Tale of two rivers: N.Y.’s Hudson River PCB dredging disposal shows differences in how Mich.’s Saginaw River project is being handled

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s dredging of PCBs from New York’s Hudson River is being watched by Michigan environmental groups concerned with dioxin in the Saginaw River watershed as an envied example of the federal government taking action on a long-stalled case. A recent story in The New York Times shows some important differences between how contaminants in the two rivers are being handled.

The cleanup of the Hudson River, a declared Superfund site, will involve sending 2.5 million cubic yards of PCB-contaminated sediments to a plastic-lined landfill near the town of Eunice, N.M. — which sits near the border with Texas — where some locals are concerned the toxic sludge could contaminate the Ogallala aquifer.

In Michigan, the EPA is still in the early stages of negotiating a plan for environmental cleanup of the dioxin in the Saginaw Bay watershed. Instead of environmental cleanup, the federal government, through the Army Corps of Engineers, is treating the accumulated contaminated sediments as a navigational issue. The Army Corps is in the process of removing 600,000 cubic yards of sediments and disposing of them in an unlined pit in rural Frankenlust and Zilwaukee townships.

Despite concerns that the disposal site is prone to flooding and that the dioxin could harm neighbors and the adjacent wildlife preserve, a federal court here ruled that the Army Corps did not need to prepare environmental impact statement for the project.

Officials from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and EPA have allowed the Army Corps’ dredging project to begin without sediment traps to prevent downstream migration of contaminants in the river. The DEQ also acquiesced to the Army Corps’ insistence that the landfill be constructed without a plastic liner.

Michigan is also receiving toxic waste from Massachusetts — PCB-contaminated sediments removed from New Bedford Harbor are being sent to a the Michigan Disposal Waste Treatment Plant in Wayne County near Belleville.

Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this post misstated that the town of Eunice was located in Texas. It is located in New Mexico, very near the Texas border.