White lake series by Eric

SUNDAY, AUGUST 10, 2014

$2.00 / POWER ING MLI VE .COM

LOCAL / A3, A10, A11

SPORT S / B1

WWII VETS APLENTY VISIT HUB

MOORE RALLIES LIONS TO WIN

MONTAGUE

TODAY’S MUST-READS

Longtime toxic hot spot claws back from its chemical past

White Lake rising

MASON COUNTY

Sheriﬀ: Oﬃcials ready for rumored rave

BY John S. Hausman

After an alert from Mecosta County officials, deputies in Mason County are ready for a possible rave, Mason County Sheriff Kim Cole said. Several Mason County law enforcement officers agreed to remain on standby in case they are needed this weekend. Mecosta County officials recently charged three young adults in connection with a party attended by almost 2,000 people in Hinton Township. Details, A14

jhausman@mlive.com

or those who recall the bad old days, White Lake’s decades-long comeback from open sewer and chemical catch-basin has been nothing short of amazing.

It’s been a long haul, and it’s not over yet. But this year, the cleaned-up northern Muskegon County lake will hit a milestone. By the end of 2014, White Lake will be one of the first two Michigan sites to be removed from a list of “toxic hot spots” called the Great Lakes Areas of Concern — basically, the most polluted bodies of water in the region. The international list, created in 1985, once numbered 43 sites. Of them, 14 are at least partly in Michigan. White Lake likely will be the second Michigan site to get off the list, a few weeks after the Upper Peninsula’s Deer Lake. Until now, only five

MUSKEGON

Turbine-carrying ships due this week Three more large cargo ships are set to arrive in the Port of Muskegon this month, according to port authorities. All three “salties” will carry wind turbine parts bound for a wind farm in Gratiot County, north of Lansing. The next such ship is due Wednesday. Details A3 NORTH MUSKEGON

This is the former Hooker Chemical site near Montague. (MLive.com ﬁles)

Areas of Concern have been delisted: two in the U.S., three in Canada. “You’re going to be a model,” Chris Korleski, director of EPA’s Great Lakes National Program Office, told White Lake activists at a recent public meeting.

“This is huge, folks. Because things are getting cleaned up. Things are working.” “It’s a really big deal because it’s not been done in Michigan before,” said John Riley, Areas of Concern coordinator for the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.

“It’s good to know that we’ve finally accomplished all these goals that we set out all these years ago.” Michigan environmentalist and author Dave Dempsey, also is impressed by White Lake’s SEE LAKE, A2

Handmade treasures highlights Fun Fest Handcrafted necklaces made with Lake Michigan sand were among a wide assortment of its available Saturday at the Northside Family Fun Fest. In addition to original artwork, visitors enjoyed the annual Lions Club pancake breakfast, a library book sale, face painting and other festival fare. Details, A7

DAILY QUOTE

“

This is an opportunity to show everyone else that they can do the right thing.” CHANDAR RICKS, MUSKEGON HIGH SCHOOL AT RISK INTERVENTIONIST. DETAILS, A13

Steel beam work completed at new jail By Stephen Kloosterman

Muskegon County Sheriff Corrections Ofﬁcer Corey Meyers signs the last steel beam to be placed at the new Muskegon County Jail as construction progresses Thursday. (Ste-

sklooste@mlive.com

Muskegon County and Granger Construction celebrated a milestone in construction of the Muskegon County Jail this past week. The group on Thursday held a MORE INSIDE “topping out” ceremony, a custom See which local in the building trades for placing companies are the last steel beam of a building. building the jail, County officials and employees took turns signing the beam before the Juvenile Transition a crane hoisted it into place. Center, Inside “It’s not anything I enjoy speaking about, quite frankly,” said county Chief Circuit Court Judge William Marietti. “I’d rather be talking about our Juvenile Transition Center across the street.”

phen Kloosterman/MLive.com)

SEE JAIL, A4

Local............... A3 Lottery ............ A2

Obituaries....... C6 Opinion...........D1

Real Estate..... E8 Sports.............B1

Transportation F1 Travel ............E12

TV ......Diversions Weather.......... C3

FEEDBACK

Send your comments to comments@mlive.com.

MU SUNDAY

A G I  C M C M P: $127    

Available these select dates: September 11, 21, 25, October 1, 2, 6, 7, 19, and 23, 2014 Experience the historic and scenic Grand Hotel at an exceptional rate. Includes a full breakfast and five-course dinner daily, Michigan-themed reception, free golf green fees (cart fee required), free admission to Fort Mackinac (limited hours after October 12), 25% off lunch at Grand Hotel restaurants and 10% off shop merchandise. Limited-time offer. Call beginning Sunday, August 10 at 8 a.m.

To reser ve c a l l 1-8 55-8 8 5- 410 7

Available for new bookings only. Limit two rooms per guest. All rates subject to additional fees. 4841113-08

INDEX

Advice............. E5 Classiﬁed/Jobs G6

MUSKEGON

A2 / SUNDAY, AUGUST 10, 2014 / MUSKEGON CHRONICLE

Local&More LOTTERY Results from Saturday: Midday Daily 3: 738 Midday Daily 4: 3686 Daily 3: 867 Daily 4: 6346 Fantasy 5: 9, 16, 29, 32, 38 Classic Lotto: 17, 19, 26, 28, 41, 43 Poker Lotto: 6 of Hearts, 7 of Hearts, King of Hearts, 4 of Clubs, 2 of Hearts Keno: 1, 3, 5, 10, 11, 19, 22, 23, 27, 30, 38, 41, 43, 44, 51, 55, 61, 63, 71, 74, 76, 77 Late Friday result: Mega Millions: 00, 00, 00, 00, 00 Mega Ball: 00 Megaplier: x0 Saturday’s Fantasy 5 jackpot was worth $100,000. Saturday’s Classic Lotto 47 jackpot was worth $2.75 million. Saturday’s Powerball jackpot was worth $90 million. Tuesday’s Mega Millions jackpot is worth $128 million. Powerball results are available at mlive.com/lottery. The drawing took place after our deadline.

mlive.com/muskegon Peg West Editor pwest@mlive.com 231.683.2321 Eric Gaertner Managing Producer for government, business, entertainment and multi-media egaertne@mlive.com 231.683.2322 Scott DeCamp Managing Producer for public safety, education and sports sdecamp1@mlive.com 231.683.2373 Dave Alexander Community engagement specialist dalexan1@mlive.com 231.215.8827 By Department munews@mlive.com musports@mlive.com mubusiness@mlive.com muentertainment@mlive.com Letters muletters@mlive.com Jamie Dionne Director of Sales jdionne@mlive.com 616.780.0118 Obituaries MUobits@mlive.com 231.726.3200 Customer Service/Delivery customercare@mlive.com 877.814.9404

Statewide

mlivemediagroup.com Danny R. Gaydou President president@mlive.com John P. Hiner Vice President of Content jhiner@mlive.com Charity Plaxton Vice President of Sales & Marketing cplaxton@mlive.com Steve Westphal National Accounts Director swestpha@mlive.com Ritu Parr Director of Marketing rparr@mlive.com By Department advertise@mlive.com marketing@mlive.com

DELIVERY Muskegon Chronicle Published seven days a week by Mlive Media Group at 379 West Western Ave., Suite 100, Muskegon, MI 49440 Phone 231-728-9554 or 877-814-9404 Postage paid at Muskegon, MI Publication identiﬁcation: (USPS 368-860) Postmaster Send address changes to Advance Central Services, 3102 Walker Ridge Dr., Walker, MI 49544 Subscription Rates Tues-Thur-Sun $3.70 per week Thur-Sun $3.20 per week By Mail: Tues-Thur-Sun $5.00 per week

