Officials to Meet with Residents About PCBs

Residents will have an opportunity Wednesday to speak with local, state and federal representatives regarding the ongoing PCB investigation, and contamination of bottom-feeding fish, in the Lange-Revere Canal.

Members of the Michigan Department of Community Health and the Environmental Protection Agency will hold informal discussions with residents in . At 7 p.m., the representatives will have a formal presentation about the fish contamination issue and the investigation into the source of the PCBs. 

State officials recommended anglers in early June avoid eating catfish and carp from Lake St. Clair after highly elevated levels of PCBs were found in fish samples from the Lange-Revere canals.

The concentrations of PCBs in carp caught in the canal were 88 parts per million, when in other parts of the lake concentrations were 0.7 parts per million. In largemouth bass caught in the same area, there were levels of 3.9 parts per million in canal fish and .04 parts per million of PCB in the rest of the lake.

The chemicals were first discovered in 2001 in the Lange and Revere canals prior to a dredging project. The EPA worked with the city, county and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality to determine the contamination came from the 10 Mile storm sewer.

The EPA removed sediment from the storm drains and canals, removed PCB-contaminated soil and lined the storm sewer drain to prevent future seepage of the chemicals into the drain.

The drain was named a Superfund National Priorities Site in 2010.