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Generally clear. Low 66F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph..
Generally clear. Low 66F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph.
OSCODA — Mark Henry, who serves as the co-chair of the Wurtsmith Restoration Advisory Board (RAB) and retired from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ), presented to the Oscoda Township Board of Trustees for approximately 50 minutes at their regular Aug. 22 meeting.
Henry’s presentation focused on the relationship between the contamination currently entering the wastewater treatment system, the contamination of the infiltration beds used by the wastewater treatment plant and the increase in the wastewater treatment as a result of the extension of the sewer project along US-23 in AuSable Township.
The trustees had a heated debate at the end of their Aug. 8 meeting about whether or not to have Henry present to them. The decision to put Henry on the agenda was a split decision with four trustees voting for it and three against.
After a lengthy debate, Trustee Tim Cummings made a motion to have the presentation put on the Aug. 22 agenda, he received support from Trustee Steve Wusterbarth.
Cummings asked for 10 minutes on the agenda for the presentation. Trustee Jeremy Spencer asked if Cummings was asking the trustees to take any action. Cummings clarified that he wanted the presentation at the beginning of the meeting, prior to the action items.
Township Clerk Josh Sutton asked if Henry’s presentation had been made to EGLE (Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy). Trustee Bill Palmer reported that it had.
“Were there any actions to us from that?” asked Sutton. Palmer responded no.
“He’s trying to get information to this board regarding the discharge of PFAS into Clark’s Marsh,” Cummings responded.
“We have an operator F&V (Fleis and Vandenbrink) that we have hired to take care of our wastewater treatment facility and we have a permitting agency, EGLE, that is run by the state of Michigan. I guess I am unsure why we are going outside of those resources to seek input when those two agencies haven’t indicated that there is an issue,” Township Supervisor Ann Richards stated.
“Because our operator is not involved in the RAB meetings,” responded Wusterbarth.
“I’ve had interactions with him and you know my feelings on it,” Sutton responded.
“I’m not understanding why we are going around?” Richards added.
“The water treatment was given to us that makes it our liability. Do you want to be ahead of the issue or do you want to be behind it? Is it going to come to us as a violation?” Cummings asked.
“Is this something that Tammy would be working on?’ asked Richards, referring to Superintendent Tammy Kline.
“So, you’re not interested in being educated?” Cummings responded.
“I feel like we are going around Tammy,” McGuire responded.
Palmer said that the issue didn’t have anything to do with permitting, that it had to do with the sediment at the lagoon and the saturation of the filtration beds with PFOS.
“He has an immense amount of information,” Palmer commented.
“What is the goal of presenting it to us?” Richards asked Cummings.
“None of us are experts at this. He has nothing to back him up besides his opinion,” Richards responded.
“That man is doing a lot for this township,” Wusterbarth responded.
“I don’t think anyone is looking out for our best interest, to be frank and honest. We have not hired anybody to represent us on this topic. Our attorney is not reviewing a contract from anyone,” Cummings commented.
“I guess my question is, does our attorney feel that we need to be doing that?” McGuire asked.
“The potential liability that we have,” Wusterbarth commented.
“Again, that would be for Tammy to look into,” McGuire responded.
Ultimately, Cummings, Wusterbarth, Palmer and Spencer all supported the motion. Richards, McGuire and Sutton all voted against.
At the beginning of his presentation at the Aug. 22 meeting Henry said he was been affiliated with Wurtsmith Air Force Base for the past 29 years. He said he has been trying to get the Air Force to “do the right thing” and described the Air Force as “a little recalcitrant.”
The focus of Henry’s presentation was on the environmental impact of the 400,000 gallons of waste water that he said is currently processed by the township’s lagoon. Specifically, he addressed the impact on Clark’s Marsh, the AuSable River and ultimately Lake Huron. Henry said the amount of waste water to be processed would increase to 500,000 gallons per day with the expansion of the sewer project along US-23 providing sewer service to additional AuSable Township property owners.
As previously reported, according to Dave Richmond, with ROWE Professional Services, the Oscoda Township lagoon is currently processing 350,000 gallons per day and has a capacity of 650,000 gallons.
According to Henry, Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF) that contains 30% PFOS (Perfluorooctane Sulfonate) contamination by volume, was used by the Air Force to put out fires during training exercises on the former base. The AFFF ran under ground and infiltrated the groundwater. Henry reported that all of the AFF during the 1980s was plumbed directly into the wastewater treatment plant.