Lake

CONTINUED FROM A1

progress. Dempsey is an adviser for the International Joint Commission, the U.S.Canadian agency that created the Areas of Concern list and decides who gets removed. “It means that the community has done a great job of coming together to develop a plan for cleanup and to keep government agencies’ feet to the fire,” Dempsey said. “I think it’s a significant credit to the community. “It also means something on a larger scale: The Areas of Concern that we identified in the 1980s are finally Dempsey getting cleaned up,” Dempsey said. An intensified federal push in recent years to get lakes, rivers and harbors off the list will lead to more delistings in 2015 and beyond, including Muskegon Lake in a couple more years. OUT OF INTENSIVE CARE

Getting delisted doesn’t mean White Lake is pristine. It will never be the lake Native Americans knew before European settlers arrived, nor the one the French voyageurs saw when they paddled in 300 years ago. The cleanup isn’t done, and some damage is lasting. Advisories remain against eating too much of certain types of fish — but they are the same advisories all Michigan inland waters share. Much of the area’s groundwater remains contaminated and, in some spots, will be for centuries — but the poison plumes are contained. They’re not leaking into White Lake, and no one’s drinking from toxic wells. In effect, getting delisted means White Lake has been cleaned up to the point where it is no worse than other river-mouth lakes flowing into a Great Lake, such as Pentwater Lake to the north. “We’re like other lakes now,” said Tanya Cabala, longtime environmental activist, Whitehall City Council member and spokeswoman for the White Lake Public Advisory Committee. “My analogy is, we’ve moved out of the intensive ward into the general ward of lakes. “All of our lakes need attention and could be in the hospital, but we don’t need that intensive care anymore, that intensive effort,” Cabala said. “And that really was the goal of the Areas of Concern program — to identify areas that needed a boost.” A CLUB NO ONE WANTS TO JOIN

The Areas of Concern list was created in the 1980s as part of the U.S.Canada Water Quality Agreement. As the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency website puts it, an Area of Concern is “a location that has experienced environmental degradation,” impairing its ability to support aquatic life. The Great Lakes Water Quality Board, adviser to the International Joint Commission, identified

White Lake as one of the dirty dozens in 1985. According to Michigan DEQ Director Dan Wyant, White Lake’s listing was mainly the result of chemical contamination from chemical manufacturing, leather tanning and municipal waste-disposal practices. Some of the old practices already were halted before 1985 — Hooker Chemical Co. was closed and contained, city and tannery sewage no longer flowed into the lake — but the damage had been done. Being on the list had its pluses and minuses. On the positive side, it tended to put White Lake higher on the priority list of state and federal agencies for attention and grants. And it created a framework for the creation in 1992 of what became an unusually active and effective group of community activists, the White Lake Public Advisory Council. On the negative side, being officially labeled as one of the Great Lakes region’s “toxic hot spots” wasn’t exactly good for business, tourism or the community’s image. Some think the label, combined with the heavily reported environmental problems that preceded it in the 1970s and early ’80s, deterred visitors, new residents and potential investors from coming into the area, at least during the early years of the list. The process of getting off the list has been a gradual one, partly bureaucratic, partly concrete. Over time, state regulators identified eight problems that needed to be removed before White Lake would be delisted. They ranged from too much algae to restrictions on fish and drinking-water consumption, from degraded aesthetics — more bluntly, ugliness — to loss of fish and wildlife habitat and populations. The bureaucrats call them “beneficial use impairments.” Spearheaded by the Public Advisory Council, a succession of cleanup blueprints known as Remedial Action Plans were developed. Over time, step by step, the problems were addressed. The major payoffs began in 2011 with the first removals of the “impairments.” By May of this year, the last of the eight were removed. That started a multistep process of approvals that will culminate in official delisting before the end of the year. It’s been a long time coming. IN NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT

From the late 1960s through the early 1980s, White Lake was in the national spotlight repeatedly. The news wasn’t good. In 1968, the lake was one of several featured in a LIFE Magazine photo essay titled “Blighted Great Lakes: Shocking case of our inland seas dying from man-made filth.” In the pages on White Lake — headlined “Pollution-fed weeds that choke a lake to death” — the focus was an evergrowing mass of aquatic weeds nourished by municipal and tannery sewage, driving out boaters, swimmers and fish. One of the pictures showed an “island” formed by discarded cattle hides. Things got worse. By the late 1970s and early 1980s, the attention

Sunday Only $4.50 per week Subscription includes access to the print or digital edition during the time covered by the current subscription payment period. No credits or refunds for temporary stops of print delivery. Deliveries by independent carriers.

OBITUARIES LIST Because of technical difficulties, today’s obituaries list was not available by press time. Please see our full obituaries beginning on page C6.

T IMELINE

WHITE LAKE’S FALL AND RISE PRE-1970S 1865: Eagle Tanning Works (later Whitehall Leather Co.) opens. 1940: Whitehall Leather switches from bark to chromium for tanning. 1952-’54: Hooker Chemical (later Occidental Chemical/OxyChem) opens. 1956: E.I. duPont de Nemours opens. 1960s: Citizen activism grows in response to a growing weed problem caused by municipal and tannery sewage discharged into the lake. 1970S 1974: Industrial, municipal discharges are diverted from White Lake to county wastewater site. 1975: Muskegon Chemical (later Koch Chemical) opens. 1977: Groundwater contamination found at Muskegon Chemical. 1977: Hooker Chemical closes its “ﬁne chemicals” plant as public attention to Hooker’s pollution grows. 1980S 1980: Whitehall municipal well No. 3 discovered to be contaminated. 1981-’82: Hooker Chemical/OxyChem investigation and cleanup of soils. On-site pyramid built to permanently contain tainted soil. 1982: Long-term groundwater cleanup begins at Hooker Chemical/OxyChem. Plant closes. 1985: White Lake named a Great Lakes Area of Concern, one of 43 “toxic hot spots.”

1990S 1991: Muskegon Chemical/Koch Chemical closes. 1992: White Lake Public Advisory Council established. 1995: Whitehall Leather Co. land site and Tannery Bay investigation begins. 1995: Eight problems ofﬁcially determined for White Lake Area of Concern. 1996: Hooker Chemical production facilities demolished. 1996: DuPont facility closes. 1998: Facility demolished. 1999: White Lake Landﬁll closes. SINCE 2000 2000: Whitehall Leather closes. Removal of Tannery Bay contamined sediments in 2002. 2003: Hooker Chemical/OxyChem removes contaminated sediments from White Lake. 2010: DuPont site investigation begins. 2010-’11: Whitehall Leather land site cleanup. 2011-’12: Habitat restoration project. 2013: “Purple sediment” found and removed from Tannery Bay. 2011-’14: All eight problems removed for the White Lake Area of Concern. 2014: Department of Environmental Quality recommends delisting White Lake as Area of Concern. — John S. Hausman SOURCE: White Lake Environmental History Project, other research.

Above, crews from White Lake Dock and Dredge Inc., of Whitehall, work to clean up Tannery Bay on White Lake at the former Whitehall Leather site in 2003. (MLive.com ﬁles) From left, Dan Wyant, DEQ director, Tanya Cabala, and state Sen. Goeff Hansen speak at Svensson Park in Whitehall on May 9.

