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In the center of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan is Gratiot County, the home of the watershed for the Pine River, which includes two current National Priority List (NPL) Superfund sites: the Velsicol Chemical Site and the Gratiot County Landfill. The region also includes our former NPL site, which has been cleaned by moving its contaminants to the Velsicol Chemical site. Currently, the Velsicol site is one of the EPA's megasites, with cleanup costs estimated to exceed $50 million. Superfund: Federal government program to clean up the nations uncontrolled hazardous waste site. Geographical site: Gratiot County Michigan - Alma, St. Louis, and Breckenridge. In 1935 the Michigan Chemical Company, later to be called Velsicol Chemical, was opened in St. Louis. Brine extraction from the mineral springs in the surrounding area promoted the growth of the chemical industry. Independently of Velsicol, many small oil refineries grew in Alma and St. Louis to process cruce oil from deposits under mid-Michigan. The last of these was operated by Total Petroleum, the large French refiner. Total and its predecessor refineries dumped tons of petroleum and related wases into the watershed, complicating cleanups at the downriver Velsicol site. The environmental problems of the region, which brought brief periods of prosperity followed by long term economic decline and negative stigmas to the region, have left the community and the watershed with a sense of political powerlessness inappropiate in a democracy. Decisions have been made too often by company officials, political leaders, and other experts with little regard for the welfare to the communities in the middle of the state. When the U.S. EPA reopened the settlement of the 1980's with Velsicol and then followed up on complaints against Total with law suits for environmental violations, the community reasserted its right to participate in decision making. In 1998, the Pine River Superfund Task Force was established as an officially recognized community advisory group (CAG) for U.S. EPA. The Task Force has had the support of Alma College in establishing this website and otherwise mobilizing public participation in the policy process. As the remediation of the Velsicol site resumed in 1998, the Task Force shifted its focus to the wider issues of environmental sustainability in the region. The College and the Task Force are committed to systematically addressing the environmental policies that are needed to assure the protection of the watershed for the good of future generations. As has been emphasized by our native-American predecessors, we may be responsible not for short-run economic exploitation, as marked the decisions of Velsicol and Total, but the survival of our resources for the use of seven generations. The Task Force and the College are determined to use their resources to bring about the regions transformation from symbol of environmental abuse to one of good envirnmental stewardship. The College and Task Force ure all citizens of the region, especially younger members of the communities to use this website to become informed about the environmental problems and possibilities of our waershed. We then hope that all people in the region, especially our children, will then move to assert our hopes and assume our responsibilities for preserving and enhancing our natural heritage. We especially hope all our citizens will use information to begin to renew the democratic participation in policy making that has made America great. We are not to be a society governed by the privileged or the expert but by all citizens. All have a responsibility for the institutions and resources we have inherited and must pass-on to our dscendants. |
 
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