Three Key Facts:
- Over two decades after PCB contamination was discovered in the Ten Mile Drain system in St. Clair Shores, the clean up is nearing completion.
- PCBs contaminated 57 residential properties and a commercial property along with the sewer system, which discharges into two residential canals leading Lake St. Clair, a popular lake for swimming, fishing, and other recreational activities.
- The cleanup is made possible by funding through the Biden-Harris infrastructure law which invests $3.5 billion in remediation efforts nationally and restores a chemical excise tax which will raise $14.5 over ten years.
The long-awaited cleanup of the Ten Mile Drain Superfund site in St. Clair Shores will soon be completed thanks to federal funding.
St. Clair Shores Mayor Kip Walby said, “The EPA has never left the site so I’m hopeful for a thorough cleanup of the properties. They’ve had continual testing and studies in progress for about 50 residential properties and two commercial sites for quite a while.”
The contamination of highly toxic polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) was discovered in 2001 during a proposed dredging project. PCBs are persistent, highly toxic chemicals known to cause cancer and damage reproductive, immune, neurologic and other systems. They were banned in the U.S. in 1979. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the PCBs were believed to have migrated from a commercial parking lot onto adjacent properties and through the Ten Mile Drain storm sewer system (TMD system), an area covering 258 acres.
The sewer system is approximately 15 feet below ground and discharges into two residential canals – the Lange and Revere Street canals – which connect to Lake St. Clair. About 125 households use the canals for boating access to the lake. People also use the canals for swimming and fishing. The EPA designated the site as one of its priority cleanup sites in 2010.
Since then, several rounds of remediation have taken place, including cleanup of 34 of 57 contaminated residential properties and the sewer system itself. In May 2023, the EPA announced that cleanup of the remaining 23 residential and one commercial properties would be completed in November 2024. This involves removing contaminated soil and replacing it with clean fill at a cost of approximately $7.8 million.
A separate cleanup of the TMD sewer system was announced in January. This involves excavating and removing six manhole vaults and a 2,110-foot segment of concrete pipe along with stone bedding and backfill materials to prevent further release of PCBs through the storm sewer system into the sediments in the canals and protect the cleanup workers from exposure. This phase will cost some $25 million. It is slated to begin by the end of summer 2026.
In 2023, the EPA held an informational session with city officials and residents to get feedback from them about the path forward. St. Clair Shores resident Tom Horrom said the EPA’s cleanup plan seems “almost overly cautious… [but] to learn the federal government was stepping in was huge for us.”
These cleanups are made possible through the Biden-Harris infrastructure law which is investing $3.5 billion in environmental remediation at NPL sites. Debra Shore, administrator of EPA Region 5, which encompasses Michigan, said, “This is the biggest investment in cleaning up Superfund sites that we’ve seen in a very, very long time.”
The infrastructure law also reintroduced an excise tax on chemicals to help pay for cleanups across the country, which EPA’s Shore said is “a tremendous shot in the arm for the folks who have been doing all the good work over the years.” The tax was in place until 1995 but was not renewed by Congress. Now that it has been reinstated, it is expected to raise about $14.5 billion over ten years to continue funding the program.
