Over the past months Three Lakes Association has monitored plans by Consumers Energy to inject leachate derived from Bay Harbor cement kiln dust into rock formations beneath Alba in Antrim County. There has been criticism by many local groups and citizens that this is unfair and unwise.
The fairness issue can be summarized by the statement: "Why should the poor folks of Alba be exposed to toxic waste from rich folks in Bay Harbor?" The injection would be unwise if the leachate contaminated groundwater near Alba. In either case the plan appears to be flawed.
However, our discussion will concentrate on the issue of community health. This is not the least because the Bay Harbor community has already been affected significantly by leachate seepage into their own ground and lake water. This leachate has levels of lead, arsenic, mercury and other materials that are above the safety levels established by the Environmental Protection Agency and state Department of Environmental Quality for human health.
CMS has concentrated their remediation efforts on the Bay Harbor area and has installed pumping and treatment facilities there to minimize the immediate hazard. However, CMS wants to use deep-well injection near Alba to dispose of this leachate for the long term.
Recently, Antrim County has had a bad experience with a carcinogen, trichloroethylene, flowing into groundwater and contaminating residential wells as much as 15 miles away from its point of origin near Mancelona. CMS plans to inject leachate into deep rock formations, which they claim will not migrate into the groundwater or contaminate residential wells.
However, the shallowest rock layers beneath Alba are known to have cracks and fissures that allow the penetration of groundwater. Deeper layers, the ones into which CMS is planning to inject, have a reputation of having fewer cracks.
Cement leachate is dangerous both because it is caustic and because it contains toxic materials. However, the leachate contains only material from which it was originally made, Ellsworth shale. No one is alleging that it contains exotic, man-made carcinogens like TCE.
The main hazardous materials were not added by the cement company during manufacturing. They are present naturally in shale, but in leachate they can migrate from their point of origin. Only testing will determine if the leachate will stay where it is put and only monitoring will ensure that community wells remain safe.
Three Lakes Association recommends to the EPA and DEQ that before significant quantities of leachate are injected that testing be done to determine where materials go after injection and whether there are sufficient changes or dilutions taking place to keep hazards below safety limits for residential wells.
Furthermore, following the practice of testing the TCE plume near Mancelona, we recommend that sentinel wells be placed near the injection well to continuously monitor the safety of groundwater. Finally, we recommend that these tests be evaluated by the EPA and DEQ and that the test information be available for public inspection. These safeguards are not currently part of the CMS disposal plan.
About the author: Dr. Norton Bretz is a retired research physicist from the Princeton University where he worked on controlled nuclear fusion. He retired in 2001 to Eastport. He is executive director of Three Lakes Association and has helped develop a predictive water quality model for nutrients entering the lakes. He is also a board member at Tip of the Mitt Watershed Center.
About the forum: The forum is a periodic column of opinion written by Record-Eagle readers in their areas of interest or expertise. Submissions of 500 words or less may be made by e-mailing letters@record-eagle.com. Please include biographical information and a photo.
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