Post date: Sep 01, 2014 3:43:2 AM
October 5, 1999
The Contested Case Hearings...
When MDEQ issued the 1997 permit to Pall-Gelman to discharge partially treated purgewater at up to 10 ppb monthly average, 30 ppb daily maximum, to an intermittent tributary of Honey Creek, they provided a 6-month window for parties to file a contested case.
At the end of that period, Pall-Gelman chose to contest the permit levels, asking instead for 100 ppb monthly average and 100 ppb daily maximum. They did this despite having shown that they meet the permit levels of 10 and 30.
Scio Residents also contested the permit asking for lower limits of 3 ppb monthly average and 10 ppb daily maximum.
Later when the MDEQ allowed the discharge rate to be raised from 300 gal/min to 800 gal/min, the City of Ann Arbor and Washtenaw County took the opportunity to join the contested case to help protect area water supplies. (Scio Township was conspicuous by its absence.)
The 3-week-long hearings for the contested case before the MDEQ's Administrative Law Judge just wrapped up.
Much work remains and the judge won’t make his decision until sometime next year. In the meantime, Pall-Gelman has to adhere to the current permit levels of 10 and 30.
Plumes spreading beyond the capture zones of Pall-Gelman's purge wells...
As stated in previous news here, the plumes are spreading, and Pall-Gelman’s monitoring is not providing enough information to know where the plumes really are, where they are going, and how fast.
The contamination has already reached the new monitoring wells in Maple Estates down gradient of the Allison purge well that was supposed to capture the plume.
SRSW just passed on some new information to the MDEQ that confirms recent contamination south of the core at a depth 40-50 feet below any prior "hit" and far below any monitoring well in the area.