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Officials from the Department of Environmental Quality, the Environmental Protection Agency, Allegan County Health Department and Michigan Department of Health were at the town hall-style meeting to field questions and address the concerns of its residents.
“My goal is to get the community together to wave our red flag to the health department,” said Mary Zack, Founder of Justice for Otsego.
“Please help us, please come in, please look at what’s going on, and if you agree there is something going on, which we all know there is, help us find the source.” Citizens blamed the health problems multiple residents are experiencing on years of pollution by paper mills in the Kalamazoo River.
The mills dumped waste in the river, causing contamination from polychlorinated biphenyls, also known as PCBs, which the EPA says can have “harmful health effects.” The initiative started when Zack found an article about the Kalamazoo River pollution and started connecting dots on her own.
She found people had rare diseases, cancers and reproductive issues when she posted a survey on the Justice for Otsego Facebook page.
Last October, the EPA signed off on a five-year, $46 million plan to clean up the contamination caused by the old Allied Paper Mill.
Officials at the meeting said they will take input from the community, develop a plan to determine what is causing health problems for Otsego residents and determine exactly what is in the water supply.
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