The Chemours Environmental Impact Committee will host two informational presentations for the public in May at the White Lake Community Library, analyzing Chemours' current proposed plans for cleanup of the old DuPont site in White River Township and explaining why CEIC believes they are insufficient.
The presentations will take place Wednesday, May 20 from 5-7 p.m. and Saturday, May 30 from 1-3 p.m.
Both sessions are designed to prepare for a June 11 public session that will involve representatives of Chemours (the DuPont holding company overseeing the future of the 1,300-acre property) and the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE), the state agency that will approve Chemours plans if they assure two things: that human exposures are under control and that migration of contaminated groundwater is under control.
"The only tool we have to get the removal of the Pierson Creek Landfill, which has been leaking tetrachloroethylene into the groundwater that flows into nearby Pierson Creek for decades, is community pushback," CEIC founding member Claire Schlaff said.
Removal of the landfill was notably absent from the plan Chemours originally proposed for cleanup of the site.
Community acceptance is one of seven decision factors that Chemours is required by law to consider in selecting its remedies for each of the landfills and areas of concern at the site.
CEIC members will provide background and historical information about the former DuPont site, located along Lamos Road, reaching south to the White Lake shoreline, and with a parcel extending westward all the way to the shores of Lake Michigan.
Also part of the dual presentations will be CEIC's viewpoints and perspectives regarding the potential conservation of the property for the public's benefit and how that all plays into the restoration of nearby Sadony Bayou and Mirror Lake.
CEIC intends to factor in the comments and ideas from attendees at the two May meetings to shape its presentations at the June 11 session with Chemours and EGLE officials. That June meeting will be held in Montague's Nellie B. Chisholm Middle School from 5:30-7:30 p.m.
"At that session," said CEIC member Marisa McGlue, "we will give a more concise presentation of our community's response to the final cleanup proposals. We need to show, by our citizens' presence and their commentary, the strength of our community's resolve to finally - after 65 years - get this property cleaned up and preserved."
For more information, contact McGlue at makeitrightchemours@gmail.com.
