Ludington City Council Ignores the Pere Marquette Bayou's Contamination Report

[XLFD]

I made what I thought was an important announcement at the city council meeting, but not one councilor commented on it, nor did any of our local media look into it or report on it.  As usual, I used official documents, and as usual, there was no attempt at serious refutation for what is a very serious matter that could affect the health of our own community.

Many of our community don't know or care that the City's wastewater plant and Oxychem had their permits for discharging wastewater expire in 2011.  They have gotten consent to continue dumping wastewater into the environment, but they have not always been in compliance with that during this last four years.  Yet, it is dangerous and scary when one looks just at the results for the PM Lake Bayou, that bayou lying between the Washington Street Bridge and Madison Street.

At the meeting of January 11, 2016, the attendance was high due to a concerted effort by both sides of a rezoning effort for an address on the north side of Washington Street.  Recognizing the dispute, I decided to get the first word in this night, so as to allow the other issue to not be interrupted by my pleas for action, transparency and accountability. 

The rest of this interesting two hour meeting will be covered at a later date, for now my comment on the problems of Ludington begins at the three minute mark, after Mayor Cox reminds us to please not engage the council in any meaningful dialogue.  Say your piece, sit down, and be likely ignored, unless you speak on behalf of the city.  The city officials would fail to acknowledge the DEQ report they asked for, and what it had in it throughout the meeting. 

January 11, 2016 Ludington City Council from Mason County District Library on Vimeo.

Every new year brings with it a new hope, and I am hopeful that this year will see changes from what this council offered in 2015. In 2015, we saw the city council belittle the rights of our town's citizens by passing various ordinances regarding rental inspections, junk, and tall grass. The objectives of such ordinances are great, but the laws themselves left little regards for the basic rights our country holds dear in regards to due process and the sanctity of our private property.

We also witnessed an assault on our small business owners, whether it were the scores of landlords who made their views known about how they and their customers would be affected by rental inspection, the Texas college girl you ran out of town after giving her permission to sell her educational books here, or all of the businesses who you have engaged in unfair competition with while using taxpayer dollars and your considerable power to your advantage.

We have seen that our officials receive favorable treatment from their assessor in regards to taxes while our unimproved and vacant lots go up 20-fold in taxes in a matter of a few years, we have seen what many years of neglect will cost us in the future in regards to our water and sewer rates, those rates determined by a consultant hired by our city attorney and paid tens of thousands of our tax dollars well before this council determined it needed those services.

I brought up ten undisputed reasons why our city manager deserved to be fired earlier last year, they still stand proudly unrefuted, but you impotently failed to correct that at the last meeting of 2015.

Now, I generally am not what anyone would call an environmentalist, but when bad things happen in my community, and affects my neighbors and myself, I can quickly become one. Five years ago, the city manager was apprised that the discharge permit for the Wastewater treatment plant would not be renewed. Was this topic openly shared with the community until this last year so that we could decide how to best correct it? Were city resources being used to correct it, other than haggling with the state DEQ and DNR over an acceptable compromise, with the state arguing on behalf of our citizen's safety.

Our treated wastewater gets reintroduced back to us through a discharge pipe that enters an almost stagnant river bayou. The plant itself has been tested with unacceptable levels of ammonia and heavy metals, and yet the city sits on this information, keeping the results and the potential hazards away from the people. It may remind some of the crisis happening in Flint, and that would not be far off.

The city, on bequest of several private citizens asked for a Brownfield Redevelopment Assessment report one year ago for the Pere Marquette Lake Bayou between Washington and Madison Streets. Testing was conducted this last summer, and a report was made on September 17, 2015. Nearly four months later, the city has yet to acknowledge or comment on the results of that report.

Ideally, city leaders would not be ignoring the report, which claims a significant amount of contamination, but rather bringing it to the public's attention. But the modus operandi of Ludington has been secrecy and back room negotiations between our Grand Rapids and Manistee lawyers and the state, while our management team runs cover for them. Nobody in the mix has our own interests at heart because of their distance from the problems.

