About 50 people and public
officials attended a virtual
public
hearing
with
the
Washtenaw County Board of
Commissioners, Ann Arbor
City Council, Scio Township
Board of Trustees and the
Huron Watershed Council
regarding the Gelman Plume
Litigation
Settlement
on
Thursday evening. U.S. Rep.
Debbie
Dingell,
D-Mich.,
moderated the hearing.
The
Gelman
Plume
is
the spread of the chemical
1,4-dioxane into soil and
groundwater in northwest
Ann
Arbor,
polluting
residents’
water
sources.
Gelman
Sciences
used
the
probable
carcinogen
1,4-dioxane to manufacture
microporous filters from 1966
to 1986 and did not dispose of
their waste water properly.
Unchecked use allowed the
contaminant to spread into a
large underground plume.
In August, city officials
proposed an agreement on a
potential plan to clean up the
Gelman Plume, which has
been met with criticism from
Ann Arbor residents.
Thursday’s
meeting
aimed to inform the
public
about
this
settlement agreement
and
address
pre-
submitted questions.
Attorney
Fred
Dindoffer
of
Ann
Arbor’s
legal
team
explained
that
most
of
the
new
amendments
fall
within a document
called
the
Consent
Judgement and the
stipulated
order.
Some
key
changes
and additions include
an expansion of the
prohibition
zone
for pollution, a new
exposure limit and
increased
pumping
and
treatment
of
polluted water.
Additionally,
the
new
proposed
agreement prohibits
all city governments from
requesting cleanup by the
Environmental
Protection
Agency, and states Gelman
Sciences is not liable for the
contamination.
“By
entering
into
this
Consent
Judgment,
Defendant does not admit
any of the allegations of the
Complaint, does not admit
any fault or liability under
any statutory or common
law, and does not waive any
rights, claims, or defenses
with respect to any person,”
the document reads.
Dindoffer clarified why the
Consent Judgment doesn’t
explicitly hold Gelman at
fault.
“This CJ doesn’t require
Gelman to admit that it’s
liable or at fault,” Dindoffer
said.
“That’s
a
standard
provision
that’s
put
into
virtually
every
consent
judgement
that
we
ever
would see, the purpose is
that if there’s ever a dispute
about the CJ in the future
and if there’s a breaking
down of relations, Gelman
can bring evidence in and
force an opponent to prove
that it’s actually at fault.”
Ann Arbor resident James
D’Amour who is a member
of the Coalition for Action
on Remediation of Dioxane
expressed his concern with
the inability to work with the
EPA if the Consent Judgment
is accepted.
“Hundreds of thousands of
dollars spent on legal fees and
it appears that the proposed
fourth
consent
judgement
does not bring us any closer to
cleaning up the plume, in fact
it gives Danaher the ability
to walk away from the mess,”
Demoore said. “If this is
accepted local governments
waive the right to petition
USEPA for complete cleanup,
so we have the prospects of
a larger exclusive zone with
possibly less cleanup than
before.”
Dr. Larry Lemke, who
said
he
has
researched
1,4-dioxane
for
over
20
years, gave a presentation on
the proposed contamination
clean up plan.
“We know that there are
multiple plumes, migrating
in
multiple
directions
at
multiple depths, so this is
truly a three dimensional
problem,” Lemke said. “The
proposed
fourth
amended
CJ includes a number of
additional monitoring wells
in key positions... Are these
wells going to completely
delineate dioxane to 7.2 parts
per billion everywhere? No,
it’s not even close. Are these
wells
placed
in
sensible
places however? Yes.”
The
proposed
Consent
Judgement will have Gelman
treat polluted groundwater
and
discharge
it
back
into First Sister Lake at
a rate of 200 gallons per
minute. When asked about
alternatives to this solution,
Lemke explained there will
always
be
many
options
available and none will be
perfect.
“Other potential solutions
might include a pipeline back
to the Gelman treatment
site,
they
might
include
reinjection of that water back
down into the aquifer after
its been treated, it might
be piping it to somewhere
else,
another
option
is
using the city’s sanctuary
sewer,” Lemke said. “Every
environmental solution has
a trade off, there is an upside
and a downside to every
single one of those.”
Ann
Arbor
resident
Alexander Weinstein, who
lives on Second Sister Lake
and whose well would be
directly affected by the new
settlement, urged the public
officials present to reject
the proposal because of the
pollution it would bring to
his home and community.
“The document gives the
polluter permission to dump
carcinogens
of
dioxane
and bromate directly into
the sister lake through the
Park Lake well as one of its
methods for disposing of the
cleanup,”
Weinstein
said.
“Most importantly there is a
viable alternative, a pipeline
could be run to the Gelman
treatment
site,
it
would
be a cost but a completely
reasonable one.”
