Superfund Designation For Ann Arbor's Gelman Sciences Site A Win For Public Health, Local Drinking Water

Organizations applaud Rep. Debbie Dingell, EGLE for securing EPA designation

The Michigan League of Conservation Voters and Huron River Watershed Council today applauded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) decision to add the Gelman Science site in Ann Arbor to the federal Superfund National Priorities List, a critical step toward finally addressing the decades-long spread of toxic 1,4-dioxane contamination threatening the region’s groundwater and the Huron River.

The organizations praised the leadership of Rep. Debbie Dingell and the efforts of the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE), whose advocacy and coordination with federal partners helped secure the designation.

“For decades, the toxic 1,4-dioxane plume left behind by Gelman Sciences has threatened the Huron River watershed and the drinking water relied on by families across the Ann Arbor region,” said Lisa Wozniak, CEO & president of the Michigan League of Conservation Voters. “Adding this site to the Superfund list is a major victory for public health and the environment, and Congresswoman Dingell and EGLE Director Phil Roos deserve tremendous credit for pushing this effort forward and making sure the federal government stepped up to address this contamination.”

"The Superfund listing is a victory – a critical step,” said Daniel Brown, climate resilience strategist for the Huron River Watershed Council. “But the plume is a constant reminder of exactly why we need to reinstitute strong polluter pay laws so that other Michigan communities won’t suffer similar contamination."

Created by industrial discharge from Gelman Sciences between the 1960s and 1980s, the plume of contamination has spread through groundwater beneath Ann Arbor and nearby communities and continues to migrate toward the Huron River, the primary source of drinking water for the city. By designating the plume as a Superfund site, the EPA unlocks additional federal resources, funding, and stronger enforcement authority to address the contamination and prevent further damage or impacts to drinking water and public health.