By Claire Schlaff —
Flow Water Advocates has followed the story of a rural community that has been trying to get a cleanup of a former DuPont property in White River Township, Muskegon County, Michigan since a resident noticed taste and odor problems in his well water in 1961. Flow’s April, 2023 Blog, “Make It Right Michigan: Restore Sadony Bayou” describes the formation of the Chemours Environmental Impact Committee (CEIC) and its expansion from its original focus – cleanup of the Chemours (former DuPont) site – to advocacy for the restoration of Sadony Bayou, a stagnant water body southwest of the site, which once flowed into Lake Michigan.
“Community Power: CEIC Works to restore Sadony Bayou and Mirror Lake,” a May, 2025 Blog, reveals more about Sadony Bayou, then zooms in on CEIC’s request for public support for dredging and restoration of Mirror Lake, a water body on the Chemours property that had been half-filled with lime sludge in the 1960s after a series of berm breaches from DuPont’s lime pile. In 2025, people answered CEIC’s and FLOW’s calls for participation in a public hearing and comment period about not only dredging the lime from Mirror Lake, but also restoring the lake. Chemours responded and last fall the lime was removed from Mirror Lake and the Muskegon Conservation District (MCD) began restoration. This May, CEIC volunteers worked with MCD to plant 4000 aquatic plugs, trees and seedlings at Mirror Lake!
In today’s blog CEIC reaches out again for public participation as the group responds to Chemours’ Corrective Measures Study Report, submitted last October, in which Chemours proposes to continue monitoring the landfills and areas of concern on their property rather than removing them. Our experience with Mirror Lake gives us hope. When the people get involved, it makes a difference. Please see, “What one mother learned after losing her son to environmental cancer: try.”
White River and Montague Township community members need your support!
For 65 years, our community has waited for The Chemours Company and its parent company Du Pont, to clean up the Chemours Montague site just upstream of White Lake and Lake Michigan, and we finally have that chance. But not without the support of committed residents across Michigan voicing their support for the cleanup of the site before Chemours finalizes their Corrective Measures implementation Plan this summer.
We are asking for in-person and written support on Thursday, June 11 (5:30-7:30pm) at Nellie B. Chisholm Middle School in Montague, when we the members of the
Save the date:
Who: CEIC, EGLE & MMD
What: An opportunity for community members to express concerns found in the CMS report to government officials
When: June 11, 5:3- to 7:30pm
Where: Nellie B. Chisholm Middle School in Montague, MI
Chemours Environmental Impact Committee (CEIC) host a public meeting with Chemours and representatives from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy’s (EGLE) Materials Management Division (MMD) to present our concerns about Chemours’ Corrective Measures Study (CMS) Report. This report, released in October, details Chemours’ proposed remedies for the 14 Areas Of Concern, including multiple unlined Landfills, at the Chemours Montague site.
Focus on two areas of concern affecting our waterways.
We will focus our presentation on Pierson Creek Landfill and Pierson Creek, plus a third concern, the Calcium Fluoride Basin.
For Pierson Creek Landfill, Chemours is proposing to continue monitoring the groundwater for chemicals coming from the landfill, along with installing a Geotextile Cap. For Pierson Creek, their proposal is to monitor contaminant levels to see if they decrease naturally over time (Monitored Natural Attenuation) and allow a groundwater discharge into Pierson Creek that is determined to be safe (a Mixing Zone). Their plan for the Calcium Fluoride Basin also proposes ongoing monitoring and maintenance activities rather than removal.
We have substantial concerns that these plans don’t go far enough because of the Landfill’s location within the groundwater flow path to Pierson Creek, its lack of liner, its sandy soil, the presence of Tetrachloroethylene (PCE), a toxic chemical with serious health risks, and the threats it poses to Pierson Creek and Sadony Bayou.
We know that the cost of removal to an on-site, properly constructed landfill is comparable to the geotextile cap option. We have concerns that leaving this leaking landfill in place could derail our efforts, already underway, to restore Sadony Bayou, an impaired waterway historically connected to Lake Michigan. Meanwhile, the Calcium Fluoride Basin is reported to have the highest arsenic concentrations at the Chemours site. We have concerns about wildlife exposure to this uncapped landfill and future instability of the impoundment, and again don’t see a long-term financial benefit to leaving the basin in place.
EGLE’s response to the Corrective Measures Study (CMS) Report—detailing its legality and compliance with state law—is set to be released in the coming weeks, at which point Chemours will have 120 days to respond with their Corrective Measures Plan, outlining their specific path forward for the Chemours Montague site. We want to be sure they hear the community response to their plans before they finalize their planning for remediation of the site.
Community acceptance is a factor in cleanup decisions.
We called this public meeting now because we are heartened by Chemours’ decision just last fall to heed public input and restore Mirror Lake, and we hope they will again listen to our community voices as they work through final decision-making about remediation. We will be petitioning Chemours to consolidate all of their unlined landfills and contaminated soils into one properly constructed landfill on the Chemours site, and we ask concerned members of the public to join us in that call by attending the public meeting on Thursday, June 11, and one of our preparatory meetings Wednesday, May 20 and Saturday, May 30, or sending emails of support to makeitrightchemours@gmail.com.
Join us at a community meeting!
Each of the May meetings will allow time for residents to understand the background and terminology to prepare them for the June 11 meeting with EGLE and Chemours.
The first two meetings are Wednesday, May 20 (5-7pm) OR Saturday, May 30 (1-3pm) at the White Lake Community Library, 3900 W White Lake Dr. in Whitehall. At these meetings, CEIC members will provide background information about the Chemours site and the proposed plans for the future that are of most concern to us. We also plan to share how cleanup affects potential conservation of the property and restoration of Sadony Bayou and Mirror Lake. Comments and ideas from attendees at the May meetings will guide us as we finalize details for the June 11 meeting.
On Thursday, June 11 (5:30-7:30pm) at Nellie B. Chisholm Middle School in Montague, we will meet with Chemours and MMD of EGLE. CEIC will give a more concise presentation of our community’s response to Chemours’ final cleanup proposals.
Community attendance in person and in writing is essential to a successful June meeting. We need you to be there to show them, by your presence and your comments and questions, the strength of our community’s resolve to get this property cleaned up and preserved.
