United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Public meeting
EPA in cooperation with Michigan
Department of Environmental
Quality will hold a meeting to update
you on activities at the site:
Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009
7 p.m.
North Central Michigan College
Library Conference Rooms 1 & 2
1515 Howard St.
Petoskey
For more information
You may review site documents and
other site information at:
Petoskey Public Library
Reference Desk
500 E. Mitchell
Petoskey
Web sites:
www.epa.gov/region5/sites/
littletraverse
http://epaosc.net/BayHarborCKD
Contact EPA
For questions, comments or for
special accommodations at the
meeting contact:
Dave Novak
EPA Community Involvement
Coordinator
Region 5 Superfund
800-621-8431, Ext. 67478,
9:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m., weekdays
novak.dave@epa.gov
Region 5 address:
EPA Region 5
77 W. Jackson Blvd.
Chicago, IL 60604
Update on Investigation and
Cleanup Activities
Little Traverse Bay CKD Release Site
Petoskey, Michigan
January 2009
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will hold a public meeting Jan. 29 to
update the community about ongoing cleanup activities at the Little Traverse
Bay CKD Release site. At the meeting (see adjacent box for details), EPA
will discuss a draft document outlining the investigation and cleanup options.
The document is referred to as a "remedial investigation/feasibility study." It
deals with the East Park portion of the site. A remedial investigation is a study
of the nature and extent of contamination at a cleanup site, while the
feasibility study proposes cleanup options. EPA's acceptance of the two
studies will be contingent upon the completion of additional ground-water
sampling for mercury expected to be completed by early fall 2009. Ground
water is a term for underground supplies of fresh water. In 2004 EPA was
requested to provide assistance to state and local authorities when elevated
pH levels were found in liquid seeping into Lake Michigan from piles of
cement kiln dust or CKD buried under the site. A former cement processing
plant once operated on the shore of Little Traverse Bay.
EPA will also provide an update on the cleanup and containment activities
completed at the Bay Harbor portion of the site. CMS Land Co. and CMS
Capital LLC, the parties legally responsible for the pollution, have completed a
number of projects to deal with the CKD seepage or "leachate" working its
way into the bay. Under a legal agreement, CMS pays for the environmental
work at the site under EPA oversight. The Little Traverse Bay CKD Release
site has been divided into two parts - the development area (the Bay Harbor
Resort) and East Park (an area donated by Bay Harbor Development to
Resort Township for the creation of a park). Although work in both areas is
proceeding, the East Park location has been accelerated in order to return the
park to public use as soon as possible.
Trench work
Over the past year a lot of work has been done to enhance the trench system
built in 2005-2006 to collect and remove the leachate. In late 2007 EPA
directed CMS to fix some of the leachate collection systems because at some
locations high pH levels were still being found. At one of the locations,
referred to as the east end of seep 1, some leachate containing high pH levels
was getting under the trench and escaping into Lake Michigan. (See site
diagram on Page 2.) To fix this, a barrier wall was installed to stop the
leachate and redirect it into the trench. This project was completed in
November 2008.
Another location where high pH leachate was still being released was in an
area referred to as Pine Court. Because of the nature of the seepage in this
area, pipes were getting clogged. As a result, CMS proposed to conduct a pilot
study involving the installation of a well in the CKD pile to collect the
leachate. This approach is called targeted leachate collection. CMS completed
the installation of the targeted leachate collection well in May 2008 and has
been evaluating its effectiveness since. So far, this technique has proven
workable and if this continues more wells will be installed at Pine Court. A
third problem location is called the West CKD area. At this spot, there was
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some CKD material between the trench and the lake
triggering high pH levels. To fix this, the CKD material is
being dug up and will be taken off-site for disposal in an
approved landfill. This work is expected to be completed in
the next few months.
East Park
Removal activities that have been completed at the East
Park location include:
• The installation of two leachate collection
trenches.
• Excavation of CKD material in the eastern area of
East Park and consolidation of this material on the
western part of the park.
• Installation of a nonpenetrating clay and special
"geomembrane" cap over all areas of East Park
where CKD material remains.
• Construction of a water treatment building for
future use at the site.
• Installation of five ground-water diversion
wells to keep the underground water supplies
from coming in contact with the CKD and
generating contaminated leachate.
New infrastructure, storm drains and a new road
were also installed at the park. Ongoing activities at
the park include collection, pH adjustment in the on-
site treatment building, and off-site disposal of
leachate from the existing collection trenches.
