Grand Ledge Army Aviation Support Facility and Armory (Grand Ledge, Clinton County)

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Please contact the Site Lead for the most up-to-date status of this site.

EGLE site lead

Kim Sakowski, SakowskiK@Michigan.gov or 517-582-2219.

Background

This site is located at 10600 West Eaton Highway. The Grand Ledge Army Aviation Support Facility (AASF) and Armory provides training and maintenance for the various aviation units that support the Michigan Army National Guard (MIARNG).

The AASF facility consists of four Areas of Interest (AOI). The main portion of the facility (AOI 1) contains a maintenance shop, office areas, a maintenance hangar, wash bay, and an unheated “cold” storage building. The Armory Area includes a shop area, fenced motor pool, aircraft parking area, and various small storage buildings. The Annex Building (AOI 2), is used for storage and training purposes, including flight simulations, is on the south-western portion of the property. A second Annex Building (AOI 3) was historically owned and operated by MIARNG, is located northwest of the AASF facility, was used for storage and training purposes. The Reed Drain (AOI 4) is being evaluated as part of this site due to discharge pipes coming from AOI 1 and AOI 3 discharging directly to the Reed Drain.

Groundwater flow direction varies across AOIs.

Content posted April 2024.

Site map

View an aerial image of the location of the site.

Expand the map

Drinking water

In August 2, 2019, EGLE requested the MIARNG sample 14 residential homes/wells in the area. MIARNG collected 11 of the 14 residential well samples in January 2020. Results were mailed to homeowners on March 2, 2020.

All but one home was non-detected for PFOS/PFOA.

An additional 15 residential wells were sampled in July 2020 to capture any potential migration to the south/southeast of the site based on groundwater flow data generated from the November – January 2020 field work.

All homes were non-detect for PFOS and PFOA, however, one home had PFHXA detected at 2 ppt.

Anticipated activities

On April 23-24, 2024, Michigan Department of Military and Veterans Affairs will host two town hall meetings. For information on time and location, visit the MPART public calendar.

In May 2024, Mobilization 3 Remedial Investigation (RI) field work is expected to begin.

Historical Timeline

2019
On May 8-9, 2019, the Michigan Department of Military & Veterans Affairs (DMVA)’s contractor AECOM, collected a total of 42 samples on the property due to historic storage and suspected use of aqueous film forming foam (AFFF) containing PFAS. Those 42 samples included groundwater, surface water, sediment, and soil samples.

On July 22, 2019, the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) received a map with the results for the groundwater and surface water samples. The complete written report from DMVA, which will include the results for the sediment and soil sampling, is expected in October.

On August 2, 2019, EGLE sent MIARNG a request to: conduct residential well sampling; identify and mitigate other receptors and potential exposure pathways; notify all affected parties of site conditions; and define the extent of the contamination.

On September 5, 2019, EGLE contacted the following local municipalities to update them on the status of this site: Mid-Michigan Health Department, Barry-Eaton County Health Department, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, the City of Grand Ledge, Oneida Township, and Eagle Township.

On September 12, 2019, EGLE and MIARNG held a conference call to discuss MIARNG’s acknowledgement that additional work is needed at this site and to coordinate a response to all separate EGLE division concerns into one response effort to be submitted by October 17, 2019.

On October 30, 2019, EGLE received a Final Site Inspection Supplemental Quality Assurance Project Plan Addendum from MIARNG. The purpose of this plan is to conduct additional field work to address EGLE concerns generated from the initial site investigation.

On November 5, 2019, MIARNG provided EGLE with the Final Preliminary Assessment Report.

MIARNG initiated additional investigation activities at the site during the week of November 11, 2019.The additional activities were to include installation and sampling of three shallow groundwater wells, four deep groundwater wells, five surficial soil samples and five surface water/sediment samples. Due to equipment issues with installing the deeper wells, residential well sampling was added to evaluate potential off-site groundwater impacts. Work was completed in January 2020.

On November 26, 2019, MIARNG held a conference call with EGLE, and local and state health departments to discuss issues with installing the proposed deep monitoring wells and in lieu of installing them, sampling residential wells instead.

On December 10, 2019, MIARNG held a conference call to discuss the upcoming Town Hall Meeting.

On December 19, 2019, a town hall meeting was conducted to update the community on the currently known site conditions and the upcoming residential well sampling efforts.

2020

In January 2020, MIARNG completed the installation of three shallow groundwater wells, four deep groundwater wells, five surficial soil sample, five surface water/sediment samples and collected 11 residential well samples.EGLE anticipates the validated data to be received by April 2020.
On January 29, 2020, MDHHS held a conference call with MIARNG, EGLE, Barry-Eaton County Health Department and Mid-Michigan Health Department to discuss the Site-Specific Public Health Action Plan for private drinking water wells should results indicate additional action is needed to protect public health.
On January 30, 2020, MIARNG released the revised groundwater contour map developed from the most recent round of field work.
On March 2, 2020, MIARNG mailed the results of the residential well sampling to the individual homeowners.
On March 4, 2020, MIARNG, EGLE, Barry-Eaton County Health Department and Mid-Michigan Health Department held a conference call to discuss next steps.
On April 9, 2020, MIARNG notified EGLE that access letters were sent to 15 homes to be included in the second round of residential well sampling activities. Sampling will not be conducted until after the COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.

