, with subsequent phases building on earlier results/information. The Area 1 work is focused on:

• documenting current PCB levels in sediment in the river and Portage Creek
• investigating and characterizing specific areas of interest (areas around dams and developed reaches)
• assessing the impact of the cleanup work in the former Plainwell Impoundment

Ultimately the information gathered will be used to develop an approach for addressing PCBs in Area 1. The Area 1 field work, which was designed to generate supplemental information on PCB concentrations in specific soil and sediment sampling locations, is complete. Georgia-Pacific is now in the process of developing a report of the results, and updating human health and ecological risk assessments for Area 1 (see the map below).

USEPA approved a series of start dates for the supplemental remedial activities in Areas 2 through 7 in early September 2008. These start dates mark the beginning of the planning process, and Georgia-Pacific will submit an Area-specific work plan to USEPA within 90 days of each date listed below.

The Area-specific work plans will include detailed schedules for sampling and investigation activities that will be implemented subject to USEPA approval. While it is likely that some work will occur simultaneously in multiple Areas, the supplemental efforts will generally proceed from upstream to downstream.