KALAMAZOO (WKZO-AM) — The EPA has put forth its plan to clean up the Allied Paper dump site and, while it may not make everyone happy, it’s the compromise both sides seem most-willing to accept.
The city had been insisting for years that the EPA take all the contaminated soil at the 80 acre site, load it into dump trucks and transport it to a toxic landfill in Wayne County, even though the $230 million cost was way out of their price range.
When it looked like the EPA was going to opt instead for just a cap and a security fence, the city proposed a compromise that will consolidate all the contaminants on part of the property, cap it and open the rest for redevelopment.
“I would have preferred for everything to be removed, we all would have preferred that, but it leaves us a better opportunity than just leaving it in place,” Mayor Bobby Hopewell said.
The EPA will open a 60-day comment period at the end of this month that will run through Dec. 1.
They plan community forums on Oct. 15 and 22. A formal public hearing on Nov. 19. A final decision will come early next year.
– John McNeill
