Environmental Commission gets details on draw-down cancel

There will be no drawdown of the water in Belleville Lake this fall.
Matthew Best, Van Buren Township director of public services, told the Environmental Commission at its June 19 meeting that Supervisor Kevin McNamara announced two days earlier that the proposed lake drawdown has been cancelled for this year.
He said Supervisor McNamara said it “was due to the response we got back from the pre-application process, which is quite onorous and will take time. The amount of time won’t allow us to get the permit this year.”
Commissioner Ronald Merritt noted that the permit was applied for last year.
Best said it took time for Eagle Creek, the operators of the dam, to do the environmental study, the Indian Tribal and Architectural studies. Once you got them all, you can apply, Best said.
“The supervisor made the decision,” Best said. “Rather than push forward, we want to do it right.”
“I’ve been telling people it would be this fall — as soon as a month ago,” said Trustee Paul White, the township board’s representative on the commission. “Is there paperwork to show them? Is the state to blame?”
“It’s not that the state held it up,” Best said. “There’s a lot of hoops to jump through.” Best said they were going to have volunteer sampling of the sedimentary bed microbes, before, during, and after the drawdown, he said. He said Eagle Creek proposed volunteers to sample the bugs in the bottom of the lake bed and, “The Eagle Creek program sounded like it was insufficient.”
Best said there is timing to consider and you have to prove its not spawning time, rather than rush it.
Commission chairman David Brownlee said these requirements are all do-able things, but will take time.
“Are we not going to do it?” Brownlee asked.
“I don’t know,” Best said. “It depends on the Eagle Creek response and DNR comments. He said they haven’t heard back from the Fisheries yet.
“The pre-application was sent to the DNR and it costs a little bit of money,” Best said. “We would have to jump through a lot of hoops. The DNR looks at different things. There’s not enough time to get it all done by August or September.”
When asked if it had anything to do with PFAS in the water, he said it had nothing to do with PFAS.
Trustee White pressed: “When did they apply?”
Best replied that Eagle Creek turned it in and the state said you have to do this, this, and this. “There are comments from the DNR on what we have to do,” Best said.
He said, “We knew going in it may not happen. We thought the permit would be in hand in August. We will continue to talk with Eagle Creek and work with them.”
“Nothing is happening this year,” Brownlee said.
“Is there anything this group can do to help?” asked Commissioner Ross and Best said there wasn’t.
Best said there was one benefit of doing this. They held a workshop in February on how to stabilize the banks and they c an still do work. Some work is easier with the water in place, he said.
“If the BYC wanted to do another lakeside cleanup, they could,” Best said. “This group could, and volunteers.
“The process is a benefit to our lakefront owners,” Best said. “We had 100 residents attend, almost as many as came to opposed the lakeshore ordinance.”
Best said as soon as he gets information back from Eagle Creek, he’ll bring it back to this group.
Trustee White said when Best gets this information, he should send it to the entire group and they all should get it when it becomes available and not wait for a commission meeting.
“I can do that,” Best said, adding sometimes he gets information.
White said they should get anything concerning the lake drawdown, from any source.
Chairman Brownlee said he took notes on everything Best said about the drawdown and he still doesn’t know how to explain it to the people in the community.
“We may not be able to get the permit in time for this year,” Best said, adding it has to be done in the fall because they won’t let them do it in the spring due to spawning. Then, there is a 120-day comment period.
“Why push it and try to rush it?” Best asked.
“We’re not rushing it,” White replied. “It’s been going on for 18 months. It should be farther along.”
“It doesn’t mean Eagle Creek and the DNR were talking back then,” Best said, adding the procedure is called “A Change in the Route of River Plan.”
White asked where they can go to get all the information on lake drawdowns. He said he would like to know what’s all involved.
Best said he didn’t think it was on line.
Best said it hasn’t been 18 months to get to the permit and Eagle Creek had been working on it.
The Environmental Commission recommended the drawdown a year ago February, so it’s been 16 months White said.
Best said he is proud of the elected officials and the trustees who worked on this.
“I think we’ve done everything very well,” Best said.
In other business at the June 19 meeting, the commission:
• Heard Best report on a Coal Tar Webinar he participated in on June 18 with the Huron River Watershed Council. Best said he told why VBT pushed for a coal tar ban under the leadership of the late Dr. Dave Wilson. He said he told how it evolved from a public education ordinance to an ordinance with fees. He said Grosse Ile did the same thing and they told how VBT helped them. Best said the state may also ban coal tar, but it wants to fix the roads first;
• Heard Best report that US Ecology got permission to remove and replace ground water test wells, which is pretty standard, he said. DEQ send out cards when a change is made and people can sign up to stay informed;
• Heard Best report repairs are being done to the fishing pier at French Landing Park;
• Heard Commissioner Tony Gibson said the commission hasn’t done a public service project in a couple of years and he’d like to do one. Brownlee put it on the agenda for the next meeting;
• Heard White report that a septic system is not working and sewage is being dumped into a ditch on Martinsville Road. He asked who to call and Best gave him the number of Dave Wilson at the Wayne County Environmental Health Department, (734) 727-7417. Best said he has another sewage dump at another location with a house at the end of a long, private drive;
• Heard Brownlee recommend reading the April 28 issue of the Detroit Free Press with a “very disturbing” article on PFAS. Brownlee said he has seen people putting fish in a bucket and he wonders if they are taking it home for fertilizer since there is a do-not-eat-the-fish alert on Belleville Lake. When it was pointed out Horizon Park had no do-not-eat-the-fish signs, Best said that was the City of Belleville and it should put them up;
• Heard Best report that new signs will be added to the fish signs warning people also to avoid foam. VBT will get four and will put them at the same locations as the PFAS signs. People and their pets need to avoid the foam that may have high amounts of PFAS. They should rinse off foam after contact. Rinsing in lake or river water is OK. People should not let their pets eat the foam;
• Heard Best report that the state has extended the PFAS ban into Lake Erie. He said there have been high lake levels across the state and in VBT it means they are able to make more electricity at the dam;
• Heard Gibson ask if the commission is going to meet in July and Brownlee said they don’t usually meet in July, but this year they were going to have to meet to help with the lake drawdown. He said if something comes up, they will meet in July; and
• Heard Ross report that he was told there were not enough trash containers at Strawberry Festival and no recycling bins put out. He said it was reported to him because he was on the Environmental Commission, but VBT has nothing to do with putting on the festival.