Readying for a remediation and restoration 'moonshot'

As part of Great Lakes and Fresh Water Week, today’s MI Environment story, by Melanie Foose, of the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy, is adapted from an article in the State of the Great Lakes report.

Dredging of contaminated sediment is part of remediation efforts in the Rouge River Area of Concern.

Since the United States and Canada created the Areas of Concern (AOC) program in 1987 under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, Michigan’s AOC program has worked in strong partnership with Public Advisory Councils (PAC) to remediate contaminated sediments, restore habitat, and revitalize the communities of our state’s 14 original AOCs.   

These PACs are the keystone of the AOC program, providing advice based on local knowledge. Over the past three years, PACs have worked within their communities and the Michigan Department of the Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) to expand and welcome all who are interested and live or work in these AOCs. The PACs have created goals to encourage diversity, equity, and inclusion and stay mindful of past environmental injustices.   

Members of Michigan’s Statewide Public Advisory Council (SPAC) gather to share information and ideas at their fall 2022 annual meeting in the River Raisin Area of Concern (AOC). SPAC members represent each of Michigan’ s 11 remaining AOCs.

As PACs work to expand membership to truly represent their communities, they remain focused on the program’s ultimate goal: removal of AOCs from the list of the most polluted areas of the Great Lakes, known as delisting.   

Since the initial listing of 43 AOCs throughout the Great Lakes in the United States and Canada, three of Michigan’s 14 sites have been successfully restored: White Lake, Menominee River, and Deer Lake. Eleven are in progress. In the remaining AOCs, meaningful progress and momentum continue with millions of dollars being invested to clean up legacy pollution, restore habitat, and eventually delist the sites.  

With the recent infusion of additional federal funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), EGLE has its sights on a “moonshot” goal of completing most of the work to delist these areas as AOCs by 2030. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Great Lakes National Program Office presented this moonshot goal, which Michigan accepted and is urgently working toward.    

One way to track progress is the listing of Beneficial Use Impairments (BUI) – environmental problems that each AOC identified in the 1980s or 1990s with the establishment of their original Remedial Action Plan. Michigan AOCs had a total of 111 BUIs and crossed the halfway point in restoring these beneficial uses in May 2023, when two BUIs in the Muskegon Lake AOC were removed following extensive fish and wildlife habitat restoration.

The most recent BUI removal was also in Muskegon Lake, for eutrophication, or excessive nutrients in the water. 

There are now 53 BUIs left, and EGLE is working dutifully with federal, state, and local government partners; nonprofit organizations; and especially the dedicated and passionate local residents and PAC members on the work that remains. An EGLE webpage tracks progress on BIUs.

Much of the remaining work is the hardest of the AOC program: cleanup of contaminated sediments. It will take perseverance and time. Groundwork for these cleanups is already underway, including in the Rouge and Detroit rivers, which, after nearly 200 years of industrial development, have a multitude of contaminants to clean up. Extensive surveys have been completed in both of these AOCs and others in Michigan to determine what contaminants are present and where. Projects have already been completed, with many more underway and in design right now, to remove these contaminants from the ecosystem.  

As these projects are completed, the environment can heal and become cleaner and safer for fish, wildlife, and the people who live in these communities and enjoy these natural treasures. 

Participate in a PAC 

The Michigan AOC Program is seeking more diverse and inclusive participation in local PACs that are reflective of the AOC communities they represent. For more information about the Michigan AOC Program and opportunities to participate in a local PAC, visit the Michigan AOC Program website or contact Melanie Foose at FooseM@Michigan.gov.

Melanie Foose is the unit supervisor of EGLE’s Great Lakes Management Unit, which houses the Areas of Concern and Great Lakes Coordination programs. She enjoys walks through Michigan’s beautiful woods, water, and wetlands with her camera, especially in the spring.