“It means that the community has done a great job of coming together to develop a plan for cleanup and to keep government agencies’ feet to the ﬁre.” DAVE DEMPSEY, AN ADVISER FOR THE INTERNATIONAL JOINT COMMISSION

was on toxic contamination of the air, lake and groundwater by the area’s chemical industries, particularly Hooker Chemical Co. of Montague Township. Grand Valley State College’s film department in 1978 produced a documentary, “The Tragedy of White Lake,” that helped raise public awareness outside the immediate community. National TV coverage followed, likely spurred by a much worse environmental disaster involving Hooker Chemical that blighted the Love Canal neighborhood of Niagara Falls, New York. Beyond the bad publicity, the real impact of pollution in that era persisted, and not just from Hooker. The impact included toxic mud in the lake, a severely damaged ecosystem, occasionally stinking air, and contaminated drinking wells for some residents. Partly as a result of citizen pressure, partly because of stricter oversight by state and federal regulators, partly from

changing economics, things began to improve. By 1982, the Hooker plants had closed and, under a consent agreement with the government, its pollution had been contained on site and a longterm cleanup had begun that continues. Over time, other chemical companies, as well as Whitehall Leather, closed, and cleanups began. Even before the Hooker debacle, the 1974 opening of Muskegon County’s wastewater treatment system had halted discharge of sewage into White Lake, the source of the weed problem. The road to restoration has been an intensely human story. It’s been a story first of unpopular outriders — hell-raisers and whistleblowers raising the alarm against enormous, sometimes angry resistance, at first with little response from regulators. Later, in the remediation period, the work shifted to quieter community

Helen Jaunese, of Montague, and her granddaughter Kendra Mahoney, (daughter of protest organizer Mary Mahoney) protest the arrival of the ﬁrst truck carrying toxic waste to the Hooker Chemical storage vault in Montague Township 1982. (MLive.com ﬁle)

activists and government bureaucrats at the federal, state and local level. In future chapters of this series, MLive will examine some of the impact on the community of White Lake’s Area of Concern designation; at the work to get the lake cleaned up and off the list, including a look at a few of the early activists who raised the alarm; at the harm to the environment and what’s been done to bring it back; and at what the future might hold.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 24, 2014

$2.00 / POWER ING MLI VE .COM

LOCAL SPORT S / D1

LOCAL / A3

HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PREVIEW

TUSKEGEE GLIDER FLIES AGAIN

WHITE LAKE RISING

TODAY’S MUST-READS

‘Toxic hot spot’ label bad for image, good for cleanup eﬀorts

Delisting is ‘everything’

MUSKEGON

Fans ﬂock to Shoreline Jazz Festival

The two-day Shoreline Jazz Festival kicked off Saturday at Heritage Landing. Thousands were in the makeshift orchestral seating, while a select few hundred paid extra for reserved seats. The festival continues today. Details, A7 ROOSEVELT PARK

Tradition continues with parade, more

ail Old Chan n el Tr

USKEGON COUNTY — Was being on an international list of “toxic hot spots” on balance a good or a bad thing for the White Lake community? When it comes to image, probably not so good, at least in the early years. But the label was a spur to action and a big help in getting needed federal and state cleanup grants, local leaders and others say. Viewed from that angle, the “hot spot” label was not the problem — it was a big part of the solution.

MUSKEGON

ROBERT LEONARD, ONE OF 17 FAMILY MEMBERS WHO TOOK PART IN AN ICE BUCKET CHALLENGE ON SATURDAY. DETAILS, A3

INDEX

Advice............ F6 Classiﬁed/Jobs G8

Old C

South S h

Colby St.

Whitehall il Tra

3 Benston Rd.

Whitehall Leather Co.

Muskegon Chemical/ Koch Chemical Lakewood Rd.

(Edward Riojas/MLive.com)

MLive.com)

really is a devastating disease.”

el nn ha

Shrine Circus Clowns relax after the Roosevelt Park Day Parade on Saturday. (Stephen Kloosterman/

ALS needs some “attention, because it

riv

Lake Michigan

DAILY QUOTE

DuPont

White Lake

By John S. Hausman

If you like to get dressed up, then a new shop within a collection of businesses at 255 Seminole Road could be a destination for you. Sparrow Boutique — featuring clothing, jewelry and accessories — opened in July. Details, A9

Hooker Chemical/ OxyChem

jhausman@mlive.com

Boutique aims to oﬀer big-city fashion

Montague

Hancock Rd.

Continuing a 30-year tradition, Roosevelt Park celebrated its community spirit with a variety of events Saturday. At 10 a.m., a parade — including about 80 entries — ran a loop starting from the corner of Glenside Boulevard and Broadway Avenue. Other activities during Roosevelt Park Day included live music, a 5K run/walk race, a pancake breakfast at Westwood Reformed Church and a family bowling tournament. Details, A7

MORE INSIDE The good and the bad of industrial production for White Lake, A2

For nearly 30 years, the northern Muskegon County lake has been one of what once numbered 43 U.S. and Canadian bodies of water listed as Great Lakes Areas of Concern, often called “toxic hot spots.” Of those, 14 are at least partly in Michigan. By year’s end, White Lake will be the seventh spot to be removed from the list, and one of the first two in Michigan.

“The positive (of being listed) is, it gave us sort of a priority standing on receiving grants and funding,” said Norm Ullman, former Whitehall mayor and a longtime community leader with a deep interest in the health of the lake. “The negative, of course, is that it conveyed the image that we had a lake that was unsafe and contaminated.” It’s hard to quantify the negative impact of being listed. “There’s never been anything that really can be pointed to definitively,” veteran White Lake activist Tanya Cabala said. “My guess would be that, yes, we have suffered economically

COMING CLEAN The graphic above shows the companies that contributed to White Lake becoming a “toxic hot spot”: 1: DuPont 2: Hooker Chemical/ OxyChem 3: Whitehall Leather Co. White Lake is expected to be delisted this year from the Great Lakes Areas of Concern.

from the stigma of having a sizable pollution issue. But it’s not something that we’ve ever been able to know for certain.” Amy Van Loon, executive director of the White Lake Area SEE DELISTED, A2

Cardinal Szoka remembered

Cardinal Edmund Szoka, who grew up attending Muskegon’s St. Michael’s school and went on to become one of the most powerful men in the Vatican, died Thursday at 84, according to the Archdiocese of Detroit. Csardinal Szoka remained loyal to his boyhood home and church, and returned to visit when time allowed. For more on his life, see Page A4. At right, Catherine Sklenar, of Muskegon, receives the Cardinal’s blessing at St. Michael’s in 1996. (MLive.com ﬁles)

Local............... A3 Lottery ............ A2

Obituaries....... C5 Opinion........... E1

Real Estate.....H2 Sports.............B1

Transportation . I1 Travel .............. F8

TV ......Diversions Weather.......... C3

FEEDBACK

Send your comments to comments@mlive.com.

MU SUNDAY

A2 / SUNDAY, AUGUST 24, 2014 / MUSKEGON CHRONICLE

Local&More WHI TE L AKE RISING

LOTTERY

HOW INDUSTRY HELPED AND HURT WHITE LAKE

Results from Saturday: Midday Daily 3: 668 Midday Daily 4: 7023 Daily 3: 372 Daily 4: 1929 Fantasy 5: 11, 16, 18, 32, 39 Classic Lotto: 8, 18, 19, 31, 33, 38 Poker Lotto: 2 of Hearts, Queen of Clubs, 7 of Hearts, 2 of Spades, 4 of Hearts Keno: 8, 10, 12, 20, 31, 32, 33, 36, 42, 43, 51, 52, 53, 56, 57, 68, 70, 71, 74, 76, 78, 79 Late Friday result: Mega Millions: 5, 31, 34, 41, 74 Mega Ball: 3 Megaplier: x5 Saturday’s Fantasy 5 jackpot was worth $202,000. Saturday’s Classic Lotto 47 jackpot was worth $3.55 million. Saturday’s Powerball jackpot was worth $70 million. Tuesday’s Mega Millions jackpot is worth $15 million. Powerball results are available at mlive.com/lottery. The drawing took place after our deadline.

