This week, it was announced that the Ann Arbor 1,4 dioxane pollution has officially been added to the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Superfund National Priorities list. The pollution that originated with Gelman Sciences is now eligible for federal intervention and cleanup.
https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-adds-gelman-sciences-inc-ann-arbor-michigan-superfund-national-priorities-list
The City issued a press release about the news, expressing gratitude to U.S. Representative Debbie Dingell for her advocacy in bringing federal help to Ann Arbor.
https://www.a2gov.org/news/posts/epa-designates-gelman-plume-as-superfund-site/
Mayor Christopher Taylor is quoted:
“Ann Arbor has been fighting successfully for decades to protect our drinking water. I’m grateful now to have the federal government engaged and on our side and working with us to keep our water safe for generations to come.”
The path to this result was indeed long – for years, Mayor Taylor opposed federal intervention and cleanup, leading colleagues who tried to obstruct it as recently as December 2020.
In 2016, the Michigan Daily reported on township advocacy for federal intervention and quoted Mayor Taylor:
“If a portion of Ann Arbor is declared a superfund site, one expects that will reduce property values, even though the toxicity is of no immediate concerns to the immediately proximate residents.”
Instead, Taylor supported a plan for cleanup oversight at the state level, to be litigated in court. According to the Daily, Council allies at the time, Chip Smith and Graydon Krapohl “echoed” Taylor’s position.
https://www.michigandaily.com/news/ann-arbor-township-considers-federal-intervention-groundwater-contamination/
The solution favored by Mayor Taylor ultimately cost the City and other local municipalities over a million dollars in legal expenses. Taylor’s law firm, Hooper Hathaway, represented Scio Township in litigation against Gelman. In December 2019, Mlive reported that Scio Township had spent almost $400,000 on that litigation.
https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/2019/12/gelman-plume-legal-case-costs-add-up-to-more-than-1m.html
From 2018-2020, a majority of City Council – one not allied with Mayor Taylor – tried multiple times to approve a resolution requesting federal EPA intervention and cleanup of the Gelman plume. In October 2020, Mayor Taylor was one of only four Council Members who supported a settlement with the polluter and ongoing litigation. At the same meeting, he threatened to veto a resolution directing a request for federal intervention.
https://a2council.com/ann-arbor-city-council-october-19-2020/
On November 5, 2020 – at the final meeting of a majority not allied with Mayor Taylor – City Council finally approved a resolution requesting federal EPA cleanup of the Gelman pollution. Mayor Taylor and four other Council Members voted against it. Taylor explained:
“you know, the likelihood of the EPA taking this as a Superfund site and the likelihood of them taking swift and decisive action is exceedingly small. In my view, this is, well, in my view, this is an unwise path.”
Weeks later, a new Council was seated and Mayor Taylor regained control of a majority. At their second meeting, new members Erica Briggs and Lisa Disch brought a resolution attempting to delay the City’s request for federal cleanup of the Gelman pollution. That resolution was withdrawn in response to public outcry.
https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/2020/12/debate-flares-over-proposal-to-delay-seeking-superfund-cleanup-of-gelman-plume.html
The last minute effort to undo and derail efforts toward federal cleanup was shocking at the time and I wrote about it:
https://a2elnel.com/post/additional-thoughts-dec-5-2020-request-for-epa-intervention-in-gelman-plume-cleanup/
This week was the result of persistent advocacy against obstruction. It is a victory for local activists in the Coalition for Action on Remediation of Dioxane (CARD) who, for many years, have been raising awareness about this pollution and pressuring elected leaders to act. A debt of gratitude is owed to US Representative Debbie Dingell for her leadership on this issue. As the community celebrates the significant milestone toward cleanup of this pollution, it’s worth remembering the history of how it happened and the fact that it almost didn’t happen. The Gelman plume pollution is now eligible for federal cleanup because for a brief period of two years, Mayor Taylor did not control a majority of Council that shared his concern about “property values.”