A brief review of the 480 page report shows many organic and inorganic pollutants in the murk underneath this bayou, which has effectively been a catch basin for many of the historic industrial discharges in the area, allowed to do so by the laxer ecological regulations of the past.

Despite the rupture of the Madison sewer line during the flood of 2008 which led to the dumping of raw sewage into the bayou, and the public dock the city maintains thereon, the city has done nothing to correct what it's neglect and misuse of this natural treasure has wrought.

The sediment samples show that the minimum reporting levels of pollutants are well exceeded throughout the bayou. Lead in the water has been the topic in Flint. One sample in the bayou had lead levels 330 times the reporting level. Does that concern you? One sample had mercury levels at 21 times the minimum reporting levels. Mercury is one of the most harmful pollutants faced by fish and wildlife. Does that deserve to be looked into further?

[This is where I was cut off, the mayor apparently not believing that official reports on a polluted area in the middle of the city was not all that important.  I conclude my prepared speech here.]

"Here's a full list of inorganic pollutants found at above reportable levels in the sediment below the bayou: arsenic, barium, cadmium, chromium, copper, lead , mercury, selenium, silver, zinc-- basically each one they test for. At highly elevated levels-- zinc in one sample was 440 times the reportable levels.

Organic pollutants fall primarily in the carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon class: pyrene, fluoranthene, phenanthrene, chrysene, benzanthracene, naphthalene, isophorone, hexachloroethane, fluorene, anthracene, acenapthylene, acenaphthene, benzofluoranthene, three different ethers, and a few others more hard to pronounce. It also includes two PCB's Aroclor 1016 and Aroclor 1260.

Please keep the public informed and educated on the city's actions and negotiations with the state for mitigating this lethal chemical cocktail in the middle of our city. Thank you."

You may have seen a strange boat with strangely cladded people on the PM Bayou this summer taking sediment samples, in order to complete their report.  The 480 page report is difficult to wade through, and even more unwieldy large to be loaded on this platform or even Facebook.  It was originally accessed through the DEQ by an interested party, who received the link to it, and a special username and password that will expire.  I will gladly help any interested party get their own copy of it. 

But the vast majority of the report are lists of chemicals, elements involving numbers and codes-- it's not easy reading.  The narrative of the report is also hard to decipher as to their overall conclusions from the tests other than whether it qualifies as a facility and other legal technicalities as to its 'brownfield' status. 

Be that as it may, there is a lot of information in the packet, but it needs to be gathered and looked at in more thoroughness than what the DEQ, because their objective was not necessarily to see whether this area was a danger onto itself or the community as a whole.  As noted in my comment, the extent of the contamination was mostly inorganic metallic elements.  But arsenic and organic PCB and PAH pollutants were also present and at disturbing levels. 

The following map took a little while to make with the data, but is a good plotting of the extent of the pollution as tested in the sediments cored from the bayou.  The various colors indicate certain pollutants, and the size of the 'dot' in an area indicates the concentration of that pollutant in that test area, as noted in the key on the map's left.  The smallest dot indicates that the concentration is only one to five times the minimum reportable level (MRL). 

The MRL being exceeded is the indication that you have a problem.  The largest dot indicates the MRL is exceeded over a factor of 100 times.   This means the problem is likely fairly significant, lead, zinc, and barium levels quite often got in this range throughout the bayou.  The 'dots' are clustered around the sediment testing site, and you can tell by this map how corrupted an area is by the mass of these dots combined.  A key to the colors and what they stand for are below the map.

Pink- Zinc

Yellow- Lead

Black- Organic pollutants (each dot indicates a different compound)

Blue- Arsenic

Aqua- Copper

Red-  Mercury

Lavender- Barium

Burgundy- Cadmium

Lime- Chromium

Silver- Silver

A couple of things are apparent.  The organic pollutants are on the south side of the bayou, lead is prevalent throughout and mostly concentrated.  The worst areas appear where the bayou is deeper. 

