April 7, 2008

 Department of Environmental Quality Director Steven E. Chester announced today that a settlement has been reached that secures the reimbursement of $4.1 million in cleanup costs incurred by the state of Michigan in association with the Allied Paper Inc./Portage Creek/ Kalamazoo River Superfund Site. The site, which consists of several former paper mill properties and five associated waste disposal areas, has been contaminated by historical releases of polychlorinated biphenyl compounds (PCBs) and impacts approximately 80 miles of the Kalamazoo River, and three miles of Portage Creek from its confluence with the Kalamazoo River.

Under the settlement, Georgia-Pacific LLC and Millennium Holdings, LLC, will reimburse the $4.1 million in past state-incurred costs, covering a period from May 1991 through approximately mid-July 2007 during which the state spent these funds to conduct response activities to address the PCB releases at the site. Such activities included long-term water quality monitoring, sampling and analysis of river sediments and fish tissue, and oversight of Georgia-Pacific and Millennium Holding's actions.

"Recovery of the state's cleanup costs is just one way we can assure that responsible parties, and not the public, bear the cost of cleaning up their contamination," said Director Chester. "This $4.1 million in recovered costs can now be put to good use cleaning up other sites of contamination."

Ongoing response activities at the site are being conducted by the liable parties under the lead authority of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, with the support of DEQ. Additional information on cleanup activities at the site can be found on the DEQ's web page http://www.michigan.gov/deq/0,1607,7-135-3311_4109_4217-84646--,00.html.

Editor's note: DEQ news releases are available on the department's Internet home page at www.michigan.gov/deq.

"Protecting Michigan's Environment, Ensuring Michigan's Future"

Revised April 7, 2006 by Pat Watson