On July 16, 2020, the Michigan Army National Guard (Lansing Environmental Office) and the Army National Guard (Installations & Environment - Cleanup Branch, Arlington, VA) hosted a conference call to brief local leaders, and State and local environmental and health agencies regarding the current status of and plan moving forward for the Second Round of the Grand Ledge Army Aviation Support Facility residential well sampling effort.
During the last week of July 2020, MIARNG sampled 14 residential wells located east and southeast of the national guard facility. One homeowner in the area had denied access for the sampling.
On August 3, 2020, new Part 201 Criteria went into effect. Historical sampling data compared to Part 201 Criteria >70 is captured in the historical timeline below.

Historical Sampling Chart: data is reflective of criteria prior to 8/3/2020:
PFOS + PFOA Only
This chart reflects data received prior to 8/3/2020.

Type of Sample	Date Sampled	Number of Samples	Number of Results Received	Number of Non-detects	Number Between Non-detect and standard*	Number of > Standard
Groundwater	May 2019 - present	16	9	6	2	1
Surface Water	May 2019 - present	8	3	0	1	2
Drinking Water	January 2020	11	11	10	1	0
Cumulative		35	23	16	4	3

* Groundwater results are compared to EGLE Part 201 Criteria of 70 ppt PFOS+PFOA.
* Surface water samples are compared to Rule 57 non-drinking water values of 12 ppt for PFOS and 12,000 ppt for PFOA.
* Residential well results are compared to the EPA LHA of 70 ppt PFOS+PFOA.

On September 2, 2020, MIARNG notified the 14 homeowners of the results the second round of residential well PFAS sampling activities. All homes were non-detect for PFOS and PFOA, however, one home had PFHXA detected at 2 ppt.
On October 21, 2020, EGLE received the draft Final Site Inspection (SI) Report from the MIARNG summarizing the Phase I and Phase II investigation results conducted between November 2019 – July 2020.A conference call was also held on the same day between MIARNG, EGLE and local health departments to present the information.
On October 23, 2020, EGLE requested a triage geology review of the SI report by Michigan Geology Survey.Results of their review are expected in November.
On November 23, 2020, EGLE provided comments to MIARNG on the draft Final Site Inspection (SI) Report.

2021
On January 11, 2021, EGLE received the Final Site Inspection (SI) Report and Response to Comments (RTC) document from the MIARNG summarizing the Phase I and Phase II investigation results conducted between November 2019 and July 2020.

In May 2021, MIARNG began additional investigation activities to address EGLE comments on the Final Site Inspection (SI) Report.

On October 21, 2021, a meeting was held between EGLE and DMVA to discuss fiscal year 2022 funding and work to be accomplished.
2022
On June 30, 2022, the Draft Final Uniform Federal Policy-Quality Assurance Project Plan (UFP-QAPP) for the Remedial Investigation Mobilization 1 was submitted to EGLE.EGLE provided comments on the document on July 19, 2022.

On August 1, 2022, the Technical Project Planning (TPP) meeting for the Remedial Investigation (RI) Mobilization 1 was held between EGLE, Army National Guard and DMVA.

On August 1, 2022, the Technical Project Planning (TPP) meeting for the RI Mobilization 1 was held between EGLE, Army National Guard and DMVA.

On September 14, 2022, EGLE received the field schedule for Mobilization 1.RI work began at the end of September 2022.

On September 29, 2022, EGLE received the final RI QAPP for Mobilization 1.

2023

On July 24, 2023, the Michigan Army National Guard received a violation notice for PFOS exceedances in discharges to the Reed Drain.

Sampling Results Summary

This chart reflects data received after 8/3/2020. Data prior to 8/3/2020 is reflected in the timeline below.
This table was updated to include all seven PFAS criteria effective 12/21/2020.

Type of Sample	Date Sampled (or range)	Number of Sample Results Received	Number of Samples above Criteria
Residential Wells	July 2020-2023	26	0

* Residential well and groundwater monitoring well results are compared to EGLE Part 201 criteria for 7 PFAS compounds: PFOS (16 ppt), PFOA (8 ppt), PFNA (6 ppt), PFHxS (51 ppt), PFHxA (400,000 ppt), PFBS (420 ppt), and HFPO-DA (370 ppt).

On August 28, 2023, Department of Military and Veteran Affairs presented information at the Grand Ledge City Council meeting to help with securing access to conduct investigation work on the Abrams Airport Property.
On October 17, 2023, EGLE received the final RI QAPP for Mobilization 2.Field work was initiated in October 2023 to conduct further delineation of AOI 3 and AOI 4.
On November 1, 2023, the first Grand Ledge Project Delivery Team Meeting was held to review and discuss initial data received during Mobilization 2 to determine best locations for sampling.
On December 19, 2023, the second Grand Ledge Project Delivery Team Meeting was held to review and discuss data received during Mobilization 2 to determine best locations for sampling.

2024
On January 9, 2024, the third Grand Ledge Project Delivery Team Meeting was held to review and discuss data received during Mobilization 2 to determine best locations for sampling.

On March 18, 2024, the fourth Grand Ledge Project Delivery Team Meeting was held to review and discuss data received during Mobilization 2 to determine best locations for sampling.

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