MCWC - Landing Page - Gray Site | Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation

THE “GRAY” SITE:

Above is an annotated engineering drawing for the "Gray" site. Its distorted shape resulted from "shoe-horning" it between adjacent wetlands. Those wetlands have active surface drainage via two small creeks into Bullkill Marsh, approximately200 yards to the west, which in turn flows north to the Muskegon River.

We consider the selection & development of this site to be Michigan Potash's most serious blunder to date. Little more than 6 acres in size, it is slated to contain 8 production injection-wells, and 2 waste injection wells, along with all of the pipes, tanks, pumps, valves, and associated facilities needed to interconnect them and to a proposed refinery 3⁄8 mile away. These facilities will transport tens of thousands of gallons per minute of concentrated corrosive brines at pressures of 2,000 pounds per square inch. This site would serve as the hub of MPSC’s entire operation and is the most likely place for leaks and spills to occur. According to Michigan Potash CEO Ted Pagano: “I cannot guarantee that there will not be a catastrophic failure.” Such an occurrence would devastate Bullkill Marsh & Creek for decades to come.

In view of the clear risks to the state’s natural resources, it is incomprehensible that EGLE would allow these activities to proceed on this site!

It’s important to consider that MPSC says they will produce 1 million tons of potash per year. To accomplish this,
they will need a minimum of 36 wellheads, all running “full-bore” and at optimal conditions1 (realistically, they
will probably need more than twice that number). Where will they put all of those additional wellheads?

WHY DID THEY PICK THE MOST VULNERABLE PIECE OF GROUND THEY OWN FOR THIS PURPOSE?

Although much of Michigan Potash's site drains into Bullkill Marsh, it also drains into three other creek systems. This view shows the adjoining terrain to the east, which flows into the Big Stone Creek System (incl. Big Stone Lake & Lake Miramichi). The entire area is riddled with shallow aquifers, springs, seeps, ponds, and wetlands (crosshatched areas) and functions like a large sponge, constantly pouring its contents into that system.

The Michigan Potash site drains directly into Bullkill Marsh to the northwest, Big Stone Lake and Creek system to the east, Maney Lake & creek to the North, and Pogy Creek to the south. Surface drainage occurs over fairly steep terrain into wetlands in close proximity to the site. Drainage occurs both above- and below-ground, throughout an area containing a multitude of shallow, unprotected aquifers, seeps, springs, wetlands, creeks, and lakes. To our knowledge, none of these surface or sub-surface features have been explored or mapped by Michigan Potash, either beneath their site or around it.