Site Name: Montcalm Fibre Co. 6244 Henkel Road Howard City, MI Site ID #: 59000140

LOCATION: The Montcalm Fiber Company is located on Henkel Road, just south of Howard City in a Renaissance Zone. The company operated the facility on two adjacent parcels. The front/west parcel being 59-017-035-003-01 approximately 3.62 acres and the east/back parcel being 59-017-035-003-30, approximately 4 acres. The surrounding area is mixed light industrial and commercial.

SITE HISTORY: During the time that Montcalm Fiber Co. operated, wastepaper, polystyrene and other combustible materials (in rolls, loose and bailed) were delivered to the facility by contracted outside parties. The materials were used in the production of supplemental alternative fuels. The wastepaper was pelletized at the facility and shipped to various industries as an engineered fuel source.

In 1992, the accumulated waste material, stored outside for processing caught fire and a major blaze ensued. The local and adjacent fire departments were unable to get the fire under control due to the density of the paper rolls that continued to smolder. Ultimately, the smoldering rolls and bailed wastepaper products were pushed into windrows and covered with soil. Burying the burning wastepaper on site was intended to be a temporary situation to extinguish the fire. To date, the soil-covered materials were never removed.

CLEANUP ACTIONS: The DEQ used $1,367,921 of CMI funds to clean up the waste materials left on the manufacturing portion of the property and excavate and dispose of the soil covered material from the fire of 1992.

REDEVELOPMENT POTENTIAL: Reynolds Township has a purchase option on the back/east parcel which they hope to redevelop into commercial/light industrial uses. The property is in the 267 acre Howard/Pierson/Reynolds Renaissance Zone. For more information on this zone please contact Franz Mogdis, with Montcalm County at 989-831-5261.