Lemke
continued
to
explain
phytoremediation,
which is the practice of
removing 1,4-dioxane from
the
ground
using
trees
and is part of the amended
Consent
Judgement.
This
is
a
relatively
new
and
experimental
plan
and
Lemke clarified it should be
considered a trial.
“This
is
an
emerging
technology so we should
treat this as a pilot project
and learn from it,” Lemke
said. “The idea is that the
dioxane
moves
with
the
groundwater
to
the
tree
roots and there it’s either
transformed by bacteria in
the roots into something
that the tree can use, or
it enters as dioxane that’s
dissolved in the water, then
it flows through the tree’s
water transport system and
eventually gets transpired to
the atmosphere through the
leaves.”
Ann
Arbor
resident
Jacqueline
Courteau
explained
her
hesitancy
to support this particular
plan without more concrete
evidence.
“I’m
wondering
why
there are no performance
standards or metrics to assess
how the phytoremediation
is
performing,”
Courteau
said. “I work with trees. I
love trees, but I don’t think
that
just
planting
trees
and hoping they’ll work is
adequate.”
Lemke
answered
questions pre-submitted
by members of the public
about possible dioxane
contamination of Barton
Pond, Ann Arbor’s main
drinking water source.
“The
risk
of
1,4-dioxane moving up
there is small, but the
potential consequences
are large and we can’t
rule it out with complete
certainty,” Lemke said.
“If
dioxane
got
into
the
subsurface
north
of M-14, west of Wines
Elementary School, it
could have a potential
flow
path
down
to
Barton Pond.”
Members of the public
were able to address
the officials in an open
forum,
all
of
whom
unanimously expressed
their disapproval of the
proposed clean up plan
and urged them to not
accept it.
Ann
Arbor
and
Scio
Township
resident
Dan
Bicknell was very vocal in his
assurances that the proposed
cleanup
plan
would
do
nothing to stop the dioxane
pollution
and
strongly
encouraged a rejection of it.
“The
proposed
fourth
amendment
consent
judgement is a continuation
of the current CJ pollution
remedy which will not stop
the
dioxane
plume
from
expanding towards the Ann
Arbor Township wells, Scio
Township
wells,
Barton
Hill village wells or Barton
Pond,” Bicknell said. “The
shallow plume will continue
to travel through the city
unabated.”
Congresswoman
Dingell
ended
the
meeting
by
urging everybody involved
to
stay
transparent
and
communicate openly to clean
up the plume.
“I would urge those who
are participating that the
more information they can
make transparent the better
it is, because people who don’t
know what’s not being made
public don’t understand why
it’s not being made public
and it contributes to people’s
lack of confidence,” Dingell
said. “Dissent and pitting
people against each other is
what we’ve seen happen at a
national level for four years,
let’s not let it happen in
Washtenaw County, let’s get
this cleaned up.”
Daily
Staff
Reporter
Hannah
Mackay
can
be
reached at mackayh@umich.
edu.
The University of Michigan
added outside testing counts
to its COVID-19 dashboard on
Thursday, more than doubling
the total number of positive
cases at the University since the
start of the fall semester.
The total positive case count
since Aug. 30, the day before
the start of the school year, was
257 as of Thursday evening. On
Wednesday afternoon, before
the University started including
off-campus tests that weren’t
self-reported, the dashboard
reported 117 positive cases in
the same time period.
The University posted an
update on its Campus Blueprint
website to explain the new data.
“University
officials
have
seen a significant increase in
positive cases this week with
the majority of the increase the
result of students being tested
at off-campus facilities,” the
update reads. “U-M launched its
enhanced COVID-19 dashboard
today to reflect new datasets,
including outside testing from
the county. This additional data
caused a jump in cases.”
Most of these new cases are
from students living in off-
campus, congregate housing,
according to the update. In an
email to The Michigan Daily,
University spokeswoman Kim
Broekhuizen said “it’s up to the
county health department to
officially identify off-campus
clusters.”
The University’s dashboard
previously reported only outside
testing data that had been self-
reported to the University. The
University is now reporting
testing data connected to the
University that are performed
at off-campus testing sites,
provided by the Washtenaw
County Health Department.
Before Thursday’s update,
most of the positive cases
identified on the dashboard
were through University testing
channels, such as University
Health Service for students
and
Occupational
Health
Services for faculty and staff.
Now, positive cases identified
through outside testing make
up more than half of all positive
cases identified in the last two
weeks.
Susan
Ringler-Cerniglia,
communications
and
health
promotion
administrator
of
Washtenaw
County
Health
Department, told The Daily
the change in the dashboard
does not reflect a change in
the relationship between the
University and the WCHD. In
other words, all the cases now
reported on the dashboard,
while adding to the confirmed
number of University-specific
cases, were previously known
to both parties.
