If those who work for the federal and state governments wonder why some people don't think the system isn't always looking out for their best interests, consider the case of a deep-injection well proposed for Mayfield Township.
Team Completion Services LLC of Kalkaska has applied for a permit to convert a brine disposal well in Mayfield Township, just outside Kingsley, to take landfill leachate, the liquid runoff created when it rains or snow melts at a landfill.
Right now, the well takes in brine waste produced by oil and gas wells.
Although the state has yet to make a decision, the federal Environmental Protection Agency -- before a public hearing has even been held on the issue -- has said it has made up its mind and will grant a permit.
EPA permit writer William Bates said his agency will thoroughly check the surface casing of the well to ensure it "will protect the lowest known underground source of drinking water," he said. "The risk is very small."
When we're talking about the water we drink, "very small" is a relative term. But before anyone from the public even gets to ask a question about the wells and the permit process, the EPA has made up its mind. So what's the point of asking?
Maybe that's why the EPA originally scheduled the public input session to be held April 7 at Mill Creek Elementary School off M-72 in Williamsburg, 25 miles from Kingsley.
Mayfield- and Kingsley-are residents were not amused.
"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.
Mayfield clerk Lucile Zenner was blunt: "It doesn't make any sense," she said.
It did to the EPA.
Lisa Perenchio, an EPA section chief, said "We try to do it so people can show up." Not easily, perhaps.
She said the EPA chose Mill Creek because it's held public hearings there before, specifically for a permit that would allow a nearby well -- nearby to Williamsburg, that is -- to take fruit processing wastewater.
"In my opinion, 25 miles away is not denying people access to the meeting," Perenchio said.
It's not making it any easier, either. And it simply didn't make any sense. Why not right down the street?
The EPA finally relented, and a hearing will now be held at St. Mary Hannah School, 2912 W. M-113; a date and time have not yet been set.
Michigan already has two existing commercial disposal wells for non-hazardous industrial waste, in Johannesburg and Pinconning.
None of this will change decisions about the well, but it sure as heck will make people wonder if those in the know really know.
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