Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (MI-12) yesterday toured several environmental sites across the 12th Congressional District in Downriver and Ann Arbor with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 5 Administrator Debra Shore to highlight critical issues in the area and discuss concerns including contaminated water releases at BASF and other facilities, PFAS contamination, safe cleanup and restoration of former industrial sites, and carbon emissions. They also discussed several other urgent local issues including the Gelman Sciences’ plume, the recent Tribar Technologies chemical release, Flat Rock gasoline leak, and the diesel release this week in Trenton. Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) Director Liesl Clark also joined several of the stops.
The visits included tours of the Wyandotte water intake valve and filtration plant, Arkema site boundaries, McLouth Steel Superfund site, Ann Arbor Water Treatment Facility, and the National Vehicle and Fuel Emissions Laboratory.
“Every single day, I hear concerns from my constituents about clean water. Here in Michigan, we know far too well the importance of access to clean water – how many don’t have it, and how fiercely we must protect it. Clean water is a basic human right,” said Rep. Dingell. “Protecting our natural resources requires cooperation at all levels of government, which is why I am working closely with Administrator Shore, EGLE Director Clark, and our local authorities to address the Gelman plume, PFAS contamination in the Huron, the diesel leak in Trenton, and recovering former industrial sites like Arkema and McLouth. Water is our most precious natural resource and requires constant vigilance to keep it safe.”
“No one should have to worry about whether the water coming out of their tap is safe to drink, safe to bathe in, safe to cook with,” said EPA Region 5 Administrator Debra Shore. “No single agency will be able to solve these problems on its own. We recognize this and that is why we are here today. We sense the urgency, and we are working together to harness the resources available to us, so that we can do right by those being affected.”
“Michigan has a unique blessing and responsibility as stewards of a Great Lakes system that contains 20 percent of the world’s fresh surface water,” said Liesl Clark, EGLE director. “We take that stewardship role seriously, as do our local and federal partners working together to protect this resource today and for future generations. Spending the day with them reinforced our shared commitment.”
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