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Eagle Creek pulling sediment from Kalamazoo River, but state regulators say it's not enough

Kalamazoo River by ruifo is licensed with CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/

Eagle Creek Renewable Energy says it’s getting ready to pull some sediment out of the Kalamazoo River. But it may not be enough for state regulators.

The sediment came from Morrow Lake near Comstock. It poured into the river after the company lowered the reservoir. The state says the silt could harm fish and other wildlife when spring arrives. Kyle Alexander is with the department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy. He says the company knows where the sediment is and needs to do more than study it.

There’s a fine line between kind of getting all your ducks in a row and having enough information, and just not making any progress.

Eagle Creek says it’s almost ready to dredge about five percent of the silt in the hardest-hit stretch. But it says organizing the rest of the cleanup will take time.