Statewide

mlivemediagroup.com Danny R. Gaydou President president@mlive.com John P. Hiner Vice President of Content jhiner@mlive.com Charity Plaxton Chief Revenue Ofﬁcer cplaxton@mlive.com Michael Assink Vice President of Sales massink1@mlive.com Steve Westphal Senior Director for National Accounts swestpha@mlive.com By Department advertise@mlive.com marketing@mlive.com

DELIVERY

Muskegon Chronicle Published seven days a week by Mlive Media Group at 379 West Western Ave., Suite 100, Muskegon, MI 49440 Phone 231-728-9554 or 877-814-9404 Postage paid at Muskegon, MI Publication identiﬁcation: (USPS 368-860) Postmaster Send address changes to Advance Central Services, 3102 Walker Ridge Dr., Walker, MI 49544 Subscription Rates Tues-Thur-Sun $3.70 per week Thur-Sun $3.20 per week By Mail: Tues-Thur-Sun $5.00 per week Sunday Only $4.50 per week Subscription includes access to the print or digital edition during the time covered by the current subscription payment period. No credits or refunds for temporary stops of print delivery. Deliveries by independent carriers.

Helped:

The White Lake shoreline is pictured from the lake on a tour on the W.G. Jackson research vessel this summer. (Madelyn Hastings/MLive.com)

Delisted

CONTINUED FROM A1

Chamber of Commerce, thinks the image issue may be generational, affecting those who remember the turmoil of the 1980s and earlier. “Personally, we moved here from Grand Rapids in 1999, and we were like, ‘What polluted lake?’ We were just not aware of it,” Van Loon said. From tourists or people thinking of moving to the area, “very rarely do we hear, ‘Is it safe to swim in or safe to eat the fish in the lake?’” Van Loon said. “The quality of life has always been pretty strong here.” She sees positives to the publicity for getting off the list, though. “The overall restoration and delisting are going to bring huge economic benefits for the lake, as well as those living around it,” Van Loon said. “I think we’ll feel those economic benefits.” Local historian and environmentalist Roger Scharmer is of a generation that remembers the worst of the pollution — in fact, the era before pollution became acute. “There are residents here who think nothing of the fact that was an Area of Concern,” Scharmer said. “It just wasn’t real. “Well, the answer is, it really was. The end result (of the cleanup and delisting), I think, will be a much better and more positive image for White Lake — the fact that you can swim, eat the fish, kayak.” Michigan environmental writer Dave Dempsey, now on the staff of the International Joint Commission, the U.S.-Canadian agency that oversees the Areas of Concern list, points to the pluses of being on the list. “I think that White Lake, like the other communities, did not want the

“It’s such an accomplishment. The people that have worked so hard to have this happen. They need a huge pat on the back.” WHITEHALL MAYOR EMERY “MAC” HATCH, ABOUT WHITE LAKE’S REMOVAL FROM THE “TOXIC HOT SPOT” LIST

stigma of a polluted area to remain with them,” Dempsey said. “So there was a lot of community energy generated by the listing. I think it’s critical. “It’s important to identify these sites and let people know they’re problem spots and need to be cleaned up,” Dempsey said. “It seems to drive greater efforts.” Jeff Auch is executive director of the Muskegon Conservation District, staff support for the White Lake Public Advisory Council that has pushed and overseen the local end of the cleanup. Auch points to the importance of being an Area of Concern for getting restoration grants, especially in the past five years, since the federal government established the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. “For White Lake, it sort of put it in the spotlight of areas to address,” Auch said. “It allowed the funding but also the focus to be there. It just focused attention on what the issues are.” In a larger sense, the real problem for White Lake’s image and economy wasn’t being on a “toxic hot spot” list that simply recognized reality. It was the underlying reality — the pollution that put it there. In that sense, delisting — the visible marker

OBITUARIES LIST SUNDAY, AUGUST 24, 2014 Complete obituaries begin on Page C5. For more information, go to mlive. com.

ANDERSEN Harold, 89, of Muskegon (Clock Funeral Home — Muskegon) BARTHELMAN Glenn, 87, of Algonac (Sytsema Funeral Homes Inc.) BAUER (FORTENBACHER) Mary L. “Sis”, 78, of Norton Shores (Pachesny-Jend Funeral Home) CREGG Patrick, 74 DAVIS David, of Hart (Sytsema Funeral Homes Inc.) DAVIS Mary, 70, of Sebring, Florida, and Muskegon DIRHEIMER Jack, 89 (Ever Rest Funeral Home & Chapel) DURHAM Charles, 82, of Fremont (Crandell Funeral Home) GERVAIS Gerald, 87, of Twin Lake (Sytsema Funeral Homes Inc.) GREENBERG Gertrude, 95, of Grand Haven (Sytsema Funeral Homes Inc.) HENDRIX Rosabel, 69, of Muskegon (Ever Rest Funeral Home & Chapel)

HICKS Elizabeth, 84, of Muskegon (Sytsema Funeral Homes Inc.) LEUTSCHER Janice, 72, of North Muskegon (Clock Funeral Home — Muskegon) LOWNDS Keith, 81, of Montague (Clock Funeral Home of White Lake) MOHR Barbara, 80, of Ada (Metcalf & Jonkhoff Funeral Service) MUNSON Herbert, 98, of Ada, formerly of North Muskegon (Clock Funeral Home — Muskegon) OSLUND Roberta, 85, of North Muskegon (Clock Funeral Home — Muskegon) SWAIN Carolyn, 67 WHEATER Alfred, 101, of Muskegon (Sytsema Funeral Homes Inc.) WORTMAN Robert, of Tucson ZEITZ Orlo, 93, of North Muskegon (Sytsema Funeral Homes Inc.) PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 2014

DOWNOROWICZ Delores, 84, of Muskegon (Sytsema Funeral Homes, Inc.) SIEGEL Roger, 64, of Muskegon (Sytsema Funeral Homes Inc.)

that indicates things have improved radically — means a lot. “Maybe, to a lot of people, they never even knew it was listed,” Whitehall Mayor Emery “Mac” Hatch said. “But, to a lot of us, it means everything. It just means everything.” Hatch said he moved to the area in 1971 and bought three marinas on White Lake, starting a boat sales and service business. “My next-door neighbor in Grosse Pointe brought me a LIFE Magazine showing a dead fish in White Lake. I came here anyway. “But it was devastating. We had all this wonderful industry here that was just polluting the living daylights out of White Lake,” Hatch said. “(The pollution) hurt business, it hurt tourism, it hurt property values. I mean, there was just no up-side to it,” Hatch said. “There were people that were afraid to eat the fish, and fishing around here is huge. And it’s going to take a while. Even now, your charter fishing is much larger in many of the other areas. This is an ideal area for charter boats.” Hatch said he has mixed emotions about how much attention to give delisting. On the one hand, given what he thinks is low public awareness that White Lake is even on a “hot spot” list, “I don’t know if we should really scream that we have been delisted.” “But, at the same time, I think we have to. It’s such an accomplishment. The people that have worked so hard to have this happen. They need a huge pat on the back.” On a personal note, the mayor recalled his beloved wife, longtime Muskegon County tourism and government official Joanne Hatch, a tireless booster of the area’s image. She died in April. “I wish she were around to see it, because she loved this area,” Hatch said.