During his presentation Henry showed PFOS Heatmaps that indicated the areas of contamination. The maps showed areas where the water flows into streamlets and then flows into the AuSable River. The acceptable levels of PFOS are 12 parts per trillion. Henry pointed out areas on his map where contamination levels far exceeded the acceptable level.
Henry described ongoing contamination into the upper pond at Clark’s Marsh, which he said was from seepage from the fire training area. He described the current contamination level as “significant” and said it would be “a while before they actually stop that.”
After the introduction to the topic, Henry said the focus of his presentation was the wastewater treatment plant. Henry noted that the township used the same infiltration beds that the Air Force used, when it took over the wastewater treatment plant. The monitoring wells measured from 900 parts per trillion to 4,800 parts per trillion. The Oscoda wastewater is discharging at 80 parts per trillion.
Henry noted that for every gallon of water that goes into the filtration beds, a gallon or more is discharged. Henry stated that every gallon that goes into the AuSable River has on average 2,500 parts per trillion of PFOS.
“This has been going on for 20-25 years, the more PFOS mass is being pushed out of the marsh and into the river and is impacting the wildlife,” Henry stated. He added that he thought the 80 parts per trillion could be dealt with pretty easily.
Henry reported that he has brought up this presentation to the State of Michigan, U.S. Air Force and to the U.S. Forest Service.
“And everybody gets it,” Henry said.
“The problem is you have to have an infiltration bed that kind of has to work for the system to work,” Henry added.
Henry suggested that the current infiltration beds should be relocated to property owned by the forest service.
However, the ongoing sources of contamination would need to be resolved prior to any move.
Henry said the Forest Service said they would work with the township and the Air Force to relocate the beds to the forest service land. If the beds were moved to an area free of contamination then only water would be going into the AuSable River..
“I’m not happy with the Air Force’s responses. They really don’t care about the township. They are not going to do anything in our best interest. The board needs to push them for the township. Until they are pushed into a corner, they won’t do anything,” argued Wusterbarth.
Henry said that the township might be liable because it has been adding the 80 parts per trillion into the wastewater treatment system.
“The Air Force talks about liability. If the township was not putting 500,000 gallons per day into the system, the amount of PFOS going into the river would dramatically drop,” Henry added.
Wusterbarth asked how the township could be tied into this through CERCLA (Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act). Henry responded that the Air Force could bring the township in as a liable party. The township would be a di minimus contribution, however, in the CERCLA process that is allowed.
Palmer asked about excavating the contaminated soil in Clark’s Marsh.
“Do you think that’s a possibility?” Palmer asked.
Henry said that they could dig down 18 feet as they had done in the fire training site but the groundwater is only 7-8 feet below ground. It would be possible to dewater the area, however, Henry said the depth that would need to be dug was not included in the work plan.
Palmer also asked about relocating the infiltration beds. He noted, that the township is under a mandate from the state to locate the source of the current contamination.
“Yes, would be the short answer. In my opinion, the state would probably not allow you to discharge through new infiltration beds an 80 part PFOS,” Henry responded.
Henry added that technology could be used to reduce the 80 parts per trillion to below 12 parts per trillion pretty easily and without huge expense. He suggested using a powderized version of GAC, powdered activated carbon, which he said could absorb the PFAS. He referred to it as a stop gap measure that would require a $1,000 worth of powder activated carbon per week.
Sutton asked if EGLE had any response to Henry’s presentation. Henry said they did not.
Sutton said now that all of the parties were aware they would need to come together to address this issue.
Henry reported that NOW (Need Our Water), presented to the Air Force interim remedial action plans that included dealing with the wastewater effluent into Clark’s Marsh.
Sutton asked about who was collecting data. Henry responded that the state had collected its own data, the Air Force initially relied on that data, but now it appeared that they were duplicating data collection. According to Henry, the state’s samples were collected 3-4 and 6 years ago.
Spencer asked if it is possible that PFOS is coming back through the system.
“I don’t think so. The wastewater system, is kind of a sealed system. There may be some leakage out of that system. Picking up groundwater from the base is a remote possibility. Maybe in AuSable where the water table is very shallow, where the pipes are underwater. ” Henry responded.
Spencer asked about the current contamination coming from AuSable Township. As previously reported, through ongoing sampling, F&V has identified that there are current sources of PFAS contamination in AuSable Township.
Henry speculated that the continued contamination was attributable to the foam used to put out a “huge chemical fire” that took place in the mid 1970s at Rowe Industries in AuSable Township.
According to Henry, at that time the township and the Air Force had a reciprocal aid agreement to put out fires. He reported that Sunrise Disposal built on the site later and also had a fire.
