State investigators said early this week that soil testing
in the Otsego area was continuing.
Next week, a new phase of sampling soil was expected to
begin along roads where byproducts had been spread for years as dust control
decades ago.
The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and
Energy (then the MDEQ) began soil tests in March, searching for contamination
leftover from the papermaking industry.
A written update to the community Saturday said, “The
project team has been working very hard to complete an evaluation of soils in
areas where waste materials from the former Menasha Paper Mill have been
historically applied or disposed.”
The agency hopes to uncover any PFAS and dioxins/furans in
the soil. PFAS is a set of chemicals that consists of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl
substances that are likely carcinogens. Dioxin is a highly toxic contaminant
that causes cancer, reproductive and developmental problems, damage to the
immune system, and interference with hormones.
The EGLE team collected more than 6,000 samples from area
farm fields where paper sludge was applied as a crop amendment and from several
private properties where sludge and fly ash were disposed.
“The last phase of
soil sampling, the collection of samples from roadside areas where Menasha’s
black liquor was historically used as a roadbinder, will occur beginning the
week of June 10,” it said.
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