2 Local Sites Listed Among Michigan's Worst Polluters

2 local sites listed among Michigan's worst polluters

By JEFF ALEXANDER and JANET COHEN
NEWS BUREAU, STAFF REPORTERS

LANSING — Two Washtenaw County pollution sites ranked among the top 30 in the state according to an annual taiiy released by the Department of Natural Resources Wednesday.

Gelman Sciences. Inc., a Scio Township manufacturer, was listed as the 21st priority for cleanup because of soil, surface and ground-water contamination by the solvent 1,4-dioxane. The controversial site at one time was ranked second in the state, and the DNR has filed suit against Gelman seeking a cleanup.

Gelman, meanwhile, has disputed the DNR’s scoring system. The company has filed its own suit against the agency, challenging the DNR’s methods for evaluating pollution sites in general and the Gelman’s site in particular. Gelman also is seeking a court order to remove the site from the annual list.

A trial in Gelman’s lawsuit against the state is scheduled for Aug. 21 before Washtenaw County Circuit Court Judge Patrick J. Conlin.

The Staebler Road area, also in Scio Township, ranked 26th. Groundwater in the vicinity of Staebler Road is polluted with dioxane from an as yet undetermined source, and the area is slated for further investigation with monies from the state’s environmental bond program.

The list includes an additional 63 sites in Washtenaw County where there is known or suspected pollution.

Statewide, the number of known pollution sites is expected to soar beyond 3,000 for the first time next year, as state officials crack down on gas station owners with leaking underground storage tanks.

There are 2,019 known pollution sites in the state, according to the fiscal 1989-90 list released Wednesday. The DNR will use that list to set priorities when it asks the Legislature to release cleanup funds, from special appropriations and from a $40 million cache set aside from the environmental bond voters approved last year.

The abandoned Story Chemical Co. plant in Muskegon County tops the DNR’s newest list, followed by polluted drinking water wells in Kent County’s Plainfield Township and a tannery pit that caught fire last summer in Sault Ste. Marie.

The list is expected to mushroom in November, when the DNR issues its preliminary list for fiscal 1990-91.

“Right now we’re looking at about 1,000 incidents that need to be reviewed for possible inclusion on this fall’s list,” said James Truchan, acting chief of the DNR’s environmental response division. “We’re discovering some major groundwater contamination problems.”

Though cleanups funded by polluting businesses are already under way at several hundred sites, Truchan said continued growth in the number of pollution sites erodes public confidence in the DNR’s ability to ensure a full cleanup.

“It’s hard to demonstrate to the public that we’re making progress,” Truchan said.

This year the DNR pulled four sites off its list after they were cleansed of pollutants. At the same time, however, another 257 sites were added.

“I expect to have more sites come off the list next year,” said Andrew Hogarth, Truchan’s assistant. “More sites are moving to final remedy; until now, we haven’t had the money for final remedy.”

The soaring number of pollution sites does not mean Michigan’s toxic waste problems are worsening, said Rick Jameson, assistant executive director of the Michigan United Conservation Clubs.

“The list isn’t growing because the problem is getting worse, it’s growing because we are more aware of the problems,” Jameson said.

“That list is going to get even bigger before the numbers start going down.”

A crackdown on gas station owners with leaking underground storage tanks will continue to turn up hundreds of new contamination sites, said Thomas K. Rohrer, administrator of the DNR’s leaking underground storage tank program.

“Because of our expanded program, it would not surprise me to have 400 to 500 new sites reported within in the next 12 months,” Rohrer said.

So far, the DNR has identified 65,000 underground fuel storage tanks and confirmed 866 chemical losses to the environment, Rohrer said.

Not all of those sites where gasoline has leaked into the soil or ground water will qualify for the DNR’s list of pollution sites. Only those that present an imminent health or environmental threat or are not being cleaned up will be added.