The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced it will conduct comprehensive reviews of cleanup work at eight National Priorities List Superfund sites across Michigan this year.
Each site will undergo a five-year review to ensure that ongoing or completed remediation efforts continue to protect public health and the environment. Upon completion, a report will be available online on each site's website.
"As required by the Superfund law, five-year reviews are a critical checkpoint to verify that completed cleanups are still doing their job—protecting people, drinking water, and ecosystems—and to course-correct if new data or site conditions warrant action. We will conduct these reviews transparently and share the results so residents can be assured that EPA is maintaining strong, science-based oversight," said EPA Region 5 Administrator Anne Vogel.
This year’s five-year reviews in Michigan include Electrovoice (Buchanan), Charlevoix Municipal Well (Charlevoix), Clare Water Supply (Clare), Auto Ion Chemicals, Inc. (Kalamazoo), Wash King Laundry (Pleasant Plains Township), J & L Landfill (Rochester Hills), G & H Landfill (Utica), and Lower Ecorse Creek Dump (Wyandotte). The EPA said that web links for each site provide detailed information on status, previous assessments, and cleanup activities.
Five-year reviews are generally required when hazardous substances remain on site above levels that permit unlimited use and unrestricted exposure. These reviews evaluate whether remedies remain protective of human health and the environment. The EPA retains responsibility for determining the protectiveness of these remedies.
The Superfund program was established by Congress in 1980 to investigate and clean up complex or abandoned hazardous waste sites nationwide. More information about the program is available according to the official roster page.
