Title
Resolution Supporting the Environmental Protection Agency's Active Involvement with the Gelman Site and Encouraging its Listing of the same as a "Superfund" Site
Memorandum
The City and its residents have worked for decades to require Gelman to delineate and clean up City ground water contaminated by 1,4-dioxane that originated at the Gelman Sciences Wagner Road facility, and to protect City ground water from further spreading of the Contamination. As part of that effort, the City sued Gelman in state and federal court more than 10 years ago, before agreeing to settle the lawsuit. Separately, the State has for decades litigated against, and otherwise regulated, Gelman to enforce State environmental laws that apply to the Contamination. Those parties have operated under various versions of a consent judgment over the years.
Following the State's recent tightening of its standards for dioxane groundwater pollution, the City, with others, intervened in the State's ongoing lawsuit against Gelman pending in Washtenaw County Trial Court. Since its intervention was allowed in 2017, the City has engaged in settlement negotiations over a potential new consent judgment. Those negotiations aside, however, the City is simply not satisfied with the progress of the delineation, containment and remediation of the contamination. The City believes that delineation, containment and remediation will be bolstered by EPA's active involvement and enforcement of the Superfund law at this site. At this time, the EPA has a single employee assigned to closely monitor this situation and work with the State. Unless the EPA's involvement moves beyond the preliminary assessment that it's completed, that employee may be reassigned.
Staff
Prepared by: Councilmember Griswold
Body
Whereas, The City and its residents have worked for decades to require Gelman to delineate, and clean up City ground water contaminated by 1,4-dioxane ("Dioxane") that originated at the Gelman Sciences ("G...
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