TRAVERSE CITY – Travel vouchers to offset the cost of public water connections to affected residents were issued as part of discussions about a PFAS survey of water pollution in East Bay Township.
Grand Traverse County’s chief executive officer Rob Hentschel suggested in an email to an official at Cherry Capital Airport that travel vouchers could potentially be given out to local residents who have been affected by PFAS contamination in their water wells.
Hentschel canceled the concept before the local heads of state and government received grants for the 18 public water connections required to affected houses that still use well water. The idea was that travel vouchers could be a compromise when grant funds could not be raised – a permitted use of restricted airport dollars.
Some of the residents affected and environmental experts criticized the proposal as irresponsible in the face of revelations about contaminated drinking water and during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, local officials said it was the result of brainstorming and was never intended for public rollout.
Clean water, travel vouchers
The email in question with the subject “$ 3900 PFAS Travel Voucher” was sent by Hentschel to airport director Keven Klein on November 9 and read:
“Chance thought … sitting in the East Bay Twp meeting … If we can’t pay to have the neighboring wells plugged and municipal plumbing … we can run a travel voucher promotion with the airlines at a similar amount the connection costs?
You’ll be happy to know you didn’t throw the airport under the bus. Not a single mention of the airport …
– rob “
Some affected local residents and environmental experts said that such an idea for a travel voucher was objectionable.
“That would have been an insult,” said Joyce Lundberg, whose well water for her home on Indian Trail Boulevard was among those contaminated with PFAS chemicals. “What would we do with travel vouchers in the middle of a pandemic? We wanted clean water. “
Local environmental attorney Liz Kirkwood, executive director of the nonprofit For Love Of Water, said she was initially “a little speechless” when she learned of the proposed travel vouchers for those with contaminated wells.
“It’s a pretty persistent response to a major public health emergency,” she said.
FLOW is a Traverse City-based groundwater conservation organization that will host a webinar on March 10th on threats to Michigan groundwater resources.
In addition, an academic expert on the impact of PFAS contamination on communities said the family of emerging pollutant chemicals holds immeasurable potential for environmental injustice problems – especially given their long-term and widespread use for industrial, aerospace, and commercial purposes and increasing pollution levels can be found in drinking water.
“There’s no way you can drink some of your refreshing well water and know if it’s contaminated with PFAS,” said Alissa Cordner, associate professor of sociology at Whitman College, Washington and co-director of the PFAS Project Lab with Northeastern researchers University of Washington Boston.
She said communities exposed to PFAS contamination have experienced other types of pollution in the past and tend not to be wealthy. Pine Grove reflects this trend with its workers and the history of a TCE cloud that decades ago caused public water to flow through the neighborhood, but not every home was connected back then.
Cordner also said those who have experienced pollution are not always in the financial position to do much about it, indicating the need for wider systemic changes in the way toxic chemicals are made and used.
Given the tendency towards a certain degree of financial bottleneck among those affected by environmental pollution, an offer of a voucher for air travel appears inappropriate.
“It seems clear to me that a small travel voucher and persistent drinking water pollution are not appropriate,” said Cordner.
Hentschel said his email to the airport director should be looked at in perspective; It was a private email that wasn’t intended for public presentations, he said.
“There is no evidence that this came from the airport, but we wanted to do something,” said Hentschel.
With airport funds limited to running and promoting the airport, he said the proposal was just that he looked for ways to help the affected residents.
“These are raw ideas,” said Hentschel, later adding that the idea “wasn’t about making them available to the public, but about thinking outside the box.”
Klein also said Hentschel’s idea was an attempt to brainstorm a solution. However, it would not have been appropriate to make this offer to the affected residents, he said.
“I think he was saying we have to be more creative,” said the airport director.
Some of those with contaminated wells said they may have actually used such a travel voucher if grants for their public plumbing had not been found. But it wouldn’t fly for everyone.
“I certainly appreciate Rob’s efforts,” said Hillerie Rettelle, who lives on Avenue B and whose wells have returned more than 840 parts per trillion of PFAS chemicals – 35 times the state’s maximum pollutant levels for drinking water for both of them most famous toxins were found.
Rettelle said Hentschel had worked hard to get public water connections to the affected residents as soon as possible and was trying to help them recover the money they had spent preparing the public water connections when they were not satisfied, waiting for government action.
As much as she appreciates a travel voucher, Rettelle said she knows that not all affected residents are financially able to avail of it. Some would not have connected to public water if grant funding had not been secured, she said.
“If you can’t afford to hook up to clean water, you can’t afford to go on vacation,” Rettelle said, adding that people are even less likely to want to travel during a pandemic.
“If they had asked me in November if I wanted a travel voucher or clean water, it would have been 100 percent clean water,” she said.
Pam Morrison, another of the affected residents, said she was not offended by Hentschel’s suggestion. She said she even joked about the airport paying for her family’s travel on a permanent basis should it be identified as a source of contamination.
“I made a joke that airline miles could be highly valued if it’s the airport’s fault,” said Morrison.
Clean water connections
Contractors from Matt’s Underground Construction in Kalkaska spent the last week connecting the homes to municipal water using PFAS-contaminated water wells, first along Avenue B and then along Avenue C.
Rettelle’s house was among the first, as the PFAS levels found in her well were among the highest concentrations in the neighborhood. She hadn’t showered at home because her surgeon told her a healing wound from shoulder surgery shouldn’t be exposed to pollution. State and local health warned her not to drink or cook with the water in October, she said.
Rettelle showered in her own bathroom for the first time in more than four months on Tuesday evening and described it in one word: “Amazing.”
Others are excited about their coming connections.
Lundberg’s well failed last summer and she spent $ 3,000 to repair it after high water levels pushed sand into the pump. It was three months later when she found out about the groundwater pollution, she said.
“It was a shock,” said Lundberg.
The 94-year-old long-time resident in the neighborhood said she was grateful the state, county and community dollars were jointly paid for her connection to the water system, especially after spending so much on her well last July. She chose the over $ 25,000 bid to join the water system at the time, Lundberg said.
“You know, it’s life. If I had spent the $ 25,000 I would have been really angry, ”she said.
