ALGOMA TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) - Regulators are sharing information about a plume of toxic chemicals in western Michigan groundwater without holding public meetings, making announcements or allowing media coverage.
Algoma Township officials are using “neighborhood meetings” to disclose information about the investigation into toxic contamination at a former Wolverine World Wide tannery near Rockford, the Grand Rapids Press reported . No public record is kept because the meetings aren’t public, township officials said.
Attendees at a May 10 meeting said the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality alerted residents that Wolverine is expanding the sample area to test wells for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS.
The PFAS testing zone is expanding beyond the Rogue River, which was formerly the westernmost testing boundary in Algoma Township.
The state agency hasn’t publicly announced the move, but Wolverine contractors started to distribute bottled water in the area last week.
“There was a lot of information that should be out in the public at that meeting,” said Scott Harvey, who lives in the new testing area. Harvey was one of about 40 residents who attended the May 10 meeting, which he called “awfully secretive.”
But Township Supervisor Kevin Green said the community requested the meetings, which began about seven months ago.
Representatives from the state Department of Environmental Quality, the state Department of Health and Human Services, the Kent County Health Department and Wolverine consultants often answer residents’ questions during the meetings.
Green said the communication is no different than a phone call between state staff and residents.
Michigan began investigating last spring for PFAS near the former manufacturing site where Wolverine World Wide used chemicals to waterproof shoe leather. But the testing was kept quiet and residents less than half a mile away didn’t learn of the investigation until much later.
The Environmental Protection Agency announced new testing this month at the site. The federal agency is looking into contaminants other than PFAS found on the property, such as arsenic, chromium and lead.
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Information from: The Grand Rapids Press, http://www.mlive.com/grand-rapids
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