The report also did core sampling from the shoreline area the city owns.  They did five different core samples in these land areas, and they had pollutants present also.  Land samples look at different metals and organic compounds.  Here the color code remains the same as above, with the exception that 'red' now stands for elevated levels of iron, and olive green stands for metals other than the ones listed that fall over the MRL.  These include not only cadmium and barium, but others like antimony, beryllium, cobalt, manganese, molybdenum, nickel, selenium, thallium, and vanadium. 

As noted in my comment, the levels of these pollutants are a matter of concern for those who use that area and beyond.  While the contamination seems to be getting worse going west in the bayou, the contamination looks to have nothing to do with the marina operations by the nature of what's found in the tests.  One wonders, how would the rest of PM Lake rate, being that they are even closer to what has been an active chemical production site for many years.

It should be noted also that this chemical company has or had it's own expired discharge permit that went bad in 2011 like the city's.  The white hills and multicolored pools at this facility rise above the lake, yet how is the public to know what we have going on over there?  Do we trust the state DEQ to be our watchdog like Flint's residents did, or do we all just accept it as the price of living in Ludington?

[AQUAMAN]

jfc has added a lot of valuable and scientific information to this thread. Likewise, Willy has added the pictures that depict the despicable facts of this horrific incident. Then we have the indisputable info. in the DNR reports. All this, and the problem with this city council remains mute, unknown, covered-up, ignored!!!  This is bedlum, KNOWN and PROVEN contamination into the billions of unacceptable percentages are in the bayou, and no single councilor nor Mayor will admit it, nor address it, to protect the citizens of Ludington. No single admission of guilt, not now, not then, and not ever. What the HELL does this say about our own local governing people??? What it says is that they value their own egos,  over the safety and health of the locals. This tiny incident, though it be very poisonous to us all, should show exactly where city of Lud. officials are in their mindset of us locals. They DO NOT CARE!!!!!! Tourist priorities must and still remain their ONLY CARE!!! About 300 views of cowards and political leaders, all looking, and doing absolutely nothing to resolve it to a favorable end. And these people are looking down their nose at the rest of us???????????

[XLFD]

Have you noticed that the people from the State of Michigan that are taking the fall for the Flint water crisis seem to be members of the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ)?  According to this article, New charges announced in Flint water crisis, five of the nine people charged by the Michigan Attorney General with felonious crimes due to their negligence and misconduct charges are in the DEQ.

Such widespread misconduct and neglect of duty charges show that it is probably rampant throughout this agency that is supposed to care for our 'environmental quality'.  Do you feel safe?  Can you look at the PM Bayou, can you read about the tons of raw sewage introduced to it recently, the historical pollution it received as the sediment records indicate, and then look at the raw data and an executive summary that says all is well and feel confident that you, your family and your neighbor are safe?

Can you look at our area's high incidence's of elevated lead levels in our kids, highest in the state by far in 2013, up near the top in the last years and surpassing the rates of Flint and believe there is not a problem somewhere?  Can you listen to our city manager, a clear perjuror, who once again lies to the public saying that tests conducted by their contracted minions indicate there is no lead in our drinking water, when these tests indicate there is, and honestly believe he is looking out for you?  Can you then look at communications from the DEQ to our citizens saying there is little to worry about because they have talked with Shay and don't believe there is a problem because of his sincerity in telling him there isn't?  Can you listen to all these officials and candidates saying they want millions and millions of $$$ poured into the questionable cosmetic changes of the West End Project, but tell you they can't afford to send a million or less to clean up a health hazard that affects not only the neighboring businesses, but the whole community's welfare?  I cannot, and I dub you as someone who truly hates Ludington if you can.

[AQUAMAN]

700 people actually looking down this? 

