Archived News Release: September 14, 2020 - On Aug. 31, 2020, the Washtenaw County Circuit Court partially lifted the confidentiality restriction against disclosure of the negotiations between Gelman Sciences, the State of Michigan and the Intervenors (City of Ann Arbor, Scio Township, Washtenaw County and its Health Department, and the Huron River Watershed Council). The proposed settlement documents that resulted from these negotiations, along with certain explanatory documents and videos, were made public via a document repository webpage. The proposed Fourth Amendment to the 1992 Consent Judgment, a Dismissal Order, and Settlement Agreements still need to be voted on the local governmental Intervenors.
Public Hearing Dates
Zoom meeting details will be posted to the
city’s Gelman 1,4-Dioxane Litigation webpage when available.
- Prior to voting on the Fourth Amended and Restated Consent Judgment for the Gelman Sciences site in Ann Arbor and Scio Township, a virtual public Q&A with Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners, Ann Arbor City Council, Congresswoman Dingell and Intervenors' expert Dr. Lawrence Lemke will be held via Zoom on Thursday, Sept. 24, 2020 at 6:30 p.m. This joint public session will be an opportunity for elected officials to hear public input and for the people to get answers to questions regarding the Gelman Dioxane Plume Proposed Fourth Amended and Restated Consent Judgment. Scio township trustees, Ann Arbor township and Huron River Watershed Council leadership have been invited to participate.
- EGLE will conduct a separate virtual public comment session related to the proposed amendments to the consent judgment on September 14 from 6-8 p.m. and also will accept written public comments until September 21.
How to Submit Questions to the City for the Sept. 24 Q&A
Questions must be submitted to the city via email at [email protected] by Sept. 18 at 5 p.m. Due to the complex nature of the proposed consent judgement, the local governmental Intervenors need questions in advance so that meaningful answers can be provided at the Sept. 24 Q & A session, including a video display of relevant documentation that would not be easy to pull up at a moment's notice. Written comments are welcome at any time as are oral comments during the Sept. 24 session. The Intervenors may respond to questions or comments on the final documents showing proposed amendments to the consent judgment. However, questions about the negotiations, such as what was discussed, what was considered, and what the various parties' positions were, cannot and will not be answered.
Next Steps
When EGLE, all three local governments and the Huron River Watershed Council have made their decisions, the parties will notify the court whether they and Gelman have approved or agreed to all these documents. The date for the vote by the Ann Arbor City Council will be posted on the city's website once identified. If dates for the votes by the County Board of Commissioner or Scio Township Board of Trustees become known to the city, they also will be posted on the city's website.
The court will consider public comments before it decides whether to approve and enter the Fourth Amended and Restated Consent Judgment, Order of Dismissal, and Settlement Agreements. The parties have a court date on October 22, 2020, to report on the Intervenor votes, so the local government Intervenors expect to vote before then.
Information Resources
The city's Gelman 1,4-Dioxane Litigation webpage, includes answers to frequently asked questions, explains the context of the latest negotiated settlement, illustrates the timeline of activities over the life of both the litigation and cleanup, and includes information for community members to find more information or provide input into upcoming decisions that will be made by elected officials of the intervening parties in the litigation.
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