The announcement at the Sept. 9 White River Township board meeting that Chemours had begun work to clear out a layer of lime product near Mirror Lake was one that pleased the Chemours Environmental Impact Committee. CEIC has worked to spur rehabilitation work at and around the Chemours site for years.
It was also a rather big surprise, as CEIC was not aware the work was going to be done and had not specifically pushed for it. While the lime product is among the 18 environmental issues CEIC has enumerated as ones it feels should be addressed, it had not focused on that particular one in any recent correspondence with Chemours.
"There's no through-line," said CEIC member Marisa McGlue. "We don't have any agreement. We talked about asking why, and we didn't, mostly because we were just glad it was happening. In a way, it almost didn't matter to us why it was happening, though we're interested to know why."
CEIC in fact was not even aware the work was going to take place until Chemours submitted a permit application to the state Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) in March to begin the process, McGlue added.
Chemours has not addressed any specifics as to why this move is taking place at this time. The company's global communications leader Heather Connors confirmed to the Mirror via email that the work has begun, but did not include a reference to what motivated the company to take that action.
"This is in addition to work being done under the 2024 Corrective Action Consent Order entered into with EGLE," Connors said.
Additionally, Chemours remediation project director for the Montague site Sathya Yalvigi did not return an email seeking comment on the work being done.
McGlue said once CEIC became aware of the permit application, it organized supporters online to attend the public hearing, which took place May 27. CEIC also learned the Muskegon Conservation District was involved "and had a robust plan for testing" the area where the lime product is.
The work does not, McGlue said, have anything to do with the Lakeside Solar project, for which the company recently submitted an application to White River Township. Mirror Lake was not part of the renewable energy district the township created by ordinance in 2024, and in any case the company released a statement this summer explaining why it believes the renewable energy ordinance is not compatible with its project. The land is not near enough to any part of the proposed solar facility that the lime product would have affected operations.
McGlue said she suspects that the cleanup is "low-hanging fruit" for Chemours, a project that can be completed without much fuss or financial overextension, but without direct comment from the company, the motivation for the work can't be known for sure.
"When we heard (that MCD) had a robust plan for monitoring and native planting (at the site), we were pleased," McGlue said. "They said they wanted to start sooner than later, and they have started already. They've started the dredging."
