 |
||
|
We are a proud member of the Au Sable River Watershed Restoration Committee (ARWRC). Visit them at www.ausablerestoration.org
|
The plan here is to dispose of a Cement kiln dust (CKD) from the Penn Dixie cement plant near Petoskey (now Bay Harbor Resort). Runoff from the CKD formed a poisonous leachate that kill fish and harmed swimmers in nearby Little Traverse Bay. The CKD is going to be injected deep into the ground near the headwaters of the Jordan, Manistee and Thunder Bay rivers. Read more about it Friends of the Jordan River Watershed.pdf Here's some of what we've got: Alba Injection Well Put on Hold Judge blocks well-drilling plan Injection well opponents file lawsuit
BY SHERI MCWHIRTER November 01, 2008 12:00 am BELLAIRE -- Opponents of a proposed deep-injection disposal well in Antrim County's Star Township filed suit to halt the project. Star Township, Antrim County, Friends of the Jordan River and several mineral rights owners filed suit in Antrim County Circuit Court against Beeland Group, a subsidiary of CMS Energy, the company that proposed the well as part of its pollution cleanup effort in Emmet County's Bay Harbor community. The plaintiffs allege the leachate from the cleanup of water contaminated by toxic underground kiln dust near Little Traverse Bay will, or is likely to, pollute the Jordan River watershed and destroy mineral reserves near the injection site in Alba, among other concerns. "We have exhausted the administrative appeals process," said John Richter, FOJR president. "We've always thought the appeals process was not going to be in our favor. A court of law would be a more even playing field." Well foes spent recent months fighting the project through administrative appeals with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. They were denied at every turn. The suit contends underground rock formations may not be suitable to hold the leachate; the movement of water from one watershed to another violates long-standing state practices; the well would destroy oil, gas and mineral deposits and contaminate groundwater and surface water if the leachate escapes. The suit also invokes the Great Lakes Compact, contending removal of water from the Traverse Bay watershed violates the prohibition of diversion of water from the Great Lakes. The plaintiffs are represented by Gaylord attorney Susan Hlywa Topp and Charles Koop, Antrim County prosecutor. CMS area manager Tim Petrosky said the company would review and respond to the lawsuit and finalize their legal representation shortly. "This action is not unexpected, as the plaintiffs have had two appeals to the approved permit denied and have indicated they intended to file suit. The EPA and MDEQ spent over a year exhaustively reviewing the permit and concluded that the well would be safe and would not harm the environment," Petrosky said. The suit asks for a preliminary and permanent injunction against well construction and operation, as well as full costs and attorney fees to be paid by the company. No judge is assigned to the case yet and no hearing dates are scheduled, court officials said. Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc. Friends Of Clam Lake Take Position on Well
From:
Friends of Clam Lake The Board of Directors and the membership of Friends of Clam Lake approved a "Statement of Position" (copy attached) opposing the Alba/Star Township deep injection well. As noted in the Statement there is no guarantee that such an approach is fail safe. In fact, one estimate suggests a one-in-ten potential for failure. A failure will damage the underground waters of Antrim County and could cause problems throughout northwest Michigan. The Bay Harbor Resort development has suffered from the beginning by taking the "cost effective" (cheapest) approach. Instead of removing the existing kiln dust from the site, developers covered the dust over and even used it in shaping the project contours. Cost effective: yes. Meeting then existing state standards: yes. Ignoring known problems: absolutely and unfortunately yes. Almost 20 years ago the Petoskey News Review published information about water quality problems based on samples taken from the shoreline in front of the cement complex that is now Bay Harbor Resort. The samples showed the presence of heavy metals, most notably arsenic in concentrations arousing concern (see Edward E Timm, PhD, P.E.). When water samples taken from water adjacent to a site loaded with kiln dust disclose serious problems, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to suggest the source of the problem. Common sense says look to the kiln dust. Unfortunately, developers, local politicians and even the public were so enamored of profit, increased tax base and an attractive development that common sense was ignored. Now, they want to shift the burden for the mess they created in EmmetCounty to AntrimCounty. Well, in the words of Lee Corso, "Not so fast, my friend". There are alternatives and regardless of "cost effectiveness", they should be followed instead of the potentially disastrous Alba injection well. One is to put a protective cover over areas of the golf course that contain kiln dust. Such a cover would eliminate surface water leaching into the dust. This is, most likely, a major source of the leachate that must currently be treated. Another is to expand/improve the existing treatment facilities in EmmetCounty. This is already under consideration by CMS but their approach does not go far enough. They propose to treat the leachate to achieve a level of 30 parts per trillion of mercury. The currently acceptable level for discharge into Little Traverse Bay is 1.3 parts per trillion. That is the standard that CMS should meet. From the beginning, CMS and their development partners have focused on doing things based on that cost effective standard. That is what has led to the current mess. It is now time to put cost effectiveness aside and do what needs to be done. Anything less is not acceptable. ------------------------------------------------------ STATEMENT of POSITION Alba Injection Well Friends of Clam Lake In western EmmetCounty, south of Harbor Springs, Bay Harbor Resort was developed on a site that had previously contained a cement plant. During development, kiln dust remaining on the site from operation of the plant was buried and is now leaching into area waters. CMS, one of the principal developers and the firm responsible for clean-up of the site, is collecting the leachate containing kiln dust and trucking it to Grand Traverse County's septage treatment plant and a commercial disposal well in Montmorency County. They have now proposed to truck the waste to a deep injection well in northern Antrim County in Alba. The Board of Directors of Friends of Clam Lake has reviewed information available concerning the proposal to clean-up the site. Based on that review, we find the following: - There is no guarantee that the solution injected into a deep well will not contaminate the surrounding waters. In fact, one estimate has suggested a one-in-ten chance. If that should happen it would be a disaster for northern Antrim County and could, over time, spread to contaminate waters throughout the Jordan River watershed, all of Antrim County and Lake Michigan. - Over a twenty year period, based on the proposed level of trucking the solution, less than one percent of the dust will have been removed. - Currently proposed alternatives to the injection well need to be fully explored before any further action. For the long term, all responsible companies must work with federal, state and local agencies to expedite the building/upgrading of a septage treatment plant in EmmetCounty to deal with this issue at the source. Based on the above points, the Friends of Clam Lake, Inc. organization is absolutely opposed to the use of deep well injection as the solution to clean-up of the Bay Harbor Resort problem. Teesdale's Letter Dear Editor, The United States Environmental Protection Agency recently released several years worth of documents pertaining to the leachate clean up project in Bay Harbor. In them there was one item that I found very alarming. At one point CMS Corporation claimed that one of the seeps had slowed, and at certain times of the year was now intermittent. That is to say, at some times of the year there was no leachate flowing into Lake Michigan. The EPA's response was that the real reason the seep was intermittent was because the Petoskey water wells were drawing so much water during certain times of the year that it reversed the flow of leachate so it was traveling back toward the wells and not into Lake Michigan. In other words the slow down in the leachate was not due to any of the efforts put forth by CMS. This article had nothing to do with the safety of the wells. But if the water wells can draw so much that they can reverse the flow of leachate back toward them then how can anyone guarantee the leachate is not getting sucked into the drinking water? And how can anyone guarantee it could never happen? The people of Petoskey should demand that their drinking water be tested for safety. It should be tested at the well heads and during peak months as apposed to February when demand is at its lowest. The safety of the people of Petoskey should be far more important than the interests of CMS Corporation. John Teesdale For More on Bay Harbor Click Here Learn More About Deepwell Injection Here: |
|
|
Home Issues News Calendar Fishing Report Clean Update Git Er Dun Page
Send correspondence to |
||