• Jobs. Industries such as Hooker Chemical Co., E.I. DuPont de Nemours, Muskegon Chemical (later Koch Chemical) and the Whitehall Leather Co. were major employers in the White Lake area at one time, putting food on the tables of hundreds of families. As late as 2000, when Whitehall Leather closed its tannery after 134 years on the south shore of White Lake, 80 jobs were lost. • Economic spinoff. Besides the direct job creation, the companies bought from local suppliers and paid property taxes, its employees patronized local businesses and owned homes in the area. • Education, culture, community involvement. Some longtime residents say the inﬂux of an educated cadre of engineers and managers after chemical companies arrived in the 1950s led to participation on school boards, patronage of cultural activities and other community involvement.

Hurt:

• Poisoned groundwater. The groundwater under White Lake-area chemical

manufacturers was fouled by toxins that, in some areas, remain to this day and likely will for centuries. They no longer contaminate drinking wells or White Lake itself, and purge wells keep them from spreading. • Poisoned lake. The lake itself was not spared. Industrial pollution poisoned the water, leaving a toxic legacy in the lake bed. Repeated sediment removals over the years have taken care of the worst of the problem, but the lake still is far from pristine. • Prematurely aging lake. “Eutrophication” is a fancy word for accelerated aging of a lake thanks to excessive nutrients ﬂowing into it, feeding weeds and algae that choke out other life. It has been a problem for White Lake at least since the mid-20th century, fed initially by municipal and tannery sewage. The problem was reduced greatly after the 1974 opening of Muskegon County’s wastewater treatment system but remains an issue, with other sources — including fertilizer runoff — ﬂowing into the White River. — Compiled by John S. Hausman

Discharge from the former Whitehall Leather Co. drains into White Lake in 2000. (Submitted by Marge Beaver/ Photography Plus)

ANNOUNCING

COMPREHENSIVE OBSTETRICS AND GYNECOLOGICAL CARE

CALL TODAY

DR. EVON SCHEXNAYDRE MD, FACOG

TO SCHEDULE AND APPOINTMENT

231.766.8945 NOW TAKING NEW PATIENTS AND REFERRALS ACCEPTED 953 SEMINOLE RD. NORTON SHORES, MI 49442 HOURS 8AM-5PM 4892187-02

Do you have Medicare and need help paying for the cost of your prescriptions? You may qualify for the “Extra Help” program.

Call MMAP

1-800-803-7174 You may also get help paying for your Medicare Part B premiums, deductibles and co-pays. Funding for MMAP, Inc. comes from grants from the Administration for Community Living, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and *"% 1!("!#/2 -$3(% 0$ &%.'!(%, *0 *"% )#!2#+ 4893611-04

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2014

$2.00 / POWER ING MLI VE .COM

HIGH SCHOOL SPORT S / B1

LOCAL / A3

BIG REDS WOMAN’S EDGE GR HORSES HELP CHRISTIAN WITH REHAB MUSKEGON HEIGHTS

TODAY’S MUST-READS

City oﬃcials say progress is being made in ﬁght against urban blight

See it, believe it

OUTDOORS

Where will you ﬁnd big bass? In Entertainment To make more room for sports coverage during the busy fall season, the Outdoors page now is in the Entertainment section. This week, Howard Meyerson takes us out in a bass boat on Austin Lake in Kalamazoo County. Details, E8

By Stephen Kloosterman

sklooste@mlive.com

uskegon Heights officials say the city is making progress in its fight against empty and crumbling buildings that are hotspots for crime. “If something looks bad, we’re going ahead and taking care of it,” said City Manager Natasha Henderson. “We do whatever we have to, for the betterment of the community.” But don’t take their word for it — take a look around. One of the biggest areas of progress is an area of Fifth and Sixth streets, where the city recently received a grant to demolish nine homes. Sixth Street in the past has been a focal point for media to showcase the blight issue, but things have changed. Even Sixth Street’s Jacqueline Lewis — an irre-

MUSKEGON COUNTY

Suspended ﬁre chief sentenced, released

Dennis Roesler, suspended as chief of the Montague Fire Authority, was freed Friday from the Muskegon County Jail, following his sentencing for a gunrelated conviction. Details, A3

Matthew Frymire poses with members of the U.S. Coast Guard after his rescue last week. (MLive.com ﬁles)

Should rescues come with a price tag?

DAILY QUOTE see the “grinsYouonshould some of the kids’ faces.”

DAVID PUMMEL, SPORTSMEN FOR YOUTH BOARD MEMBER. DETAILS, A3

INDEX

Advice............ F5 Classiﬁed/Jobs H5

WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM THEIR FRIENDS

The key to its progress on fighting blight, Henderson said, has been more collaboration between city departments. “We understand that we must be a team,” she said. “Even with the police chief, the fire chief and even the director of the board of public works, they’re working for a common goal — blight elimination.” SEE BLIGHT, A2

The owner of a local painting company and one of his workers put the second coat of paint on the exterior of a rental house on 3120 Sixth St. in Muskegon Heights in August.

MUSKEGON COUNTY

The question of whether to charge residents for emergency services has become a hot topic. A story that posted Monday on MLive.com/Muskegon about the U.S. Coast Guard rescue of Matthew Frymire, of Grand Haven Township, who was attempting to cross Lake Michigan in a kayak, resulted in healthy discussion on the topic. Details, A12

pressible critic of city hall in the past — is mellowing out. Most of the abandoned homes on her street have been torn down. “It’s a lot better,” Lewis said. “I’m happy. ... I feel better when I come home. It’s just a relief, a big burden off of me.”

(Andraya Croft/MLive.com)

WHITE LAKE RISING

What delisting means — and what it doesn’t By John S. Hausman

jhausman@mlive.com

After nearly 30 years on an international list of the worst toxic hot spots in the Great Lakes, Muskegon County’s White Lake is about to lose its scarlet letter. Here are five things getting off the Great Lakes Areas of Concern list means, and doesn’t mean, for the

Local............... A3 Lottery ............ A2

Obituaries.......D7 Opinion........... E1

MORE INSIDE Two residents tell what changes in White Lake mean to them, A5 Q&A about delisting, A6 Hooker property now a nature preserve, A7

community and the future. It’s not “all better.” This was a common theme among White Lake community

Real Estate..... F7 Sports.............B1

Transportation G1 Travel ............F12

leaders and environmental activists: Getting delisted is a point in the process, not the end. There’s still work to be done. “I think this is a benchmark. I don’t personally believe that it means it’s all over,” said Norm Ullman, former Whitehall mayor and longtime community leader. Being delisted doesn’t mean the lake and its surrounding soil

TV ......Diversions Weather..........D4

and groundwater are pristine. They aren’t. Poisons remain underneath Hooker Chemical and other sites and probably will remain for centuries, with monitoring and purge wells operating indefinitely to keep the chemicals from entering White Lake or drinking wells. SEE DELISTING, A5

FEEDBACK

Send your comments to comments@mlive.com.

BUY CBBC=A@>? VINYL WINDOWS & GET A FREE SUNRISE WINDOW UPGRADE! CALL FOR A FREE ESTIMATE!

