Washtenaw County will soon review a proposal from Green for Life (GFL) to operate a NEW LANDFILL in Salem Township for the next 50+ years. The Conservancy Initiative cautions county officials to do their due diligence, including speaking directly with EGLE about the current landfill's environmental performance.
GFL recently told the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners that they plan to "remediate" the PFAS‑contaminated wetlands at Arbor Hills. Fire-fighting foam contaminated the wetlands a decade ago - GFL has owned the landfill since 2020. This is not a sign of corporate responsibility; it is a belated response to hard data gathered by The Conservancy Initiative (TCI) that shows how little GFL has done to prevent PFAS from entering Johnson Creek. TCI's water testing makes clear that PFAS‑laden stormwater continues to leave the site, despite GFL's public relations claims.
In late 2025, GFL went so far as to assert that PFAS levels in its stormwater discharge did not exceed water quality standards, yet when EGLE requested the data to back up this claim, GFL admitted that no such data exist. Making sweeping assurances about compliance while keeping no records to prove it is not environmental stewardship; it is a serious abdication of responsibility. Until GFL produces credible monitoring results showing that PFAS concentrations meet applicable standards, its discharges must be presumed to be out of compliance and ongoing. (Contacts at EGLE have been made available to the Washtenaw County Commissioners – please call them.)
Johnson Creek, the area’s only cold water trout stream. should not serve as a drain for a landfill.
Every PFAS‑related action GFL has taken—including this latest wetlands announcement—has occurred only after TCI and the public put a spotlight on its PFAS discharges. This pattern underscores a disturbing reality: GFL is reacting to being caught, not leading on pollution prevention. TCI welcomes the long‑overdue cleanup of the on‑site wetlands at Arbor Hills, but there is no reason to believe these actions will fully stop PFAS from entering Johnson Creek.
GFL's own stormwater study identified the failure to contain and remove aqueous film‑forming foam (AFFF) used during a 2016 fire as the single largest source of PFAS contamination in site runoff—yet even that study demonstrates the AFFF is not the only source.
The Arbor Hills property is widely contaminated with PFAS. Every inlet to the main stormwater detention pond—including those capturing runoff directly from the landfill—showed PFAS levels in excess of those standards. This is not an isolated problem; it is a systemic failure to control PFAS across the entire property.
Given this record, The Conservancy Initiative urges EGLE to require GFL to significantly strengthen its PFAS controls and transparency:
Immediately implement monthly testing of all stormwater discharges from Arbor Hills, with full public access to the test results so residents and regulators can track GFL's progress—or lack of progress—over time.
Issue a General Administrative Consent Order for Addressing PFAS in stormwater discharges at Arbor Hills, ensuring that enforceable deadlines, corrective actions, and clear consequences are in place if GFL continues to fall short.
Only binding, enforceable requirements—not voluntary promises—will compel GFL to finally confront, rather than conceal, the PFAS contamination it has allowed to spread from Arbor Hills into Johnson Creek and the surrounding community.