Research shows chemicals banned years and even decades ago are showing up in some Great Lakes shorebirds. Scientists found P-C-Bs used as a coolant in electrical transformers, fire retardants called P-B-D-Es and derivatives of the insecticide D-D-T in terns. The pollutants were at levels high enough to potentially harm the health of the birds.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Polychlorinated biphenyls are toxic chemicals that were widely used in industry until they were banned in the 1970s.
PCBs can build up in fish.
A new study finds that levels of PCBs are declining in the air in the Great Lakes region. Except for one kind. It’s called PCB-11 and its levels are holding steady.
Federal environmental regulators want to remove the Otsego City Dam in Allegan County in an effort to clean up toxic chemicals left behind by the paper mill industry.
The newly proposed plan released late last week also includes excavating some of the contaminated Kalamazoo River banks, and rerouting the river channel past the most contaminated areas.
U.S. EPA announced Friday it will consolidate and cap one-and-a-half-million cubic yards of old industrial waste in Kalamazoo. It’s been dubbed a compromise plan after residents and city leaders urged the EPA to choose a plan that would remove the waste entirely from the Allied Site.
“I’m reluctant to use terms like compromise because protectiveness is something the EPA can’t compromise on,” EPA Remedial Project Manager Michael Berkoff said.
The Allied Site once served as a dumping ground for the paper mill industry. There’s 1.5 million cubic yards of wood pulp laced with toxic chemicals at the site.
Many in Kalamazoo want the pile completely removed, but there’s not enough money. The paper company that caused the pollution went bankrupt.
People living near a Superfund site in Kalamazoo seem to like the compromise cleanup plan posed by the city. About a hundred people came to the first public meeting Thursday night to learn more about the plan and to provide feedback.
Kalamazoo residents will get a chance to weigh in on a compromise plan for an old landfill that’s full of toxic material. The Allied Site once served as a dumping ground for the paper mill industry.
There’s 1.5 million cubic yards of wood pulp and waste laced with toxic chemicals at the site. Kalamazoo officials want it gone. But that’s too expensive.
The city of Kalamazoo wants federal regulators to consider a new option for an old landfill that's full of toxic material. The Allied Site served as a dumping ground for the paper mill industry for decades. No mills have operated on the site since the early 1980s.
The Environmental Protection Agency hopes to select a cleanup plan by this summer for an old landfill site in Kalamazoo that's full of toxic material.
The Allied site served as a dumping ground for the paper mill industry for decades. There are 1.5 million cubic yards of material at the site laced with polychlorinated biphenyl, or PCBs. Some neighbors have dubbed it Mount PCB.
The Allied site is where a paper mill dumped waste for decades. The pile is laced with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). They can cause cancer and other health effects, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
For decades, paper mills dumped waste into the Kalamazoo River. Some of it had polychlorinated biphenyls; or PCBs. People can be exposed to PCBs by eating fish from the Kalamazoo River. PCBs can cause cancer, and other health problems.
Workers are wrapping up a project to remove toxic chemicals from Portage Creek near downtown Kalamazoo.
Chemicals called PCBs - or polychlorinated biphenyls - are toxic to people and wildlife. The Environmental Protection Agency says they can cause cancer and other adverse health effects on the immune, reproductive, nervous, and endocrine systems. PCBs were banned in the 1970s, but they’re still in the environment.
Researchers at Cornell University have previously found that PCBs can change the song centers in the brains of songbirds.
Now – a new study suggests that PCBs could be altering the songs some birds sing.
Now, the Environmental Protection Agency says it will release a feasibility study of the options for the pile by September. For a little perspective, this study was supposed to come out as far back as April 2011.
More than a hundred people, a dozen strollers and a few dogs lined up and marched about halfway around the Allied landfill site in Kalamazoo Wednesday night chanting – “What do we want? Cleanup! When do we want it? Now!”
It isn’t a typical landfill. It’s where a paper mill dumped decades-worth of waste that’s laced with cancer-causing chemicals.
Everyone here wants the pile gone. They don’t care if it’s the most expensive option and the company that owned the site went bankrupt.
You can listen to today's Environment Report above.
People in Kalamazoo are rallying to get rid of a major dump site that contains cancer causing waste.
Imagine decades’ worth of wood pulp and grey clay waste from the paper mill industry. There are 1.5 million cubic yards of it and it’s laced with polychlorinated biphenyls or PCBs.
Now, plop it in the middle of a neighborhood.
Sarah Hill lives a little more than a mile away from what neighbors have dubbed "Mount PCB."
High levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) have been uncovered during a cleanup in the River Raisin, reports Charles Slat of the Monroe News:
Readings upwards of 10,000 parts per billion — some of the highest levels initially found during a 2007 partial clean-up at the site — also have been found during the recent dredging.
State health and environmental officials are expanding the scope of their testing for PCB in fish in Lake St. Clair.
PCB is a toxic compound that was used in electrical and industrial equipment. The chemical was banned in the 70s for its toxicity.
Joe Bohr is with the Department for Environmental Quality. He says while the PCB found in the fish is 10 times what is considered safe, the amount of PCB in Michigan’s waters is decreasing.
