GLIN==> St. Marys River Cleanup in Sault Ste Marie Gets Under Way This Week

Release date: 05/04/2010
Contact Information: Phillippa Cannon, 312-353-6218,
cannon.phillippa at epa.gov

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
No. 10-OPA047

CHICAGO (May 4, 2010) — The Great Lakes Legacy Act cleanup of a section
of the St. Marys River near the MCM Marine facility is now under way. On
Feb. 1, 2010, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Consumers Energy
Co. signed a project agreement to begin the cleanup of a section of the
river. With $2.4 million provided by the Legacy Act and $1.6 million
from Consumers Energy, EPA and the utility will remove approximately
26,000 cubic yards of sediment contaminated with polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons, or PAHs, from the river adjacent to the property currently
operated by MCM Marine. The site was formerly a manufactured gas plant.

The project will be undertaken in two stages with dredging in the inner
boat slip now under way and cleanup in the adjacent river area to be
completed either this fall or spring 2011. The goal of the $4 million
project is to reduce impacts to human health and the environment and
improve water quality in the St. Marys River.

The Great Lakes Legacy Act (GLLA) is a federal program targeted at
cleaning up contaminated sediment around the U.S. shores of the Great
Lakes. The GLLA is now part of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, a
$475 million effort to begin restoring and protecting the Great Lakes.

More information is available at:
http://www.epa.gov/glla/stmarys/index.html,or contact: Ajit Vaidya, U.S.
EPA Region 5, 312-353-5713, vaidya.ajit at epa.gov.

http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/0/CC883C91CE6F6F5D852577190057401C