Gov. Whitmer Approves EPA Superfund Site For Ann Arbor’s Gelman Plume

by Kyle Davidson

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has sent a letter agreeing with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposal to add a contaminated groundwater plume in Ann Arbor to the Superfund National Priorities list, transferring the site to the EPA. The plume of suspected carcinogen 1,4 dioxane and has reached Ann Arbor’s drinking water supply in Barton Pond, according to city water quality reports records. The amount of 1-4 dioxane detected in Barton Pond has increased exponentially since 2009, again according to City water quality reports. Michigan’s

For over a decade, Ann Arbor Mayor Chris Taylor has worked behind the scenes to block gubernatorial cooperation with the EPA for the clean-up of the 1,4 dioxane Gelman Plume. When Republican Rick Snyder was in office, Taylor successfully lobbied Snyder not to send a letter agreeing with an EPA proposal to add Ann Arbor to the Superfund National Priorities list. In 2016, Taylor and Council members debated Superfund Site designation. Taylor, along with Ward 5 Council members Chip Smith (D) and Chuck Warpehoski (D), expressed concerns about how Superfund Site designation might adversely impact local property values.

Real estate agents who sell property in Ann Arbor do not include in sellers’ disclosures whether a home sits in the 1,4 dioxane Gelman Plume Prohibition Zone, or if a home for sale sits directly atop the miles wide plume.

The plume was discovered in 1985 and includes groundwater beneath more than three square miles of Ann Arbor and Scio Township. The contamination is caused by the discharge of industrial solvent 1,4 dioxane by Gelman Sciences Inc. during its manufacturing operations from the 1960s through the 1980s. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1,4 dioxane can harm the eyes, skin, lungs, liver and kidneys, and may also cause cancer 

In a Nov. 16 letter, Debra Shore, the regional administrator for EPA Region 5, asked the state to concur with its proposal to add the site to the Superfund list. In Whitmer’s letter of agreement, she noted the decision was supported by several local units of government and community groups, as well as U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Ann Arbor). 

Dingell has long advocated for the site to be added to the Superfund list. 

“Including the Gelman Plume on the National Priorities List is critical to help finally end this decades-long nightmare for the residents of Ann Arbor, Scio Township and the surrounding communities,” Dingell said in a statement. “I thank Governor Whitmer for her continued partnership and commitment to getting this site cleaned up.”

The site has been managed by the state since its discovery. Phil Roos, director of the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) said the agency has worked closely with the EPA to manage the site and will work to ensure its transition to Superfund status is “seamless and effective.”

“We welcome all available resources to address what is a very complex site of legacy contamination,” Roos said in a statement. “We’ve listened to the community and concur with their wishes to ask the EPA to make this a priority site. We’ll continue to work with the community and EPA to ensure residents are protected.”

According to a statement from EGLE, placing the site on the Superfund list will help bring additional monitoring and remediation resources to the site. 

“Placing the site on the [Superfund list] is the most viable alternative for addressing the issues with the source contamination remaining on‑site and the contaminated groundwater on and emanating from the site,” Whitmer said in her letter to the EPA.