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Black Bear to request township apply
for sewer grant;
DEQ responds to concerns
while permit delayed
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Concerned citizens raised questions about the
possible impact of the proposed Mt. Bohemia sewage treatment
system on these wetlands near the proposed site of the lagoons and
spray irrigation area. Developer Black Bear plans to request that
Grant Township apply for grant money to fund the system. (Keweenaw
Today file photo)
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MARQUETTE ’Äì
The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality has
responded to questions concerning Black Bear
Entertainment, Adventure & Recreation
Company’Äôs discharge permit application for the
proposed Mt. Bohemia sewage treatment system. In its
’ÄúSummary of Comments and Responses’Äù document,
the DEQ answers questions raised both before and
after the January 24, 2001, public hearing on the
Part 31 Groundwater Discharge Permit application.
However, certain issues, such as the ownership of
the land where the developer proposes to build the
lagoon and spray irrigation system, have delayed
issuance of the permit. Meanwhile, Black Bear
intends to request that Grant Township apply for
government grant money to fund the system,
although the Part 31 application is intended
for a private system.
.
The Grant Township Board will
consider the request at their meeting scheduled for
7 p.m. on Wednesday, April 11, at the Copper Harbor
Community Building. Grant Township Supervisor Ken
Korhorn said he was not sure what response the board
would make to the request. The agenda
for the meeting allows for public comment to follow
a presentation by Black Bear President Lonie
Glieberman.
’ÄúThere are many who wonder
what benefit there would be for Grant Township (to
apply for the grant(s),’Äù Korhorn said Tuesday.
Korhorn said he was not sure
which granting agencies would be involved. Last
year, at about this time, Crosswinds, Inc., (Black
Bear’Äôs parent company) requested that the Keweenaw
County Board of Commissioners apply for state and
federal grants totaling more than $900,000 to fund
the Mt. Bohemia sewage treatment system, but the
board voted against it after receiving advice on
liability from Keweenaw County Prosecuting Attorney
Donna Jaaskelainen. The potential grant applications
at that time were addressed to the Economic
Development Administration (federal funds under the
United States Department of Commerce) and to the
Michigan Economic Development Corporation (state
funding known as the Community Development Block
Grant, or CDBG).
Lac La Belle residents Guy and
Betty Snyder were among the local residents who
wrote letters to the DEQ opposing the Mt. Bohemia
sewer system plans. Their main concern is that any
break or malfunction in the system could pollute Lac
La Belle, the Montreal River and Lake Superior, as
well as residents’Äô water supply. Guy Snyder said
Monday he would not be in favor of Grant Township
applying for the grant.
’ÄúThey turned it down at the
county level,’Äù Guy Snyder said. ’ÄúWhy should
Grant Township take that responsibility on their
own?’Äù
Randy Conroy, DEQ senior
district geologist in the Waste Management Division,
Marquette office, said if Black Bear, through the
township, applies for a grant to fund the wastewater
treatment system, that could delay both issuance of
the Part 31 permit and construction of the system.
While a Part 31 discharge permit is for a private
system, Conroy, who has been reviewing the permit
application, said his preference would be to define
the system as public if Black Bear did apply for
grant money through the township. A public system
has more than one owner and normally requires a Part
41 construction permit.
’ÄúWe don’Äôt see how it could
be constructed this year if they delay by pursuing
the grant option,’Äù Conroy said. ’ÄúThat type of
delay jeopardizes the project as a whole.’Äù
Conroy noted the DEQ’Äôs
response to Question #4 in their ’ÄúSummary’Äù
document, concerning the Pump & Haul permit,
says, ’ÄúThe current structures at Mt. Bohemia and
restroom facilities are temporary. Temporary
provisions for wastewater treatment will not be
considered by the Department beyond the 2000-2001
ski season.’Äù
Thus, since the DEQ will not
issue a Pump & Haul, if Black Bear does not
complete construction of a lagoon system by the
beginning of the 2001-2002 season, their only option
would be to request an extension from the Western
Upper Peninsula Health Department for the temporary
restrooms
for which that Department granted a six-month
permit this season.