MU SUNDAY

231.799.8400

4788 GRAND HAVEN RD

4 SEASONS THE NEIGHBORHOOD JUST GOT A WHOLE LOT NICER.

HOME CRAFTERS

4904180-02

WINDOWS. SIDING. ROOFING. INSULATION. SUN ROOMS. DECKS-DOORS. KITCHENS. BATHS. REMODELS

MUSKEGON CHRONICLE / SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2014 / A5

White Lake Rising MUSKEGON COUNTY

Native, newcomer share pride in revived lake Longtime resident who suffered through decline says accomplishment must not lead to complacency By Norm Ullman

y life along White Lake began growing up in Whitehall, making trips to the old city fire station when the fire trucks would answer the fire bells. The first firefighter to the station would write on a chalkboard the location of the fire and, more times than not, it was “tannery dump.” We thought nothing of it, but those ponds down there on the lake sure smelled during the summer. And then in the early 1950s, we welcomed chemical companies like Hooker and DuPont. They brought an influx of new students at school, and wonderful jobs and people involved in the community. Life was good. When Hooker came to town, one guy went out to Niagara Falls, N.Y., to Ullman check out the company and he hired a lawyer, trying to stop the company from expanding here. He got rolled as no one wanted to hear about it. Fast forward to the middle- to late1960s and my first time on the Whitehall City Council. The danger signs started to show. A family with a resort business came to tell of how the poor quality of the lake was hurting their business. I don’t think we gave them a good reception. There were people like Wint Dahlstrom, Marion Dawson, Bob Wesley and Ken and Mary Mahoney who knew something was wrong and stood up to say so. And then Love Canal in New York broke into the headlines in the middle- to late-1970s, and soon we knew we had a huge problem with the same company polluting White Lake. These are the memories I have, as a tremendous community effort over the course of decades has led to an improvement in the quality of White Lake, leading to the removal of the “Area of Concern”

Delisting

CONTINUED FROM A1

Problems continue with agricultural and residential runoff into the White River, which flows into White Lake. That’s expected to be a focus of future action. Action will continue. Work is pending on a three- to five-year strategic plan for life after delisting. The planning will include agreeing on postdelisting needs, possibly including: water quality monitoring, nutrients and sedimentation, shoreline habitat and invasive species, monitoring of contaminated sites, education and outreach. The planning effort, coordinated by the White Lake Public Advisory Council, is expected to have representation from the White Lake Association, the White River Watershed Partnership, the White Lake Area Sportfishing Association, the White Lake Area Chamber of Commerce and a representative from each White Lake-area government: the cities of Whitehall and Montague and the townships of Fruitland, White River and Montague. Restoration grants might get more scarce. The good side of being on the “toxic hot spot” list has been this: It made White Lake a high priority for getting restoration grants from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and other agencies. With a strong federal and state push in the last five years to get sites off the Areas of Concern list, that priority status is likely to end for a delisted White Lake. Funding for future cleanup, restoration and monitoring projects will be harder to come by. It’s a heck of a lot

designation. The extent that the industrial contamination of White Lake by Hooker Chemical in Montague and the White Lake Tannery in Whitehall hurt our community was driven home to me when I was at an educational conference in Chicago in the 1980s. When I told a gentleman from New Mexico that I was from Whitehall, Mich., he asked if that was “where all of that chemical contamination is.” Being “delisted” is great, but that is based on federal standards that don’t meet the standards of the citizens of White Lake. My hope for the future is that we will keep on this and the people will stand up and yell when needed. It is the community’s responsibility to keep White Lake’s improvement progressing with the help of state and federal environmental regulators. We have a long way to go until we pass this lake to future generations. But I remember back when I was a young man on marine patrol on White Lake for the Muskegon County Sheriff’s Department. We would look out from the boat, and the wake was yellow. I’m proud to say now that wake would be white. — Norm Ullman is a longtime White Lake activist, former mayor of Whitehall and retired educator. He was born and raised in the White Lake area and has lived there most of his life.

Transplant predicts growth for communities as White Lake again becomes an attraction By Steven Crooks

he delisting of White Lake as a federal Area of Concern is crucial to the longevity and growth of the White Lake area. Both Whitehall and Montague will see an influx of tourists willing to enjoy the watershed without hesitation or worry. Construction of condos, increased tourism and the influx of seasonal and fulltime residents would assist in making these two small towns — and the small businesses within these towns — more successful. Those of us who use White Lake as a daily resource can certainly see the benefits and excitement for finally getting the watershed off the international Area of Concern list. Not being a lifelong Crooks resident of Whitehall or Montague, I truly never knew what took place within the shorelines of White Lake. It wasn’t until approximately eight years ago, while training for my first triathlon, I started hearing people talk

A sign of White Lake’s comeback was its hosting of a Bassmaster bass ﬁshing contest in September 2013. (MLive.com ﬁles)

better than it was. While far from perfect, White Lake’s ecosystem is vastly improved from where it was when it got on the hot spot list in 1985. Delisting means the restoration of White Lake has achieved a series of benchmarks that bring the lake’s ecosystem to the same level as comparable river-mouth lakes in Michigan — for example, Pentwater Lake to the north. Fish are now as safe to eat as they are in other Michigan lakes. Drinking water is clean, with wells protected from chemicals in the groundwater. Fish and wildlife populations and habitats are largely restored. Algae blooms are under control. Dredging is unrestricted. Tiny lake-bottom critters are flourishing again. And aesthetics are vastly improved. All of that has meant a restoration of the lake to at least the potential of being the recreation resource it once was, a haven for boaters and swimmers. Ullman remembers being on a sheriff’s patrol boat on the lake in the late 1960s and seeing a foamy yellow wake behind the boat. Today, the White Lake wakes are white. That’s a reason for community pride. Community leaders are proud of White Lake’s environmental comeback and what it means for the area’s image and recreational potential. A series of events throughout the summer have marked the delisting, including free tours of the lake in July on the Grand Valley State University research vessel W.G. Jackson and a kayak trip in August. The events are expected to culminate in October with a communitywide celebration, with details not yet released.

about the water quality. Concerns and questions seemed to pop up regarding where I trained, specifically where I swam. Horror story after horror story would spill out from people I had no connection with. It was evident that, even though the pollution and dumping had stopped many years before, the general population of the White Lake area had many concerns about the condition of their lake. Fast forward to today. I am a small-business owner in the White Lake Area, opening White Lake Excursions on the Montague side of the White River where it flows into White Lake. Using the watershed as a primary source to bring in customers, I welcome the changes being recognized on the lake. We are now decades removed from companies having a detrimental impact on the water quality, yet we are still fighting the fight. Numerous people have spent countless hours talking, writing, cleaning, removing and repairing the damage made so long ago. However, we will continue to protect these waters, repair the shorelines and re-beautify this wonderful resource. Moving forward with a clean bill of health, I personally see nothing but growth for the two small towns that surround White Lake. Opportunities will arise as more and more people call this area home. The White Lake area will once again thrive as it did back in the day. Our beautiful body of water, fed by the majestic White River that winds through miles and miles of pristine national forest, will be the destination for many near and afar. Our shops will be full, our streets will have buzz and our hearts — the very hearts that saved this great lake — will be proud to call the White Lake area home. — Steven Crooks is a transplant to the White Lake Area. He is owner of White Lake Excursions, a paddle equipment and rental business at 4464 Dowling St., on the Montague side of the White River. He is also graphic designer at Master Tag in Montague.

