Scottville commission expected to approve contamination clean-up

SCOTTVILLE — The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality is expected to clean up ground contamination at 142 S. Main Street. City Manager Amy Williams said she has been working with the DEQ for a few years on the right-of-way at that address.

Williams said the DEQ discovered the contamination when the downtown block of South Main Street was reconstructed in 1996. “At that time a leaky underground storage tank was removed, but there was some residual petroleum that had seeped into the ground around the tank,” Williams wrote in a memo to city commission. “The DEQ feels that they can come in and clean the entire area to remove the site from the state list of contaminated sites.  As this is within our right-of-way they need our approval to enter the site to do the work.  There is absolutely no cost to the city for this work, they just need our permission.  This work should be done later this year.”

Williams said the DEQ is also working on another privately owned site on West State Street.  That work will likely not happen until the following year, but that property owner is in the approval process now.

Williams is recommending the commission approve the clean up during the commission’s regular meeting Monday at 5:30 p.m.