EPA and DOJ announce $245M agreement for cleanup of Kalamazoo River Superfund site

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); U.S. Department of Justice; the Kalamazoo River Natural Resource Trustee Council; and Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) announced a proposed consent decree Dec. 11 that would require Atlanta-based NCR Corp. to clean up and fund future response actions at a significant portion of the Allied Paper Inc./Portage Creek/Kalamazoo River Superfund site. The consent decree also includes payments related to natural resource damages and past cleanup efforts at the site. The consent decree is subject to a 30-day public comment period.

“This is a terrific settlement,” EPA Assistant Administrator for Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Susan Bodine says. “It not only ensures that responsible parties will continue to clean up contamination at the Kalamazoo River Superfund site, but also ensures that both past and future costs incurred by the EPA and the state will be recovered.”

“Today’s agreement is a big step towards cleaning up the Kalamazoo River,” EPA Regional Administrator Cathy Stepp says. “This administration is committed to cleaning up and restoring contaminated sites so they can be put back to productive use in the community.”

“This agreement marks a milestone in efforts to clean up Superfund sites in the Great Lakes region, and especially to address the legacy of paper mill-generated PCB contamination in the Kalamazoo River watershed,” Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Bossert Clark of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division says. “Under this settlement, cleanup and restoration efforts will be accelerated, and that’s really good news for communities in the region and the environment.”

This Superfund site has been listed on the EPA Administrator’s Emphasis List of Superfund sites targeted for immediate, intense action. Each site on the list has a short-term milestone to provide the basis for tracking the site’s progress.

The Allied Paper Inc./Portage Creek/Kalamazoo River Superfund site is in the Allegan and Kalamazoo counties of Michigan and is divided into six segments, or operable units (OUs), that require cleanup. According to the settlement terms, NCR Corporation has agreed to spend approximately $135.7 million cleaning up three areas of OU 5. OU 5 includes 80 miles of the Kalamazoo River and three miles of Portage Creek. In addition, NCR will pay:

• $76.5 million to EPA for past and future costs in support of river cleanup activities;
• $27 million to natural resource trustees of the Kalamazoo River Natural Resource Trustee Council for Natural Resources Damage Assessment and claims; and
• $6 million to state of Michigan for past and future costs.

Historically, the Kalamazoo River was used as a power source for paper mills that were built along the river and as a disposal site for the paper mills and the communities adjacent to the river. NCR arranged for disposal of carbonless copy paper contaminated with chemicals called polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) at the site. In the early 1970s, PCBs were identified as a problem in the Kalamazoo River. In 1990, in response to the nature and extent of PCB contamination, the site was added to the National Priorities List, which includes the nation’s most serious uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste releases. EPA, working along with EGLE, has cleaned up three of the six operable units, removed nearly 450,000 cubic yards of contaminated material from the site, cleaned up and restored seven miles of the Kalamazoo River and banks, and capped 82 acres worth of contaminated material.