New to Medicare? Find out why more individuals choose Priority Health Medicare Advantage plans over any other plan in Michigan.1

OUR PLANS START AS LOW AS $41 A MONTH AND INCLUDE: No deductible on in-network medical beneﬁts and prescription drugs Lower out-of-pocket maximums – you’re 100% covered sooner than with other plans Coverage in the United States and around the world A free gym membership or home ﬁtness kits An extensive network of more than 23,000 providers in Michigan

ATTEND A MEDICARE EXPLAINED MEETING. Get the facts about Medicare and your options. Call to reserve your spot.2 October 16 at 10 a.m. Holiday Inn Muskegon Harbor 939 Third Street Muskegon

CALL TODAY Toll free at 888.295.7521 (TTY users should call 711), 8 a.m. – 8 p.m., seven days a week. GO ONLINE prioritymedicare.com

4896514-01

According to January 2012-February 2014 monthly enrollment reports from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. 2To reserve your spot or arrange for accommodations of persons with special needs at sales meetings, call toll-free 888.295.7521 (TTY users should call 711). A sales person will be present with information and applications. Priority Health has HMO-POS and PPO plans with a Medicare contract. Enrollment in Priority Health Medicare depends on contract renewal. The benefit information provided is a brief summary, not a complete description of benefits. For more information, contact the plan. Limitations, copayments and restrictions may apply. Benefits and premium may change on January 1 of each year. Y0056_4000_4002_232 CMS-accepted 05272014 8100A 9/14

A6 / SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2014 / MUSKEGON CHRONICLE

White Lake Rising

Q According to the U.S. Environmental Protection AAgency, “the Occidental

What led to White Lake being listed?

(Hooker) Chemical Co. property was the primary source of contamination.” The company polluted the lake with chloroform, tetrachloride and various compounds. High levels of PCBs and chromium also were found, with Whitehall Leather Co. being a major source of chromium. Also found was phosphorus pollution, nearly all from agricultural runoff, according to the EPA.

Q A

What were the White Lake cleanup priorities? Remediation of contaminated sediment in the lake, control of eutrophication (too many nutrients in the lake), remediation of polluted groundwater and former industrial sites, and restoring wildlife habitat and populations were the EPA’s priorities.

Q 1995 Remedial Action Plan Athat Alisted eight “impairments” needed to be removed: What environmental problems were identified for White Lake?

• Restrictions on fish and

Q Containment of conAsite. •tamination from the Hooker According to the EPA, well What efforts were made to restore White Lake to the point where it gets off the list?

monitors show the plume of poisoned groundwater migrating from the site is being intercepted by a network of purge wells before it gets to the lake, and treated before it is discharged. • Hooker successor OxyChem in 2003 dredged 12,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment lake near the company’s discharge pipe. • The EPA gives credit to

Montague

Colby St.

l ne an Old Ch

il Tra

Whitehall Leather Co.

Benston Rd.

Muskegon Chemical/ Koch Chemical

Old Channel Trail White Lake

Alice St.

Warner St.

Wilkes Rd.

Whitehall

Hooker Chemical/ OxyChem

E.I. duPont de Nemours

Zellar Rd.

Muskegon County’s White Lake has come a long way since it was listed as a Great Lakes Area of Concern in 1985. White Lake is about to come off that international list of “toxic hot spots.” It will be one of the first two sites in Michigan to be delisted.

wildlife consumption. This impairment was removed in February 2013. Some fish consumption advisories remain, but only the same ones that apply to lakes across Michigan. • Restrictions on dredging activities. This was the first impairment removed, in 2011. • Degradation of benthos (tiny organisms that live near the lake’s bed). Removed in June 2012. • Eutrophication or undesirable algae. Removed in April 2012. • Restrictions on drinking water, or taste and odor problems. Removed in January 2014. This doesn’t mean all the groundwater in the White Lake area is clean. But none of the contaminated groundwater is reaching drinking wells. • Degradation of aesthetics. Removed in January 2014. • Loss of fish and wildlife habitat. Removed in March 2014. • Degradation of fish and wildlife populations. Removed in March 2014.

Hancock Rd.

N ail Old Chan n el Tr

By John S. Hausman

jhausman@mlive.com

POLLUTING THE WATER

Multiple industrial and waste-disposal sites in the White Lake area contributed to polluting the lake and nearby groundwater. Four sites had the largest impact. Dramatic improvements in the last 30 years have removed much of the pollution and contained the rest, protecting drinking wells and making the lake safe for fishing, swimming and boating.

Lamos Rd.

Q&A: Environmental problems, solutions at ‘toxic hot spot’

WHITE LAKE

Lakewood Rd. Lake Michigan

1 DuPont: The former chemical manufacturing plant’s 1,330-acre site includes contaminated landﬁlls with polluted groundwater underneath. Recent investigation has focused on the Pierson Creek area.

South S h or

ive

Hooker Chemical Co. (Occidental/OxyChem) was “the primary source of contamination” for White Lake, according to the U.S. EPA. Discharges from the site polluted the lake with chloroform, tetrachloride and volatile organic and chemical compounds.

Whitehall Leather Co. began dumping cow hides into Tannery Bay in 1866 and heavy metals in 1944, according to the EPA. Chromium levels 200 times normal and arsenic levels 100 times normal were found, according to the MDEQ, as well as sediment described as “purple mayonnaise.”

Muskegon Chemical Co. (Koch Chemical Co.), an EPA Superfund site. Volatile organic compounds leaked into the groundwater, which ﬂowed into Mill Pond Creek in the vicinity of residential wells.

(Edward Riojas/MLive.com)

Remedial Action Plans prepared by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, with major help from the White Lake Public Advisory Council in developing delisting targets and implementing the plans. • In 2010, the Muskegon Conservation District got a $2.1 million grant from the EPA’s Great Lakes Restoration Initiative that was used toward seven habitat restoration projects. Those restored 5,100 linear feet of shorelines, created and restored 35 acres of wetland and aquatic habitat, reconnected

8 acres of upland and riparian corridors, and removed more than 27,000 cubic yards of shoreline and submerged debris. In 2010, Muskegon Conservation District Executive Director Jeff Auch said it might have speeded up delisting by 10 to 20 years. • In 2002, the state and Whitehall Leather Co. split the $6.7 million cost of removing 73,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment from Tannery Bay. More dredging was done in 2013 after more purple-red sediment was found, costing

about $1 million. • Koch Chemical (formerly Muskegon Chemical) agreed in 2005 to install a new well for the city of Whitehall because of groundwater contamination.

Q drinking water. A•••A Clean Fish safer to eat. cleaner lake safe to swim

What are some of the environmental benefits of White Lake’s restoration?

in and boat on. • A restored ecosystem — not what it was in 1800, but vastly improved.

4760494-02

muskegonfindnsave.mlive.com

MUSKEGON CHRONICLE / SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2014 / A7

White Lake Rising MONTAGUE TOWNSHIP

Hooker site shows steady recovery from dark past By John S. Hausman

jhausman@mlive.com

Thirty-five years ago, the Hooker Chemical Co. site north of White Lake was the scene and the source of the worst environmental disaster in White Lake’s history. Today, with its contamination contained, the long-closed chemical manufacturer’s 880-acre site in Montague Township has — in the words of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — been transformed “into thriving wetland, prairie and woodland habitat.” The Occidental Chemical/Hooker site transformation is a case study in the ongoing recovery of the White Lake area. From a dark past that culminated in its 1985 listing as one of the worst toxic hot spots in the Great Lakes, chiefly because of Hooker, White Lake has been restored to the point where it’s about to be removed from the international list known as the Great Lakes Areas of Concern. A May 9 tour of the Occidental site with a group of officials, including Michigan Department of Environmental Quality Director Dan Wyant, showed how much the site has changed in a little more than a generation. It’s now, in effect, a private nature preserve with a carefully restored habitat. The site is managed by Glenn Springs Holdings Inc., an Occidental subsidiary. The now-scenic property on both sides of Old Channel Trail has become a sanctuary for birds and wildlife — including a

