PFAS Investigation Documents Disappear, Return to Airport Website

A Michigan resident focused on transparency issues related to PFAS pollution this week noticed several key documents connected to an investigation in Traverse City had disappeared from the internet.

Lawyer Anthony Spaniola of Troy, a member of the Michigan PFAS Action Response Team's Citizen Advisory Workgroup, this week contacted the Record-Eagle for a copy of a February 2020 letter from state regulators to Cherry Capital Airport. It was no longer posted on the airport website's PFAS information page, and Spaniola wanted a copy as he continues his push for broader and faster public notice of PFAS investigations.

"I noticed it, for sure," Spaniola said.

Airport officials said the missing documents were the result of a technical glitch that happened during a recent website software upgrade; the documents were restored immediately after airport officials were notified.

"I didn't think anything was missing. I'll go to the website right now — standby," said Kevin Klein, airport director. "Maybe we have a technical problem."

Klein contacted the airport's webmaster and within 10 minutes telephoned a Record-Eagle reporter back to confirm the documents were restored to the website.

"Thank you for bringing it to our attention," he said.

The airport director explained the issue must have happened during a recent software upgrade, and nobody asked airport officials to delete the documents from the internet.

Spaniola said that's a good sign.

"I'm certainly glad they took that action. That tells me that a least the explanation it was a technical glitch is plausible," he said.

The February 2020 letter from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy to the airport showed an eight-month gap between when state environmental regulators launched the PFAS investigation and when nearby residents with impacted drinking water wells were notified in October. It's part of a pattern other communities with PFAS probes have also experienced, Spaniola said.

CAWG members have this year worked to develop an improved public notice policy for state officials to follow once the decision to begin a PFAS investigation is made. The volunteer group's next online meeting has been scheduled for June 8.

The once-missing Cherry Capital Airport documents — from February, April and May 2020 — were from the time period before residents of Pine Grove neighborhood were notified that a suspected contaminated groundwater plume had migrated beneath their houses. Eighteen homes eventually were connected to East Bay Township water services to prevent the continued exposure to the toxic chemicals through tap water.

All 18 homes had some level of PFAS chemicals detected in private well water, and half registered concentrations beyond state thresholds for cleanup.

Both the airport and U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Traverse City have been designated official PFAS contamination sites and investigations into the extent of the pollution are underway.

Officials suspect contamination at the shared aviation area in Traverse City was caused by the use of firefighting foam that contains PFAS chemicals called aqueous film forming foam. Experts say AFFF is capable of smothering liquid-fuel fires and escaping fumes, which is why it must be stocked at all federally approved aviation areas but no longer is used for training.

PFAS — an acronym for manmade perflouroalkyl and polyflouroaklyl substances — are known to be harmful and exposure to them has been linked to multiple health problems, including blood pressure, cholesterol, thyroid and infertility issues, as well as certain cancers.

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