GM To Pay $28 Million To Restore Saginaw River, Bay Area

General Motors Corp., Detroit, has agreed to spend more than $28 million to restore and protect the Saginaw River and Bay area of Michigan. The payment is the result of a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice and the Interior Department U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The Saginaw River and Bay are contaminated by PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) and related compounds the federal government alleges have been released from General Motors facilities since the early 1970s, as well as by contaminants released from wastewater treatment plants in Bay City and Saginaw. The settlement, which came last week, resolves lawsuits filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan against General Motors and the cities of Bay City and Saginaw on behalf of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the State of Michigan, and the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe. In addition to providing for river and bay cleanup, the settlement provides for acquisition, restoration, and protection of more than 1,600 acres of habitat.