PETOSKEY -- A local tribe could become involved in plans to treat large-scale pollution at Bay Harbor Resort on Lake Michigan's Little Traverse Bay.
CMS Energy is responsible for treating contaminated groundwater at Bay Harbor Resort and may turn to the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians for help.
CMS currently trucks wastewater to Grand Traverse County's septage treatment plant in Traverse City, but wants to treat the pollution closer to the contamination site in Emmet County.
Tribal officials aren't specifying what role they could play.
"This is our bay as well as it is the community's. I want to be proactive about this. I see possibilities and responsibility," said Ken Harrington, tribal chairman.
Bay Harbor is a posh residential and golf resort built along the lakeshore above buried kiln dust from an old cement factory. Groundwater that soaks through the dust becomes caustic and contaminated with mercury, then drains into the bay.
Tribal officials will seek federal grants to assist with cleanup efforts, Harrington said.
Rachel Smolinski, tribal environmental services director, said plans should be explored to completely isolate and permanently contain kiln dust piles, along with continued efforts to handle the leachate.
CMS already has spent millions to collect leachate, reduce pH levels in the water and truck it away. The company annually spends hundreds of thousands of dollars to ship wastewater to Grand Traverse County's financially struggling septage plant -- which does not treat the water but passes it along for treatment at a Traverse City facility -- but would prefer a local option.
"We welcome the tribe's support for a local solution to a local concern. Economic assistance that may be available from the federal government or other providers would certainly be something we would consider," said Tim Petrosky, CMS area manager.
CMS wants to treat the waste on-site or at Petoskey's wastewater treatment plant. A third option is a nearby deep-injection disposal well, Petrosky said.
The company planned such a well near Alba in Antrim County for waste disposal, but local opposition and legal challenges halted that notion.
John Richter, president of Friends of the Jordan River Watershed, said he's "delighted" at the latest turn.
His nonprofit group led the charge, along with Antrim County and Star Township officials, to fight CMS on the Alba well. Richter's group is "cautiously optimistic" a local option will be found instead, he said.
The primary funding stream for Grand Traverse County's septage treatment plant will dry up, should that happen.
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