“ALGOMA TOWNSHIP, MI — Michigan regulators have found a way to pass along increasingly detailed information about a plume of toxic chemicals in the groundwater near Rockford that doesn’t involve public meetings, announcements or media coverage…

Few people have heard about these gatherings because they aren’t publicly noticed or announced beyond hand-delivered invitations.

The meetings use government facilities, but are not hosted, per se, by government entities, according to officials in Algoma Township where they’ve been held 11 times since last fall.

No public record of what’s been conveyed to homeowners about the contamination investigation or potential health impacts is being kept because, according to township officials, the meetings aren’t public and there’s no obligation to do so…

Attendees at the most recent meeting, held May 10, say the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality disclosed expansion of a sampling area west of Rockford where Wolverine is testing wells for PFAS from tannery waste the company allegedly dumped into an old farmland gravel pit that was developed into upscale housing.

The PFAS testing zone is crossing the Rogue River, which had formed the westernmost testing boundary in Algoma Township. The DEQ hasn’t announced the move, although Wolverine contractors began handing out bottled water there last week.

Wolverine says the new area includes 19 homes.

The DEQ also showed a map with red and yellow dots denoting properties where drinking water had tested positive for high levels of PFAS, as well as streams feeding the Rogue River that are thought to be geologic pathways transporting the chemicals…

The DEQ declined to share the May 10 PowerPoint presentation with MLive, calling it a draft that needs vetting. The agency says the document won’t be available until at least June 5 in response to a May 11 Freedom of Information Act request. The DEQ has routinely taken the fully allowable time permitted by law to provide public records related to the PFAS investigations in Rockford and elsewhere…

In contrast to the House Street dump plume, the Algoma Township PFAS plume has received much less attention — even though contamination levels there are arguably worse.

Of the 530 homes tested in Algoma, 194 are positive for PFAS and 67 of those are above the Environmental Protection Agency health advisory level of 70 parts per trillion (ppt) for PFOS and PFOA — two of numerous PFAS chemicals. Some are way above it. Ten homes are testing between 1,000- and 10,000-ppt for PFOS and PFOA.”

Read the full article by Garret Ellison.