Traverse City Record-Eagle

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October 2, 2010

Deep-injection well decision expected soon

Company applied to reclassify well for landfill leachate

BY Sheri McWhirter smcwhirter@record-eagle.com

KINGSLEY — A final decision is expected this month from federal environmental regulators about proposed changes to a deep-injection well in Grand Traverse County's Mayfield Township.

Kalkaska-based Team Completion Services applied this year to reclassify its existing brine-disposal well to accept landfill leachate from Glen's Landfill in Leelanau County. Hundreds attended a public hearing in April to oppose the request and the EPA received more than 250 public comments about the well site that's already experienced past contamination issues.

"There's a lot of concern up there, and I understand that," said Bill Bates, permit writer for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Chicago.

Bates said a "fair bit" of the comments were technical in nature, while many were from residents concerned about their proximity to the waste well. A document with responses to public comments will be released by month's end with the EPA's final decision on the reclassification request.

"My hope is that if it is approved, that the residents of Mayfield Township and Mayfield Township itself will have adequate, independently verifiable information that there would be no additional contamination at the site," said Phil Scott, the township's planning commission chairman.

He hopes the EPA denies the request, in part because not all immediate neighbors to the well were notified of the proposed operational change and public hearing. That violates the EPA's own administrative rules, Scott contends.

Officials from Team Completion Services did not return calls for comment.

Bates said EPA officials inspected more than 100 other injection wells and drinking-water wells in the area, and determined the well in question would be limited to a maximum injection of 42 gallons per minute — around 60,480 gallons per day. The well is about six miles west of Kingsley near Miller Road and M-37.

"We did not find any drinking-water wells that penetrate the injection zone or confinement zone," Bates said.

Meanwhile, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment also hasn't taken action on the proposal. The state is waiting for the EPA to complete its response to public comments, DNRE geologist Ray Vugrinovich said.

Vugrinovich said the company's request is scientifically sound.

"We have no reason to deny the permit," he said.

There is a 30-day period following the EPA's decision during which appeals may be submitted to its Environmental Appeals Board.

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