“They did what they had to do to put out the fire,” Henry said. He added that he had tried to get information from the fire department but that as a private citizen he does not have any authority to ask for records.
Spencer also asked about liability but pointed out that the fire, put out by the Air Force, could be the cause of the current ongoing contamination.
Cummings thanked Henry for the presentation and asked about the conversation with the Air Force about moving the infiltration beds. Cummings asked if the Air Force would take on any of the expense for moving the beds.
Henry responded that it would be in the Air Force’s financial best interest because they would not have to deal with the township’s 500,000 gallons per day of wastewater to treat with their pump and treat system.
Henry said that there are 4,000 products that contain PFAS, many of which are consumer products. He mentioned specifically all of the waterproofing products that include Scotch Guard. However, there is a molecule that is unique to the military contamination. Henry said he would like to do some fingerprint analysis to see if the molecule is in the current contamination. PFAS does not occur naturally.
Wusterbarth asked why the Clean Water Act does not come into play. According to Henry, currently there are no federal guidelines for PFAS. Henry responded that the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) recently decreased their guidelines for PFAS because no amount is good for people or the environment. He expects the EPA to release criteria within the next month. Once criteria are established by the EPA, Henry said it would be a “game changer”.
McGuire asked about the parts per trillion for other neighboring waste water treatment plants. Henry said he did not know.
During a follow-up interview, Richards said that she found Henry’s presentation “very informative”, although she had voted against it at the Aug. 8 meeting.
“Because we have a permit with the State of Michigan and a contracted operator who manages our system, I didn’t think a presentation to us made much sense,” Richards said when asked why she had voted against the presentation.
“The presentation should be made to the State of Michigan, the regulatory agency, they are the experts,” Richards added.
“Saying the Air Force has done nothing is not true,” Richards said. She mentioned the GAC plants that had been built and the water main work that is continuing to be completed.
GAC (granular activated carbon) is a filter media used to remove poly-and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and nutrients from the water. As previously reported, the first GAC plant came only in August 2018. The GAC facility filters out the PFOS and PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid).
“I think it is important to work in a respectful manner,” Richards concluded.
McGuire said she voted against the presentation because she felt that board members were going around the chain of command and not listening to what the township superintendent was saying. She noted that the board of trustees had recently held a meeting where an agenda item was the chain of command.
“All committees are supposed to flow through the chain of command. Tammy did not feel it was a necessary presentation,” McGuire said.
McGuire agreed with Richards and said that the Air Force had “done so much.”
McGuire also agreed with opinions expressed by other board members that the township should not be paying for any of the remediation work.
Wusterbarth’s wife Cathy is the co-founder and leader of NOW, a local advocacy group, and Oscoda Citizens for Clean Water.
During the first public comment, which took place after Henry’s presentation, Cathy Wusterbarth noted that PFOS is in the environment and we use it every day in everything from fast food wrappers to the clothes we wear.
“We are all guilty of putting it into the wastewater treatment plants,” Cathy said, but noted that it was at a much lesser level than “what the Air Force left us.”
She referred to what the Air Force did to the community as “environmental injustice”.
“We should have been warned, we should have been told not to use that,” Cathy added, referring to the wastewater treatment plant.
“We are the victims in this. We need to remember that we were preyed on. You have the information, now go forward with it,” she told trustees.
Cathy reported that the foam on Cedar Lake contains 7,200 parts per trillion (600 times the acceptable level) and 220,000 parts per trillion (18,333 times the acceptable level) in the foam on Van Etten Lake.
Cathy reported that AuSable residents were eliminated from the Environmental Exposure Assessment that will involve collecting urine and blood samples from local residents to test for contamination. Three hundred people are being asked to participate and will receive the results of their tests. Cathy encouraged local residents to get tested so that they could determine their exposure level. Given that AuSable sites were identified as currently being contaminated, Cathy said that she will push for AuSable residents to be included in the assessment.
Two Oscoda Township trustees, Cummings and Sutton, serve on the RAB. Part one, of a two part series about the Aug. 17 RAB meeting, was included in the Aug. 24 Oscoda Press. The second article can be found in this issue.
The board took the following actions at the meeting:
During board comment Richard asked again for a report from EIC Director Todd Dickerson regarding the three public meetings that took place at Warrior Pavilion during the summer of 2021 where future plans for Furtaw Field were discussed. Residents have been asking for the same information for the past year.
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The Iosco County News-Herald and Oscoda Press' Autumn Guide 2022
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