Over two years ago in April 2021, The Conservancy Initiative discovered the PFOS in the stormwater which collects at the Arbor Hills Landfill and is discharged to Johnson Creek. Our discovery was based on test results in a report prepared by a contractor for the landfill. The Conservancy Initiative received the information from EGLE as part of a FOIA request. The testing was conducted in March 2020. The results should have been immediately reported to EGLE as an issue and a response should have begun - this did not happen.
EGLE issued a Violation Notice in June 2021 based on the data in the contractor’s report. The Violation Notice and subsequent communications promised an Administrative Consent Order will be negotiated with Green for Life (GFL) which will set a path and timeline to remediate the issue and eliminate the non-compliant PFOS discharges.
For the past two years, The Conservancy Initiative has urged EGLE to require periodic (monthly) testing of the stormwater being discharged to Johnson Creek to measure the PFOS impacts and to track the progress (or lack of progress) towards remediating the issue. EGLE is unwilling to require periodic sampling and testing immediately but promises it will be required when an ACO is eventually completed.
It has been two years and The Conservancy Initiative has grown impatient. We began testing Johson Creek downstream of the landfill in May 2023 and found high levels of PFOS. A study by The Ecology Center and Friends of The Rouge found alarming levels of PFOS in a fish in Johnson Creek caught near Fish Hatchery Park.
It has been two years and we are not even measuring the PFOS impact to Johnson Creek.
Last week The Conservancy Initiative tried a different tact. We bypassed EGLE and sent a letter directly to GFL to ask them to start periodically sampling and testing their discharges to Johnson Creek.
Our letter is posted below. A similar letter was sent by Mark Abbo, Northville Township Supervisor and we are working on making this letter available also. We will follow up with GFL if we don’t hear a response and will keep the community updated.
July 14, 2023
[SENT VIA EMAIL]
<CLICK HERE> for a pdf version of the letter
Dave Seegert
General Manager, Arbor Hills Landfill
Green for Life Environmental
10690 West Six Mile Road
Northville, MI 48168
Mr. Seegert,
The Conservancy Initiative understands that the PFAS[1] issues at the Arbor Hills Landfill (AHL) are complicated
and may take years to fully resolve. Because of the complicated nature of the PFAS issues, we believe remediation progress should be tracked by measuring the PFAS impacts on the environment outside the landfill (e.g. PFAS discharges to Johnson Creek, PFAS in perimeter groundwater wells, and PFAS discharges to the sanitary sewer). Ultimately, the PFAS leaving the landfill is the best measurement of the remediation progress at the landfill.
The Conservancy Initiative requests Green for Life (GFL) implement a program of monthly monitoring (sampling and analysis) of the stormwater effluent from AHL to track the progress of the PFAS remediation at the landfill. We suggest analysis for the normal array of PFAS chemicals and test results be promptly reported to EGLE via the MIEnviro Portal database to make the results available to the public.
The suggested monitoring program is intended to be an early start of the monitoring EGLE intends to include in a future Administrative Consent Order (ACO). Beginning the monitoring now will gather additional data to help:
Track remediation progress (did remediation of Pond 1 or 2 reduce the PFAS impacts?)
Document no additional PFAS releases are taking place (similar to the Aug 2022 release)
Demonstrate GFL’s commitment to the environment and the local community
Allow GFL to demonstrate compliance with water quality standards (PFOS <12 ng/l
Discussion
As you are aware, EGLE issued a Violation Notice to GFL in June 2021 for the landfill's stormwater discharge exceeding Water Quality Standards for PFOS. To comply with the Violation Notice, GFL agreed to accept the concept of an ACO to set a pathway and a deadline for AHL to return to compliance with water quality standards. As part of GFL’s response, a comprehensive study was conducted that determined the most likely source of the PFOS contamination at AHL is the Aqueous Film Forming Fire (AFFF) suppressant used during a fire at the facility in 2016.
Another potential source of PFOS impacting Johnson Creek was demonstrated by a leachate spill that occurred during a thunderstorm in August of 2022. A Violation Notice was issued for this spill which required extensive remediation and verification testing, including periodic monitoring of the groundwater wells on the southern property lines over the next two years to verify the spill did not impact groundwater.
Every publicly available analysis[2],[3],[4],[5],[6] characterizing the stormwater discharge from AHL (that we are aware of) into Johnson Creek since 2020 has exceeded water quality standards for PFOS. AHL is assumed to be exceeding PFOS water quality standards until a compliant analysis is obtained. A monitoring program would allow AHL to better understand how PFOS concentrations are impacted by rain events, and remediation efforts and potentially demonstrate compliance with water quality standards.
The monitoring program will eventually begin as EGLE intends to require monitoring the stormwater effluent in the ACO they negotiate. Starting the program early would be a low-cost, good-faith gesture to both EGLE and the affected communities.
We look forward to your response and are willing to discuss our proposal with your team and/or EGLE at your convenience.
Regards,
/s/
David Drinan
Vice President
The Conservancy Initiative
[ALL VIA EMAIL]
cc: [GFL] L. Berardicurti
[EGLE] A. Hendershott, S. Kammer, T. Myers, M. Konieczki, B. Zuber, B. Coulter, S. McAuliffe, S. Miller
[Northville Township] M. Abbo, C. Rossen, C. Jankowski, B. Belair, V. Torres, M. Cox, S. Price
[Plymouth Township] K. Heise
[City of Northville] Brian Turnbull
[Salem Township] G. Whittaker
[Washtenaw County] C. Lyte, T. Eggermont, E. Pratt
[State Legislators] D. Polehanki, M. Koleszar, J. Irwin, D. Lasinski, J. Morgan, R. Bayer
[The Conservancy Initiative] R. Lassel, D. Horan, R. Mummineni, J. Cordina
[Landfill Working Group At Large Members] L. Evans, R. Hwang, G. Balok
[Friends of the Rouge] M. McCormick
[1] In this letter, we use the acronyms PFAS and PFOS. PFAS refers to a large family of chemicals, Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances which are man-made chemicals that includes PFOA, PFOS, GenX, and many other chemicals. PFOS refers to a specific chemical, Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid, which is regulated in Michigan as a water contaminant.
[2] PFAS Site Characterization Report, Golder Associates Inc., Oct 2020
[3] First Interim Short Term Storm Water Characterization Study, Arbor Hills Landfill, GFL Environmental, December 3, 2021
[4] Response to August 31, 2022, EGLE Violation Notice, GFL Environmental, October 7, 2022
[5] PFOS Found in Johnson Creek near Landfill Discharge, June 23, 2023, The Conservancy Initiative
[6] EGLE Surface Water Sampling Interactive Map, August 4, 2021, EGLE