MDEQ to hold Abandoned Mining Wastes Project Open House Aug. 29 in Lake Linden

Poster for the Aug. 29, 2018, Abandoned MiningWastes Project OPEN HOUSE. (Poster courtesy Amy Keranen, Michigan Department of Environmental Quality Remediation and Redevelopment Division)

LAKE LINDEN -- The MDEQ (Michigan Department of Environmental Quality) Abandoned Mining Wastes Project OPEN HOUSE (originally scheduled for June 20 and postponed because of the flooding) will take place from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday, AUGUST 29, at the Lake Linden-Hubbell High School Auditorium. The project team consists of staff involved in the planning, fieldwork, cleanup, and reporting for the project -- along with the On-Scene Coordinator Brian Kelly, from Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Emergency Response Branch (ERB), who is managing three projects in the area. The team will share their findings with the community with maps and photos to display where they conducted their work, what they have found, and what they have planned.

This informal open house will provide the public with the opportunity to drop in, meet the project team and get any questions answered. Contact Amy Keranen, MDEQ Remediation and Redevelopment Division, at keranena@michigan.gov for more information.

Recent projects include the following:

• 2017 sampling in former mining ruins in the Mason area, which identified the presence of widespread asbestos and abandoned containers at three of the five properties that make up the area.
• Evaluation of the PCBs found in the reclamation areas of Lake Linden and Hubbell and connecting them to the presence of PCBs in the tissue of Torch Lake fish.
• Assistance from the EPA Emergency Response Branch to address the contaminated sediments at the Lake Linden Recreation Area site.

Near-shore sediment sampling in 2017. (Photos courtesy Amy Keranen, Michigan DEQ Remediation and Redevelopment Division)

• Investigation indicating the presence of widespread asbestos containing materials, residual wastes and abandoned containers throughout the Quincy Mining Company Mason area, including those at the Quincy Mill ruins west of M-26, which is frequented by recreational users. The EPA is in the process of evaluating existing information and planning a potential removal action.

Quincy Stamp Mill No. 1 ruins in Mason.

• Calumet and Hecla (C and H) Mineral Building waste piles and asbestos cleanup.
• Calumet Stamp Mill asbestos removal.

Calumet Stampmill foundation after asbestos removal was completed and the area seeded and mulched.

• Tamarack Sands waste seep removal.
• Hubbell Smelter Area shoreline drum removal.

This photo shows drum removal from beneath the cap at the water’s edge.

• Cleanups at the Hubbell Coal Dock property, where PCB containing scrap was burned. 
• Side scan sonar survey at the Quincy Mining Company operational areas from Dollar Bay down to the Portage Lift Bridge.

The team is planning further projects for 2018.

Click here for details in the Spring 2018 newsletter, "Notes from the Desk of Amy Keranen."

Click here for the Abandoned Mining Wastes Web site and more info.