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December 20, 2005

Legal action on agenda

State may get involved in waste spill

By
Record-Eagle business editor

      WILLIAMSBURG - Ongoing environmental problems at Williamsburg Receiving and Storage deserve stepped-up enforcement, critics of the fruit processor contend, while the company said solutions are in the works.
      Tonight the Whitewater Township board will consider a request to the state attorney general's office for legal action against the cherry-processing plant along Munro Road in northern Grand Traverse County.
      An estimated million gallons of industrial wastewater spilled from a storage lagoon on the site in early November, some of it into the adjacent Petobego wetland area.
      "Not only is this company polluting our natural resources, it is in effect obtaining a state-sanctioned competitive advantage over other fruit-processing companies in our region who comply with legal requirements through proper disposal of their processing waste," the Northern Michigan Environmental Action Council said in a draft letter to Attorney General Mike Cox to be discussed at the 7 p.m. board meeting.
      Attorneys for WRS said the company is cleaning up the spill, and working on a plan to remove all wastewater from the property. Attorney Joseph Quandt said the company's plan is to ship the wastewater to a municipal sewer plant in Reed City. It also eventually wants to haul it to a regional sewer plant in Traverse City.
      "The goal is to immediately begin trucking and hauling the water out of the lagoon," Quandt said.
      Some of the waste has already been removed by a private hauler in Kalkaska, and the company hopes to remove up to 40,000 gallons a week in the near future.
      The state Department of Environmental Quality estimates around 1 million gallons of wastewater spilled from the treatment lagoon Nov. 8-9 - 10 times the amount originally estimated by the DEQ.
      The plant's production wastewater is high in cholride and sodium, and has a strong odor because of its high sugar content and low oxygen levels. It's the byproduct of maraschino cherries and other sweet cherry products made at the plant.
      Quandt said the company is working with the DEQ and the attorney general's office on a cleanup plan and sanctions for pending violations.
      "The attorney general's office is already engaged in the process," Quandt said.
     

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