A status conference in Judge Shelton's chambers is scheduled for Monday afternoon, December 15, 2008. The DEQ and Pall Corp have been in closed-door discussions on how to address the rising levels of 1,4-dioxane contamination in the Evergreen area, its likely migration to the deeper E aquifer, cleanup problems Pall is having in both areas, and whether the Prohibition Zone should be expanded to reduce the cleanup required in the Evergreen Area.
One problem with expanding the Prohibition Zone there and allowing up to 2800 ppb of dioxane to escape is that some of the dioxane may be heading towards Barton Pond where Ann Arbor gets 80% of its water. If the dioxane may be heading there, then the cleanup standard will be 34 ppb... not 2800 ppb or even the current 85 ppb. (Remember that up to 1995, the groundwater cleanup standard for dioxane was 3 ppb ... before all cleanup standards were loosened by the Engler administration.)
A video presentation of this issue before the 12/4/2008 Ann Arbor Environmental Commission is available at
Ann Arbor Environmental Commission 12/4/2008 - Pall/Gelman Site Update