“Do
I
think
that
(the
dashboard
update)
changes
represent
cases
that
were
unknown to either the county
or the University? No, I don’t,”
Ringler-Cerniglia said. “Is it
better reflecting the scope of
cases that are connected to the
University? Yes, probably.”
According
to
Ringler-
Cerniglia,
the
Washtenaw
County Health Department is
made aware of all positive cases
in the county, whether they are
tested on campus or off campus.
After case investigation and
contact tracing, the department
has a legal agreement to report
to the University all cases that
are confirmed to be connected
to campus.
Ringler-Cerniglia also said
the health department helps
the University conduct its own
contact tracing.
“When the students were just
returning, the University didn’t
have enough contact tracers
and case investigators up and
hired and ready to go,” Ringler-
Cerniglia said. “So, we, as the
health department, took over
some of that initially, and then it
shifted back. Now it sounds like
there’s a little bit of an increase
of cases that we’re helping out
again.”
To determine if a positive
case is linked to the University,
the health department checks
to see if the case is linked to
an on-campus or near-campus
address.
Case
investigators
also flag tests conducted in the
county that are linked to an
out-of-state address, as Ringler-
Cerniglia said those are likely
students using their permanent
address instead of their campus
address.
Business freshman Nathan
Lewis said he turned to an off-
campus testing center to get a
rapid test after he was exposed
to the virus.
“(This urgent care) had a
rapid test and I wanted a rapid
test because I was exposed to
the virus last week,” Lewis
said. “I didn’t want to semi-
quarantine in my dorm and I
didn’t want to not know exactly
if I had it or not.”
Lewis
said
he
was
not
planning
on
reporting
his
negative result to the University.
“I’m not going to report my
result because, to be honest, I
don’t know where to report it,”
Lewis said.
Ringler-Cerniglia said the
health department is seeing an
increase in students going to
off-campus facilities for rapid
testing. Because these tests
are not to the same standard
as the regular PCR tests, the
health
department
reports
rapid testing positive results as
“probable cases.”
While a rapid positive test
result is trustworthy, Ringler-
Cerniglia said rapid tests have
higher rates of false negatives.
Though she understands that
students may find same-day
test results appealing, she’s
worried students may put too
much stock in a rapid negative
test result.
“What’s
happening
with
this influx of cases — lately, it
looks like there’s a number of
them that were tested using
rapid antigen testing at some
of the local urgent cares,”
Ringler-Cerniglia
said.
“...
Let’s say they’re using this to
justify going to a gathering. So
I go and get my rapid test, and
I go to a party. We’d be highly
concerned that that could be a
false negative.”
The
availability
of
rapid
testing for athletes is a major
reason the Big Ten decided to
reinstate the football season
this fall. Each school in the
league plans on testing players
every day starting on or before
Sept. 30.
Ringler-Cerniglia said the
county receives only the number
of positive cases, not the number
of tests that are completed in
total. So, the county does not
know what proportion of tests
being
conducted
are
rapid
result testing.
For
the
same
reason,
Broekhuizen
said
the
University’s
dashboard
only
reports
positivity
rates
for
on-campus testing, which last
week was at 1.3 percent.
“Since
only
positive
test
results are required to be
reported to the county/state, we
do not know the total number of
off-campus tests administered,”
Broekhuizen
said.
“Without
that number, we are not able to
calculate the positivity rate.”
Residence hall data was also
updated Thursday. As of Sept.
19, the dashboard reports 64
total cases discovered in the
residence halls, with 36 of
these cases discovered in the
preceding week. As of Friday
morning, 25 cases have been
confirmed in residence halls
since Sept. 19.
All
students
who
tested
positive and all known contacts
in residence halls have been
moved
to
quarantine
and
isolation, the update said.
Last week, the University
announced that 19 positive
cases were discovered in South
Quad, the first official cluster
of
COVID-19
in
University
residence halls. The University
tested 221 South Quad students
after discovering the cluster,
and all results came back
negative,
according
to
the
University.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
4 — Wednesday, September 30, 2020
Off-campus COVID-19
testing results included
on University dashboard
DOMINICK SOKOTOFF/Daily
U-M added COVID-19 tests administered outside of University Health Services to its total case number for the U.
CLAIRE HAO &
JOHN GRIEVE
Daily Nrws Editor &
Daily Staff Reporter
Total number of positive cases at U-M since the start
of the fall semester more than doubles following change
We know that
there are multiple
plumes, migrating
in multiple
directions at
multiple depths,
so this is truly a
three dimensional
problem.
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com
Local politicians hit with
backlash over proposed
Gelman Plume settlement
HANNAH MACKAY
Daily Staff Reporter
Deal to resolve longrunning controversy over pollution
in Ann Arbor’s groundwater draws criticism at forum