Contacts
Dr. Lisa Williams,
517-351-8324
State and
federal agencies, acting as trustees for the natural resources of the Kalamazoo
River, will be available Tuesday, July 19, 2005, to discuss the Stage 1 Natural
Resource Damage Assessment Reports for the Allied Paper Inc./Portage Creek/Kalamazoo
River Superfund Site. The public availability session will take place from
7 pm to 9 pm at the Comfort Inn, 622 Allegan Street (M-89), Plainwell, Michigan.
Trustees for
the Kalamazoo River currently include the Michigan Departments of Environmental
Quality (MDEQ) and Natural Resources (MDNR), the Michigan Attorney General,
the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS),
and the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA). MDNR only recently became a trustee and therefore
did not participate in the development of the Stage 1 reports. Members of
the public will have an opportunity to talk about the reports with trustee
representatives from MDEQ, USFWS, MDNR and NOAA.
The reports,
released in March 2005, estimate the extent of injury and damage to fish,
wildlife, and habitat from the release of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)
into the river, primarily from paper mills along the river. The contamination
occurred primarily during the mills’ process of de-inking carbonless
copy paper, which contained high concentrations of PCBs.
In the reports,
the trustees analyzed the extent of PCB releases into the Kalamazoo River
environment and the resulting injuries to natural resources. The reports
also estimate impacts on recreational fishing due to fish consumption advisories,
discuss possible additional damages, and provide a plan for evaluating possible
ways to restore the river’s natural resources.
The reports
are part of a Natural Resources Damage Assessment, or NRDA, that evaluates
the impacts on fish, wildlife, and other natural resources when contaminants
are released into the environment. The goal of the NRDA is to identify options
to restore injured resources and determine how much restoration is needed.
The reports
are available for viewing at the Allegan Public Library, Otsego District
Library, Saugatuck-Douglas Library, and the Waldo Library at Western Michigan
University and on the internet at http://www.fws.gov/midwest/kalamazooNRDA/.
Questions
regarding the meeting should be directed to Dr. Lisa Williams, USFWS, at
517-351-8324 or Judy Gapp, MDEQ, at 517-373-7402. Persons needing special
accommodations for effective participation in the meeting should contact
Dr. Williams by July 14, 2005.
The USFWS
is the principal federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and
enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing
benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 95-million-acre National
Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses 545 national wildlife refuges,
thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates
69 national fish hatcheries, 63 Fish and Wildlife Management offices and
81 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces federal wildlife
laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations,
restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife
habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation
efforts. It also oversees the Federal Assistance program, which distributes
hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment
to state fish and wildlife agencies.
-FWS-
|