Other cleanup activities being considered for the East
Park site include "natural attenuation" (essentially
allowing the leachate to be diluted in the ground
water), targeted leachate collection, ground-water
treatment (injecting carbon dioxide into the ground
water to neutralize it), treatment of collected leachate
at an on-site treatment plant followed by discharge
into Lake Michigan, and institutional controls to
restrict digging or site usage.
Site Diagram
East Park Cap and
Diversion Wells
East Park
West CKD Removal
Original
Edge Drain
Village Harbor Sump
Seep 2 Targeted
Leachate Collection
Village Harbor
SW Corner
West CKD Area •'
Pine
Court
Guardrail
Area
Seep 1
Seep 1 Area Barrier Wa||
Treatment
Facility
Treatment
Facility
Bay Harbor
Golf Club
Bay Harbor
Yacht Club
Bay Harbor
Equestrian Club
Leachate Collection Trenches
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Village Harbor
In 2006 EPA and CMS identified two areas within the
Village Harbor channel at the Bay Harbor Resort with
elevated pH in the surface water. These areas were
identified as the southwest corner area and the sump area
(See site diagram on Page 2.) CMS under EPA
oversight has been investigating these areas and in the fall
of 2008 began removal activities at the southwest corner.
This involved excavation and disposal of sediment (mud)
followed by installation of a clay cap. The southwest
corner removal activities were completed by CMS in
October 2008. CMS began the sump area removal in
November 2008. The sump area removal work involves
placement of a sand cover, followed by using a clay cap to
cover the sediment in the bottom of the Village Harbor
channel sump area. Completion of the removal activity in
the sump area has been suspended until this spring due to
winter weather.
Investigations
In order to determine how to clean up the site and where
to place the trenches and systems being used, CMS has
done a lot of sampling and investigation. To date, 314 soil
borings and 340 ground-water monitoring wells have
been installed, and a total of 1,300 soil, ground water and
surface water samples have been taken. A ground-water
computer model was also created to determine the flow
rate of the contaminants in the underground water
supplies. In addition, EPA is working with Michigan
Department of Environmental Quality to establish a
cleanup level for mercury at the site, and CMS is
working on methods to reduce and deal with mercury
levels.
Site history
The Little Traverse Bay CKD Release site is located
along a five-mile stretch of the Little Traverse Bay
shoreline of Lake Michigan, in an area previously used
for limestone mining and cement manufacturing
operations from about 1870through 1980. Cement kiln
dust is a byproduct of the cement manufacturing
process and is a fine, dry alkaline substance that may
contain metals at levels not found in the area's native
soil. Surface or ground-water contact with CKD can
produce runoff, referred to as leachate, with elevated
levels of pH and dissolved metals. CKD material was
dumped on the site in large stockpiles. The Bay
Harbor Resort was built on top of the former industrial
site. In 2004, reddish-brown seeps were observed
along the Little Traverse Bay shoreline, prompting
MDEQ to investigate. Elevated pH levels were found
in leachate coming from piles of CKD at the site. At
that time, the Little Traverse Bay Bands of the Odawa
Indians requested the assistance of EPA.
In 2005, CMS signed a legal agreement with EPA to
investigate and clean up the contamination. In the legal
agreement, CMS agreed to a number of tasks including
providing site security and restricting access to areas
containing the high pH levels, studying the pollution and
constructing a system to collect the contaminated
seepage, and preventing new leachate releases. CMS
also had to ensure adequate financial resources were
available to complete these activities.
In 2005 and 2006 CMS installed seven trenches to
collect leachate along the Lake Michigan shoreline. (See
the diagram on Page 2 for the locations of the
trenches) The collected leachate was then pumped to
treatment facilities on-site where the leachate is
neutralized and trucked off-site for disposal. The
trenches at a few of the locations have since needed
more work, which is now being completed.
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For more information
For more information about the ongoing work at the site, you may contact:
Dave Novak
Community Involvement Coordinator
Superfund Division (P-19J)
EPA Region 5
77 W. Jackson Blvd.
Chicago, IL 60604-3590
312-886-7478 or
800-621-8431, Ext. 67478
9:30 a.m. -5:30 p.m. weekdays
dave.novak@epa.gov
Ross del Rosario
Remedial Project Manager
Superfund Division (SR-6J)
EPA Region 5
77 W.Jackson Blvd.
Chicago, IL 60604-3590
312-886-6195 or
800-621-8431, Ext. 66195
9:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. weekdays
delrosario.rosuaro@epa.gov
Brian Kelly
On Scene Coordinator
Emergency Response Branch (SE-GI)
EPA Region 5
9311GrohRoad
GrosseIle,MI 48138-1697
734-692-7684
kelly.brian@epagov
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