[Willy]

It's pretty hard to trust a State agency that is involved with such incompetence and it's no wonder the bayou has never been considered a problem by them but let's face it the Flint problem belongs to Flint. This is another example of a Democrat / liberal debacle which could have and should have been avoided. Flint's ruling class has known about this problem for years. Instead of replacing the pipes over a period of time as Lansing and other cities have done they chose to put a bandaid on the problem and it was only a matter of time before it blew up. Again, we the taxpayers are going to be paying for the incompetent and corrupt liberal politician's decisions. Anywhere Democrat / liberals control Goverment we can expect this kind of situation. All Democrat / liberal / progressive politicians should be required to take a mental competency test before they are given charge of any Governmental agency.

[Brad]

JFC, you and your family have endured a lot since 2008.  I highly commend you on your devotion to your family (I and others sure would do the same) and for all your battles.  I also side with you on not going the lawyer route, ...however..., I think time has come that you must seek out a great trustworthy lawyer and go after city and state for failures.  I'm sure there are lawyers that can and more that are interested now with the other DEQ problems.  

[XLFD]

It should be noted that my difficulties with the City of Ludington started in the middle of 2008, including legal issues, and I tried to resolve some complex issues with them for quite some time on the mistaken belief that they were working for the public's best interests.  I found, and I believe most anybody else will find, that the current City leadership will not do what's right even when presented with the facts.

My first legal filing did not come until late 2011 (after I had been personally attacked by the WSP and found the City willing to violate FOIA egregiously and repeatedly) culminating with the filing of my first FOIA lawsuit and formal retention of a quality lawyer to address the WSP issues the city forced on me.  Since then I have had to use an often hostile local court system, and even state appellate courts and federal courts, in order to find justice. 

Seeing that there will, at best, be only one new official that will seek to root out the ingrained corruption, I advise you to get as much information you can from state and local agencies via FOIA and consider all your legal options once you get that.  If you get stonewalled, you may find that legal discovery is even a better way to get more information.  Maybe next time jfc123 is up in town, he can invite me over for vittles with the family and we can discuss options. 

[jfc123]

 lol, Sounds like a good plan XLFD, just need to know what your vittle preference is, we really could use some help! Thank you! I just can not believe what is going on there for the last decade?

[XLFD]

I'm not picky, just regale me with the house specialty or fire up the Barbie.  Just let me know when and we can negotiate a mutually convenient time, maybe after a mutually attended LCC meeting where we can already be in the mood for action. 

[jfc123]

Thank you Brad, it is rare in my battle lately to be encouraged and not attacked, makes it a bit rough. But I agree with you and hope to find a good honest attorney

!

[shinblind]

In case you missed it Margie;

http://ludingtoncitizen.ning.com/forum/topics/timeline

http://ludingtoncitizen.ning.com/forum/topics/pm-bayou-deq-report-c...

my comments  to the above

And X's lead report above which as far as I know the city sandbagged  by testing this time for PCB's contamination while ignoring the earlier findings of  PM bayou being contaminated  with Benzo[a]pyrene a known carcinogen with no safe level for human contact. 

Tack onto this fluctuations in the water level of Lake Michigan which recently uncovered some of the bottom sediments PM bayou exposing them to human contact and will again some day in the future.

[XLFD]

Sorry to burden you with even more defecation, Margie, but my article Bypassing the Truth shows exactly how little our city leaders cared about a 2 million gallon raw sewage spill in 2012, where John Shay proudly boasted at a city council meeting that they bypass-pumped raw sewage from a spill into the PM Lake, an action that has resulted in million dollar fines and years of imprisonment for others who have been involved in much smaller magnitude spills. 

Unfortunately, you almost have to get the MI Attorney General's Office to prosecute these spills, and this agency under Schuette doesn't seem to be interested in such things, unless they can get a lot of press from it.

[AQUAMAN]

Over 1,000 hits on this thread now, and still no actions to clean up the PM Bayou, as well as the job of City Mgr.. Ludington, under this man, has become one of the most toxic, unethical, illegal, and infested small governments in the history of Michigan. A totally irresponsible and egotistical individual appointed here for about 15 years, has put Ludington back in time by 50 years or more, and still, nothing changes. Locals should be protesting and up in arms over what is happening, right under everyones' eyes.