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Feb. 25 public meeting to discuss St. Marys River cleanup

Release Date: 02/23/2010
Contact Information: Phillippa Cannon, (312) 353-6218 [email protected]

For Immediate Release
No. 10-OPA017

Chicago (Feb. 23, 2010) --The Binational Public Advisory Council for the St. Marys River will hold a public information meeting about the Great Lakes Legacy Act cleanup of the river near MCM Marine. The meeting will be held Thursday, Feb. 25, 2010, at 7 p.m. at Lake Superior State University, Cisler Center, Ontario Room, Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. The Great Lakes Legacy Act is a federal program targeted at cleaning up contaminated sediment around the U.S. shores of the Great Lakes.

On Feb. 1, 2010, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Consumers Energy Co. signed a project agreement to begin the cleanup of a section of the river. With $2.4 million provided by the Legacy Act and $1.6 million from Consumers Energy, EPA and the utility will remove approximately 26,000 cubic yards of sediment contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, from the river adjacent to the property currently operated by MCM Marine. The site was formerly a manufactured gas plant. The project will be undertaken in two stages with dredging in the inner boat slip area scheduled to begin this spring and cleanup in the adjacent river area to be completed either this fall or spring 2011.

The goal of the $4 million project is to reduce impacts to human health and the environment and improve water quality in the St. Marys River.

More information is available at: https://www.epa.gov/glla/glla_projects.html