The Chamber

The Kalamazoo Regional Chamber of Commerce supports the decontamination of the former Allied Paper Mill site, a former PCB storage site.

PCBs have notable features, such as heat resistance, insulation, and chemical stability. These useful characteristics of PCBs are not found in other substances, and therefore PCBs were widely used in industrial applications. PCBs, however, have been found to have dangerous effects on humans and animals. They had been disposed of in many environmentally unfriendly ways, such as dumping them into lakes that are, quite often, very close to our drinking water.

In late 2006 to early 2007 a coalition of community organizations, municipalities, and citizen stakeholders voiced their opposition to an agreement between Millennium Holdings LLC, Georgia-Pacific Corporation, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency which called for dumping PCB laden soil once removed from the Kalamazoo River into the core city of Kalamazoo at the old Allied Paper Mill site (Bryant Mill Pond). Approximately 17,000 Kalamazoo Citizens reside within a one mile radius of this site,about 24 percent of the city's population.

Ultimately, the EPA and Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and the responsible parties rescinded that decision and instead transferred the polluted soil into certified toxic landfill sites in other parts of the state.

There has been no law enacted to stop companies from dumping PCB materials into this site. The problem is that there isn't anything stopping companies from doing something like this again. The Chamber would like to see two things done with this issue:

1)  Put a moratorium on importing any additional PCB materials into this already contaminated site.

2)  Resolve the property's current contamination issues so that it may be reutilized as a community asset.

If these steps are taken, Kalamazoo's water resources will remain safe.

EPA -- PCB Removal and Remediation in SW Michigan
We are seeking a final remediation of PCBs at the former Allied Paper Landfill. That site currently serves as a “staging” location pending a future Record of Decision by EPA as to the ultimate status of the property. We strongly oppose any attempts to import additional PCBs into this site and instead would like to bring this property into passive recreational use to help revitalize this densely populated urban neighborhood. 

LyondellBasell, parent company of Millennium Holdings LLC., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January 2009 and is one of the responsible parties (the other being Georgia Pacific) for PCB contamination at this site and the Kalamazoo River. It has reached an agreement in principle with the federal government to pay $250 million for cleanup of all its sites in the U.S.  Of that amount $206.2 million has been identified to be used toward local clean up efforts: -- $103 million toward future river cleanup; $49.5 million toward past cleanup bills; and $53.7 million at the Allied Paper Site. We are concerned there was insufficient prior notice to key public stakeholders regarding this negotiated settlement and that it was not aggressive enough in allocating financial responsibility for these decades-old contaminated sites.