Federal officials held a meeting on July 27 to share their clean-up plan for the former Velsicol Plant in St. Louis, Michigan.
The former Velsicol Chemical Company plant is the site of a 1973 mix-up that resulted in the chemical PBB getting into the food supply. Today, the grounds and nearby Pine River are still contaminated with PBB and DDT.
Tom Alcoma is the EPA’s remedial project manager for the site. He said the latest plan to clean up the river involves excavating and replacing the river banks.
“If you have concerns regarding the technology or that alternative - and you submit comments that make sense - we could basically reopen the feasibility study and do a new proposed plan,” he said.
If approved, the project would cost $6.6 million dollars.
Alcoma said he hopes river restoration will be completed by 2024, but more remediation still needs to happen before the whole site is cleaned up.
“We have the plant site to deal with and a fourth operable unit down stream," he said. "We still have more work and monitoring to do, so we’re still years off from taking this off the National Priority’s List. ”
The plan is now open for public comments through August 13 on the EPA's superfund page.
