Michigan to Take Ownership of Velsicol Superfund Sites

Here is the text of a story in the local daily about the State of Michigan assuming ownership of the formr Velsicol Chemical sites in St. Louis:

By Greg Nelson | gnelson@medianewsgroup.com | The Morning Sun November 16, 2022.

Polluted former Velsicol Chemical Co. properties in Gratiot County will soon have a new owner. The sites, including the 52-acre parcel where the main plant was demolished and buried decades ago in St. Louis, are being transferred from the LePetomane Inc. Trust, which was established to administer funding following the bankruptcy of Fruit of the Loom, Velsicol’s parent company, in 2002, to the Michigan State Land Bank Authority.

That process is expected to be complete in early 2023. The transfer will also include a six-acre parcel just across the Pine River west of the main plant site near Hidden Oaks Golf Course known as the “Burn Pit,” where toxic chemicals were incinerated, and a small piece of land on Madison Road in Bethany Township called the “Breckenridge Site,” where radioactive waste was stored and remediation was finished in 2012.

Although initially skeptical of the property transfer, members of the Pine River Superfund Citizens Task Force are now in favor of the move, according to Chairperson Jane Jelenek. “In 2002, during the Fruit of the Loom bankruptcy settlement, several pots of money were set up to help remediate Velsicol sites in Illinois, New Jersey, Tennessee, and in St. Louis, overseen by the U.S. Department of Justice,” she explained. “Superfund site cleanups are jointly handled by state and federal agencies.

The state of Michigan looked ahead and could see that they would need considerable funds to continue ongoing operation and maintenance of the St. Louis Velsicol site once the (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) had completed remedies. “They negotiated to set aside about $6 million to help with those longterm costs. The other states have depleted their funds from the FTL settlement, and they wanted a share of the $6 million that Michigan had set aside.”

The state decided to take the St Louis area Velsicol properties out from under Department of Justice oversight to avoid divvying up the money with the other states, she added. Another concern the task force initially had regarding the transfer was that once the state land bank held the property deed it would require the city of St. Louis to “pay millions of dollars to buy it from them” once it was cleaned up,

Jelenek said. “It is, of course, riverfront property,” she noted. “In the early 2000s the city of St. Louis had hired a company with an EPA grant to draw up a map of how the city could use the property, mostly for recreation such as a boardwalk, fishing platforms, and a concert area. Our officers met with the city manager and mayor, and later we spoke with both the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy and a representative from the land bank, and were assured that when the time came for the land bank to sell the property, and if St. Louis wanted it, the fee would be nominal.”

The land transfer will not impact future remediation efforts at any of the Velsicol sites, Jelenek noted. “The EPA is responsible to complete the cleanup work as laid out in the Record of Decision, and then EGLE will be responsible for operation and maintenance,” she said. “Our group is glad that EGLE had the foresight years ago to negotiate for some of the (Fruit of the Loom) settlement money to help pay future costs, and we also support their decision to protect those funds by transferring the deed to the state land bank.

We understand that the present deed-holder, LePetomane Successor Trust, appointed by the U.S. Department of Justice, also thinks this is a good plan.”