The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed next plan for PCB cleanup of the Kalamazoo River calls for removing the Otsego City Dam.
The proposed plan announced Friday, June 30, is the federal agency’s preferred cleanup alternative for the area of the river between the former Plainwell Dam near 12th Street in Otsego Township and the Otsego City Dam.
Otsego city manager Thad Beard said the discussions had been ongoing for a long time.
“It’s good to see it in writing,” Beard said. “That’s very encouraging.”
The EPA will take public comments on the plan from July 1 to Aug. 30 and has set a public meeting for Tuesday, July 25, at the Otsego District Library, 401 Dix St. in Otsego, at 6 p.m..
The EPA will then decide whether or not to adopt or modify the plan.
In addition to the dam removal, the proposed plan also lays out how PCBs along with dioxins and furans would be cleaned up, realignment of the river’s channel, excavation of soil along the bands and in the main river along with the Gun River and the flood plain. The EPA would also clean up hot spots in the river branches which would be cut off from the channel by the realignment.
The agency estimates the preferred alternative would cost between $45.6 and $46.4 million.
Contact Dan Pepper at dpepper@allegannews.com or at (269) 673-5534 or (269) 685-9571.
.