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March 25, 2005East Park contamination confirmedRestricted area extended in Bay Harbor, tooByRecord-Eagle staff writer PETOSKEY - The local health department confirmed what officials in Emmet County's Resort Township dreaded hearing - portions of the township's most heavily used park are a public health hazard. The Northwest Michigan Community Health Agency ordered sections of Lake Michigan shoreline fenced off and warning signs posted in East Park off U.S. 31, citing highly alkaline contamination oozing into Little Traverse Bay from historic cement kiln dust piles. The contamination is the same type plaguing adjacent Bay Harbor resort, where the health department ordered two sections of shoreline closed last year. Scott Kendzierski, the agency's director of environmental health, said U.S. Environmental Protection Agency laboratory tests confirmed pH levels on shoreline areas of East Park's beach ranging from 11.37 to 11.90. Exposure to water at pH greater than 9.0 can irritate eyes, skin and mucous membranes; exposure to levels higher than 11.5 can cause irreversible damage to those tissues, according to the Michigan Department of Community Health. EPA testing also uncovered additional areas of highly alkaline shoreline waters within Bay Harbor, Kendzierski said. As a result, the local health department extended a restricted area within the resort 200 feet to the east toward Harbor Lake, he said. Huge kiln dust piles in both Bay Harbor and East Park are remnants of the Penn-Dixie cement plant that operated there for decades until the 1960s. The dust piles have been identified as the source of highly alkaline seepage, as well as elevated levels of arsenic and heavy metals, entering Little Traverse Bay. The EPA and state Department of Environmental Quality ordered remediation of the contamination, and former Bay Harbor partner CMS Energy agreed to take on the estimated $45 million cleanup of both the resort and the park. Township supervisor Bob Wheaton said he wasn't surprised at the findings at East Park, after the discovery of the significant Bay Harbor kiln dust contamination last fall. "We knew what we were built on," he said, referring to the kiln dust piles. The park isn't used much at this time of year, Wheaton said, but that's about to change with the coming spring and summer. "It's going to be an inconvenience, but we are ready and willing to do whatever needs to be done," he said.
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