Contact: Christy McGillivray, 808-726-5325, christy.mcgillivray@sierraclub.org
NEW REPORTING: Leather Waste Spreads PFAS on Michigan Farmland
What Does This Mean for American Farmland?
WALKERVILLE, MI -- Today, groundbreaking reporting from mLive linked PFAS contamination on the Valley View Pork facility in Walkerville, Michigan to land application of waste from an automotive leather producer. Records show that Eagle Ottawa Leather, headquartered in Grand Haven, Michigan, spread 13,000 tons of tannery waste on farmland annually between at least the mid-1990s and 2007 using a loophole in federal EPA safeguards meant to prevent chemical contamination, not encourage it.
In addition to heavy metals like chromium found in tannery waste, PFAS has been used in tannery processes since the 1950s. Michigan’s PFAS Action Response Team, MPART, identified this contaminated hotspot, with PFAS compounds measured up to 1800 ppt in groundwater on and near the farm site. PFAS chemicals pose a unique concern due to their intense toxicity, their incredible persistence in the environment, and their mobility which allows them to be taken up by plants or wash into rivers and streams. In a case that may be replicated elsewhere in Michigan and the country, the state’s own “Beneficial Reuse” policy for industrial wastes, allowed for the spread of PFAS-containing waste into the food production system.
There are dozens of leather tanneries in the United States. State and Federal regulators must investigate current and historic tannery sites for PFAS, track the current and historic disposal of tannery waste, and monitor ongoing contamination levels. Sierra Club is mapping current and historic tannery sites of concern based on publicly available records.
“Sierra Club applauds Michigan for leading the country in finding contamination hotspots, but we need an upstream solution. Farmers shouldn’t have their livelihoods threatened because of contamination from other industries, and the public shouldn’t be worried how this impacts our food supply. We must ban the sale and use of PFAS, and we should stop spreading industrial waste on agricultural lands,” said Christy McGillivray, Political and Legislative Director for Sierra Club Michigan. “Other states should learn from Michigan to identify places where tannery or other industrial wastes have been land applied, and we must determine the hazards that poses to the industrial food supply and nearby water sources.”
Sierra Club volunteer leader Anne Pawli lives in Oceana County and is concerned about what the detections of PFAS means for residents living near the farms where the leather tannery sludge was spread, as well as local water supplies and foods raised on the property.
"The people in Leavitt Township, Walkerville and our neighbors in Newaygo County deserve to know exactly what chemicals are in the soil and water," said Pawli. She continued, "This has terrible implications, not just for the health of the people living near those sites but consumers as a whole. These contaminants have been identified on the very land on which our farmers are growing their crops and raising their livestock. The food grown here, and in rural farming communities just like mine, winds up on shelves in grocery stores across the country. Everyone should be alarmed."
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The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 4 million members and supporters nationwide and over 150,000 in Michigan. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org/Michigan.