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    INJECTION WELL
March 11, 2010

EPA moving Mayfield well hearing closer

BY SHERI McWHIRTER

KINGSLEY -- Federal regulators will reschedule a public hearing to discuss a deep-injection disposal well at a location much closer to the well site.

Public complaints prompted U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials this week to switch sites for a hearing on a Kalkaska company's request to accept landfill leachate in a well in Grand Traverse County's Mayfield Township.

The EPA originally scheduled the hearing for a site in the northern part of the county, at least 25 miles from the industrial well.

"I feel if it's something going on in Mayfield Township, I want it presented here in Mayfield Township, not in Williamsburg," said John Ockert, township supervisor.

A hearing instead will be held at St. Mary's Hannah School, 2912 W. M-113, though a date and time are still unknown, EPA officials said.

If approved, the Mayfield site would be the third such well in Michigan to accept landfill leachate, or so-called non-hazardous industrial waste.

Team Completion Services LLC applied to state and federal regulators for a landfill leachate permit for its well near the Miller Road and M-37 intersection about six miles west of Kingsley.

The change would allow the company's well to not only accept brine water from oil and gas operations, but also take landfill leachate from Glen's Landfill in Leelanau County.

A hearing scheduled for April 7 at Mill Creek Elementary School in Williamsburg didn't sit well with Mayfield residents.

"It almost sounded to me like they wanted to get it out of the area far enough so they could pass whatever they want without any public input," said Wayne Bancroft, who lives near the well in Mayfield Township.

Mayfield Township board members met Monday, discussed the issue and launched efforts to get the hearing moved closer to home.

"I was kind of surprised to find out about it. We didn't receive any direct notification," said Phil Scott, the township's planning commission chairman. "They've agreed to reschedule and I appreciate that. At least we'll have a fair hearing and the citizens of Mayfield Township will have the opportunity to share their thoughts."

Federal officials received a number of requests to move the hearing, said Rebecca Harvey, a water division branch chief for the EPA.

"We felt there was enough public concern about the location that it was a good thing to do, the right thing to do. We definitely want to be responsive to the concerns of the public," Harvey said.

Officials with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment have not decided whether to approve the well reclassification. But the EPA intends to do so unless other data suggests their analysis is wrong, said William Bates, EPA permit writer.

One concern among residents is the history of brine spills at the well and its impact on the area.

Rick Henderson, DNRE district supervisor, said brine surface spills have occurred there on occasion since the well was drilled in 1982.

"There have been some minor problems out there that have been taken care of, as far as I know," Henderson said.

Surface spills resulted in low-level chlorides in the soil and groundwater at levels above residential drinking water criteria. The company since upgraded the facility to include a secondary containment system and officials now await results from recent sample testing, Henderson said.

Brine essentially is salt water, so spills didn't create a danger, he said.

That's not much comfort to residents who now worry about landfill leachate spills.

"They are very upset. They don't want something like that dumped down there without some more information," Ockert said. "I'm not real thrilled about them pumping anything else underground."

Bancroft agreed.

"I don't care how careful you are. There are human errors," he said.

Landfill leachate could be injected about 2,000 feet beneath the surface into Traverse limestone for at least 10 years if the well reclassification is approved.

Related Stories:
- Company wants disposal well for leachate
- Mayfield well hearing to be in Williamsburg

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