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06/24/2006Graceland grant soughtCounty seeks federal money for wastewater plantBEULAH — County commissioners OK'd a "pre-application" to be filed with the federal government on behalf of Graceland Fruit Inc. for $1.1 million to help build a fruit waste treatment plant. Meanwhile, a settlement still has not been reached with the Michigan Attorney General over alleged environmental violations by Graceland after a Graceland-contracted waste hauler dumped fruit waste in a gravel pit and contaminated a Benzie County stream. Benzie commissioners this week approved a request to "pre-apply" for a $1,116,053 grant from the Economic Development Administration, an arm of the U.S. Department of Commerce, to pay for a wastewater treatment plant at the company's property in Gilmore Township. The money would be matched by Graceland and the plant will be available for use by other companies, county administrator Chuck Clarke said. Graceland also pledged to pay for a $2.4 million wastewater pre-treatment facility, he said. Graceland said the project will enable it to keep its commitment to create 45 jobs it earlier promised to create when it won a 2002 state "agricultural renaissance zone" designation that created for the company millions of dollars worth of tax breaks, Clarke said. Disposal of waste from its facilities caused controversy in the past, but Graceland ducked serious trouble last year after Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox refused a request from the Department of Environmental Quality to charge the company and waste hauler with felony environmental violations over waste the DEQ says was illegally dumped. Instead, Cox's office said it would negotiate a civil settlement in that case. Last November, the office said negotiations were pending. In February, a spokeswoman said the settlement was being finalized. Cox spokesman Nate Bailey said this week "we are in the very final stages of negotiation in coming to an agreement." Cleanup at the contamination site apparently has stalled, however. "I don't think there's been any evidence of the running of the cleanup system in months," said Chris Bzdok, attorney for Charles Brozofsky, owner of the farm near Honor where fruit waste turned a stream orange. Brozofsky is suing Graceland and waste hauler Bonney Bros. Pumping Co. in Benzie County Circuit Court for allegedly damaging his property. See related stories:
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