Scio Residents for Safe Water

Pall/Gelman, Inc. Fined 4 Million by the State

In February, the Michigan State Attorney General filed a motion for the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) in an Ann Arbor circuit court to assess Pall-Gelman Sciences Inc. (P/GSI) over $4 million in fines for permit violations and failure to satisfy the Consent Judgement governing the cleanup of ground water polluted with 1/4 dioxane in Scio Township.

This pollution of 1,4 dioxane is spreading to the northwest, across Jackson Road and I-94, to an area with hundreds of Scio Township homes that rely on clean well wate. You cannot see, smell or taste 1,4 dioxane but it is a known carcinogen. For years Pall-Gelman and Gelman Sciences Inc. have sought to avoid any active cleanup of the "western plume" (the area to the west of P/GSI property) of 1,4-dioxane that is continuing to spread into the northwest area of Scio Township. Due to the efforts of the SRSW, attorneys and local government officials, P/GSI has been fined for failure to treat the polluted groundwater and for failure to contain the pollution.

In addition to the fines, the State is requiring Pall-Gelman to increase it's capacity to treat the polluted water and control the spread of any further pollution, and is asking for an improved plan to clean up the western plume and contain this area of dioxane-polluted ground water. The fines have been imposed with the hope of getting P/GSI moving toward a competent, comprehensive, and community-acceptable cleanup. However, public presence and support at the hearing, to be scheduled in May, may be critical to a positive outcome.

Scio Residents for Safe Water (SRSW) and local government officials have urged DEQ regulators to take a tougher stance to compel an effective and protective cleanup. Just before the January hearing on part of the clean-up plan, an Ann Arbor News editorial also pressed for assessment of penalties for non-compliance. Citizens repeated the same demand during the hearing, and sent letters to the DEQ, the Governor's office and the State Attorney General's office. In addition, the Scio Township Board, the Ann Arbor City Council, many County Comissioners, and many State Representatives and Senators support better clean up efforts and lower discharge limits for 1,4-dioxane dumped to the Honey Creek tributary than P/GSI has proposed.

Citizen support has made a difference! Write to Director Harding to support the assessment of fines and urge him to support the lower discharge limits. Contribute to the SRSW legal fund to allow attorneys and citizens to continue pressuring P/GSI to clean up the pollution.