Georgia-Pacific agrees to $13M river cleanup

Kalamazoo, Mich. — Federal officials say Georgia-Pacific Corp. has agreed to perform a $13 million cleanup project at the Kalamazoo River Superfund site in Allegan and Kalamazoo counties.

The settlement was filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court and announced by the Justice Department and the Environmental Protection Agency.

They say Atlanta-based Georgia-Pacific will design and build a landfill cap at a portion of the polluted site. Altogether, the site consists of an 80-mile stretch of river, a three-mile creek segment, several closed paper mill properties and four landfills.

Georgia-Pacific will consolidate PCB-contaminated material, design and install a permanent landfill cap across 32 acres, design and install a groundwater monitoring system and build long-term erosion control measures.

It also will restore wetlands and shoreline habitat.