So far, residents say they’re not sold on the Environmental Protection Agency’s planfor the Allied Paper Landfill. Last night, the EPA held the first of two round table discussions on the proposal.
The agency wants to consolidate the contaminated material into a 40-foot hill, leaving the rest of the land for development. Alex Lindbergh lives near the site in Kalamazoo’s Edison neighborhood. She says she’s not sure that the extra space would be safe for residents.
“Being in this community and just seeing how many struggles everybody has already, the last thing that these kids need to worry about is getting sick or being unsafe in a local park,” she says.
Latisha Marritte lives near the Allied site. She says she will need to come to more of these discussions before she feels comfortable with the plan.
“I have grandkids and I want my grandkids to be safe. I don’t want them to come up with something they can’t get rid of or something that’s not curable or whatever. But I just need to come to more so I can get more feedback and more data on it,” she says.
The next round table will be Thursday, October 22nd at 6 p.m. at the Hispanic American Council in the St. Joseph Parish gymnasium.