Said Conroy, ’ÄúWhether the
Health Department would or would not depends on how
safe they feel the operation has been and will be in
the future.’Äù
Conroy noted the main obstacle
to the DEQ issuing the Part 31 permit now is the
land ownership question ’Äì an issue that was raised at the January
24 public hearing on the permit
applications.
During the January hearing,
Vern Simula, chair of the Lake Superior Alliance,
pointed out that Black Bear had listed themselves as
owning the 60 acres of land selected for the lagoon
and spray irrigation system, but had not yet
purchased it from Lake Superior Land
Co./International Paper. Simula also noted the area
would have to be removed from Commercial Forest (CFR)
designation in order to conform to the Commercial
Forest Act.
Black Bear’Äôs attorney Frank
Ellias replied during that hearing that the
developer was negotiating a contract for the
purchase of the 60 acres of the treatment system and
discharge area and he expected the closing on the
property to be soon. It would then be removed from
CFR, he added. However, Black Bear apparently has
not purchased this property.
Conroy said the permittee must
either own the land or provide written permission
from the landowner to discharge on the property.
’ÄúThey have not provided the
current landowner’Äôs permission to discharge (nor
have they) purchased the property themselves,’Äù
Conroy said recently.
In his Feb. 8, 2001 letter to
Richard Wuori, project
manager for U.P. Engineers and Architects, Inc.,
Conroy said, ’ÄúPlease have the property owner
provide written permission to discharge on property
not owned by the applicant. As a condition of the
permit, Black Bear Entertainment Adventure and
Recreation Company, Inc. (BBEA&RC) would be
required to obtain an easement to access the land
for project construction and long-term maintenance
purposes. Alternatively, BBEA&RC can provide the
warranty or land contract identifying them as the
landowner.’Äù
It would also be the
responsibility of the landowner to remove the land
from CFR, which can take several months.
If the township applies for a
grant to fund the system, they become the permittee
for a discharge permit. The permittee must either
own the land or obtain permission from the landowner
to discharge the wastewater into the environment.
Simula said the DEQ responses
since the hearing illustrate the importance of
citizens’Äô role in the permit review process.
’ÄúCitizens raised issues that
the DEQ had apparently not considered, but all these
issues were critical to the adequacy of the permit
and also critical to assuring protection of Michigan
groundwater,’Äù he noted. ’ÄúThe land ownership was
a glaring inaccuracy and inadequacy in this
application.’Äù
Simula added the actual
location of the pipeline could have significant
implications for the county. His letter to the DEQ
mentioned a need for backup systems and emergency
response measures.
Margie Ring,
DEQ senior engineer in Waste Management, wrote to
Wuori on Feb. 8, 2001. After reviewing the plans and
specifications submitted by UP Engineers &
Architects with the application of Oct. 24, 2000,
Ring identified in her letter several deficiencies
to be addressed. The information she requested from
U.P. Engineers included:
¬…
providing
details on forcemain construction and
installation requirements, including clarification
of trench details;
¬…
providing an adequate alarm system
with battery backup power supply for periods of
power failure and with warnings for pump failure,
power failure, high or low water, seal failure and
unauthorized entry;
¬…
making pump stations accessible to
maintenance vehicles;
¬…
improving strength and durability of
the proposed forcemain material;
¬…
amending construction plans to move
the pond level control structure further west to
allow for better mixing within the lagoons;
¬…
including in the pond level control
structure an unvalved emergency overflow with
provisions for discharge to the environment and
rip-rap for erosion control.
As
of late March, Ring said she had not yet received
revised plans and specifications addressing these
deficiencies. Both Ring and Wuori are on vacation
this week and were unavailable for an update.