The site of the former Hooker Chemical Co. plant is viewed during a tour of White Lake on the W.G. Jackson research vessel July 12. The tour offered information on the lake’s pending delisting as one of the Great Lakes Areas of Concern. (Madelyn Hastings/MLive.com)

scarlet tanager, a brilliantly colored songbird that’s not a common sight in West Michigan, that lit on a branch during the tour. The plans are to keep the property as a non-public sanctuary forever. For the never-developed portion along the White Lake shoreline, south of Old Channel Trail, that intention was memorialized in a 2011 conservation easement mandated by the EPA. The property, like other spots around White Lake, received extensive habitat restoration and beautification in 2011-12 through a federal Great Lakes Restoration Initiative grant. The restored Occidental site in 2011 became the subject of a case study by the EPA’s Resource Conservation and Recovery Act program.” In effect, the property was presented as a good role model for other site managers of contaminated properties. For all its natural beauty today, the property still has an abundance of toxic chemicals on and beneath

it — safely contained but, short of an unforeseen advance in cleanup technology, unlikely ever to be eliminated. On the site is the huge, pyramid-shaped containment vault locals dubbed the “Temple of Doom” when it was built in 1980-82. The clay-lined, earth-covered vault, containing nearly a million tons of toxic soil and other materials, has never shown a flaw since it was built. Beneath the site is a plume of contaminated groundwater that may remain for thousands of years under current technology, according to the EPA. That, too, is contained, with purge wells keeping the poisoned water from spreading to the lake and drinking wells, and an on-site treatment system decontaminating it as it is pumped out of the ground. In 2010, the EPA estimated more than 500 tons of tainted soil might remain on the portion of the site north of Old Channel Trail, with C-56,

chloroform and other toxic chemicals still seeping into the groundwater. The agency estimated contamination could remain for another 10,000 years under current technology. Every three years, the EPA re-evaluates the remediation technology and methods used on the site and decides if changes need to be made.

The site of the former Hooker Chemical Co. — also known in the White Lake area as “Temple of Doom” — is shown in 1982. The clay-lined vault seals in nearly a million tons of contaminated soil and other material cleaned up from the site in the early 1980s. (MLive.com ﬁles)

We’re making you an offer too healthy to refuse.

FREE EXAM

ONSITE LABS FOR

& X-RAYS

DENTURES IN DAYS 2

Call or visit AspenDental.com to schedule an appointment today.

MUSKEGON COUNTY

Temple of Doom, delisting — what does this stuﬀ mean? By John S. Hausman

Beneﬁcial use impairments: A list of probCertain baffling terms lems that impair, or are get used a lot in discuslikely to impair, an Area sions about the delisting of of Concern’s ability to Muskegon County’s White support aquatic life. Lake as a Great Lakes Area White Lake had eight (of of Concern — like “delista possible 14). All have ing” and “Great Lakes been removed in the past Areas of Concern.” few years. The last two, Here’s a short-and-sweet removed this spring, were glossary of what they loss of fish and wildlife mean. habitat and degradation Great Lakes Areas of of fish and wildlife populaConcern: An international tions. list of the most polluted White Lake Public areas in the Great Lakes Advisory Council (PAC): A region. It was created in council of area residents 1985 under the U.S.-Canada that provides information, Great Lakes Water Quality services and projects to Agreement and once num- improve the environmenbered 43 sites, now down tal quality of White Lake to 38. Michigan has 14 of and its watersheds. The them. The U.S.-Canada PAC advises government agreement defines them as agencies and voices local “areas that fail to meet the concerns. It was set up general or specific objecin 1992 with a grant from tives of the agreement the Muskegon office of the where such failure has Lake Michigan Federation caused or is likely to cause (now the Alliance for impairment of beneficial the Great Lakes). The use of the area’s ability to Muskegon Conservation support aquatic life.” District gives staff support. Toxic hot spots: A comThe White Lake PAC, more mon nickname for the active than those for most Areas of Concern. AOCs, has helped develop Delisting: Getting off the a series of Remedial Action Areas of Concern list. It’s Plans for the lake. a complicated, multi-stage Remedial Action Plans: process involving many Plans to protect and layers of approval, includrestore Areas of Concern. ing state, federal, a U.S.They are developed by govCanadian oversight agency ernment agencies in coopcalled the International eration with local PACs. Joint Commission and the White Lake has had plans U.S. State Department. and updates in 1987, 1995 First, a list of problems and 2008. called “beneficial use “Temple of Doom”: Local impairments” have to be nickname for huge clayremoved. Then, the agenlined vault at the former cies have to approve the Hooker Chemical Co. (now delisting. White Lake is in Occidental Chemical/ that last stage, with final OxyChem) site, sealing delisting expected in 2014. in nearly a million tons jhausman@mlive.com

of contaminated soil and other material cleaned up from the site in the early 1980s. The vault was part of a multimillion-dollar cleanup and remediation begun after a 1979 consent agreement ended a lawsuit by the state of Michigan against Hooker. Groundwater: Underground water in cracks and spaces of soil, sand and rocks, much of it from surface water that has seeped into the ground. It’s the source of water for springs and wells and can drain into lakes and streams. Much of it in the White Lake area was polluted by chemical waste until the 1980s, remains contaminated and likely will be for the foreseeable future. Purge, extraction and monitoring wells now stop contaminated groundwater from spreading into White Lake, its tributaries and drinking wells. Sediment: Mud and silt settled at the bottom of a lake, river or other body of water. Pollutants that get into the water settle in sediment and stay there until removed. Contaminated sediments have been removed over the years from the former Hooker Chemical and Whitehall Leather discharge sites. Eutrophication: Excessive richness of nutrients in a lake or other body of water, largely due to runoff from land, causing a dense growth of plant life and death of animal life from lack of oxygen. Remediation: Reversing or stopping environmental damage.

Call or visit AspenDental.com schedule an ST) appointment today. AMES ANKENY DEStoMOINES (14TH 515-509-2800 MUSKEGON 515-963-4343 515-953-6000 5350 S Harvey St. DES MOINES (MERLE HAY) WEST DES MOINES 231-722-8200 515-418-9848 515-327-7000 1

A+

New patients must be 18 or older to receive free exam and X-rays, a minimum $160 value. Minimum savings is based on a comprehensive exam and full X-ray series; the value of the savings will vary based on doctor recommendation. Discounts cannot be combined with other offers or dental discount plans. 2Some limitations may apply. See provider for details. Offer(s) must be presented at ﬁrst visit. Offers expire 10/31/14. ©2014 Aspen Dental Management, Inc. 4891909-01

RECYCLE

There’s not much you can do to bring down

GET A

INCENTIVE

SAVE UP TO

150

/YR

IN ENERGY COSTS

summertime temperatures. But you can bring down your summer energy costs by recycling your old refrigerator or freezer. Consumers Energy will haul it away for free, you’ll get $50 back and you’ll save up to $150 a year in energy costs. Add an old working room AC or dehumidiﬁer to your pickup and get an extra $15! For a FREE pickup, call (877) 270-3519 or visit www.ConsumersEnergy.com/recycle.

No appliance age restrictions. Refrigerators and freezers must be in working condition and must be a minimum of 10 cubic feet in size, utilizing inside measurements. Consumers Energy contracts with JACO Environmental, an appliance recycler, to pick up and recycle refrigerators and freezers that are in working condition. Funding for this program is limited. Customers must own the unit(s) being recycled. Room air conditioners and dehumidiﬁers must be collected during a refrigerator or freezer home pick-up. Limit of two large and two small appliances accepted per account per year. A check will be mailed to the customer within four to six weeks after the appliance collection. See website for details. Available to Consumers Energy residential electric customers. © 2014 Consumers Energy 4814090-01