Conroy
said UP Engineers have revised their Irrigation
Management Plan to shorten the discharge season
(originally planned for May to mid-November and now
for May to mid-September) and increase the land
application rates. The shorter season was in
response to one of the concerns expressed in letters
from Jim Mihelcic, Michigan Tech professor of civil
and environmental engineering. Mihelcic had pointed
out that Northern Hardwoods’Äô ability to take up
nitrogen through the spray irrigation system would
be decreased in cold weather.
’ÄúMy
concern,’Äù Conroy noted, ’Äúis that you’Äôre
forcing water through the root zone (of the trees),
and it needs adequate retention time.’Äù
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This photo was taken last fall shortly after
the DEQ did soil testing in the area of the proposed lagoon
system. The
DEQ offers this response to erosion
concerns: ’ÄúSlopes in the spray irrigation area are
not excessive. Permeable, medium textured sand soils
will promote infiltration of rain and snowmelt not
overland flow Spray irrigation can not occur if
standing water is present pursuant to Rule
2204(2)(b).’Äù
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As
for Mihelcic’Äôs question on the low pH of the soil,
Conroy said, ’ÄúWe’Äôre not relying on the pH of the
soils to treat the wastewater.’Äù
The
response document states that the discharge standard
will be achieved by pre-treatment of phosphorus in the lagoons,
proper management of sludge (containing trace
metals) and denitrification through nutrient uptake
removal.
In
his letter of Jan. 28, 2001, Mihelcic’Äôs
recommends, as he did in an earlier letter, that,
because of the northern climate, the DEQ consider an
organic loading rate of 10-15 lbs. BOD /acre/day as
opposed to the DEQ’Äôs proposed loading rate of 20
lbs. BOD/acre/day.
The
DEQ’Äôs response document states, ’ÄúThis lagoon
system has been designed at 20 pounds per acre
organic loading and is typical of lagoon treatment
systems designed in the Upper Peninsula even for
direct discharge to surface water.’Äù
Concern
for surface water, mentioned by several residents in
letters to the DEQ, because of the treatment
system’Äôs proximity to wetlands leading to the
Montreal River, does not appear to be a concern of
the DEQ Waste Management Division. Their response
document says, ’ÄúThe treated wastewater will be
applied at agronomic rates, which will limit the
nutrient application to the removal capacity of the
soils and Northern Hardwoods. Nearby wetlands and
rivers will not be adversely affected by the
proposed discharge.’Äù
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Vern LeBlanc poses in front of his family
camp last fall before Black Bear purchased the building, located
near the proposed site for the Mt. Bohemia wastewater treatment
system. Lake Superior Land Co./International Paper would not renew
the lease, although the family had leased the land for 40 years.
They were offered a possible lease on the other side of the Lac La
Belle Road, but they found Black Bear had already leased the sites
being considered. So far they have not found a replacement
site.
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Betsy
resident Vern LeBlanc, who shared a camp in the area
proposed for the lagoons with friends and relatives,
said wetlands are located about 1,000 feet from the
areas where the DEQ sampled the soil for the sewage
treatment site last fall.
’ÄúIf
they were really going to check the water flow (in
the wetland), now would be the time to do it,’Äù
LeBlanc said. All that water (from spring melt)
flows down about ¼ mile into a tributary that goes
into the Montreal River ’Ķ I think they chose a
very poor spot (because of the wetlands).’Äù
At
the January hearing, Sandra Harting, president of
the Association Working Against Keweenaw
Exploitation (AWAKE) also expressed concern about
possible pollution of the Montreal River through the
wetlands and potential contamination of Lac La Belle
should the system develop a crack or leak. Harting
called for baseline monitoring of both Lac La
Belle and the Montreal River before the sewer goes
in and more monitoring after the system is in
operation so that any changes in water quality can
be determined.
Conroy said his staff has made
the Surface Water Quality Division of the DEQ aware
of this public concern for the surface water quality
of nearby wetlands, Lac La Belle and the Montreal
River. The Surface Water Quality Division’Äôs
decision to conduct a survey would be based on
potential threat to these waters and the
availability of funding.
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’Äì
Michele Anderson
April
11, 2001
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