The American Woodcraft (AW) Site is located at 7911 Highway M-60, Union City, Calhoun County, Michigan, 49094. The approximately 5.7 acre Site is located in a primarily agricultural and commercial area and is bounded to the west by a residence and farmland, to the north by farmland, to the east by Amline Trucking and to the south by M-60 Highway. The Site includes a main building (approximately 90,000 square feet) and a chemical storage building on the north side of the facility.
There are approximately 150 55-gallon drums containing various wastes, over 200 small containers (10 gallons or less) containing various wastes, propane cylinders, transformers and several mercury switches located at the facility.
According to information received from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ), the AW plant began operations in 1957. The facility’s primary manufacturing activities included woodworking, painting, and assembly of industrial and commercial furnishings. The current property now comprises what were once the Bennett Manufacturing property and the American Woodcraft property.
In 1981, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) verified the presence of volatile organic compounds and metals in soils at the Bennett Manufacturing and American Woodcraft properties. In response to the MDNR’s concerns regarding possible groundwater contamination, Bennett Manufacturing completed a hydrogeological investigation of their property and reported 33,000 part per billion trichloroethylene in the groundwater. In 1984, the MDNR completed a hydrogeological investigation of the American Woodcraft Site. Groundwater samples did not detect any significant contamination.
In 1984, Bennett Manufacturing and American Woodcraft excavated approximately 250 cubic yards of contaminated soils from each facility. Neither company conducted further hydrogeologic investigations. In August 1986, American Woodcraft purchased the adjacent Bennett Manufacturing property. Groundwater samples were collected in 1993 and 1994 from both the American Woodcraft and Bennett Manufacturing monitoring wells and contaminants were found to be present at concentrations below the current generic residential groundwater cleanup criteria.
In the summer of 1996, American Woodcraft ceased operations at its facilities, and in the fall of 1996 filed for bankruptcy. A trustee from the Federal Bankruptcy Court has determined the property has "no asset" and has closed the case. The Site is scheduled to revert to the state for back taxes in 2003.
After learning that American Woodcraft had gone out of business and filed for bankruptcy, MDEQ inspected the facility and identified approximately seventy-five 55-gallon drums of listed hazardous wastes and 65 five-gallon containers of product and waste abandoned at the facility. In 2001, MDEQ Emergency Response Division (ERD) conducted a follow-up inspection and found additional drums stored on Site that had not previously been present. The Site was unsecured and portions of the roof had collapsed. MDEQ ERD informed local law enforcement and fire agencies of conditions on Site and these agencies secured the building and agreed to increase patrols.
On January 3, 2002, MDEQ ERD contacted the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and requested assistance in conducting an emergency drum removal at the AW Site. An April 2002 Site inspection found the building again unsecured and over half of the drums and containers removed to locations unknown.
On October 10, 2002, U.S. EPA mobilized the Superfund Technical Assistance and Response Team (START) contractor to the AW Site to conduct a Site assessment. START confirmed the product inventory list generated during the April 2002 visit and collected samples for laboratory analysis. Seven drum samples were collected and three samples were collected for asbestos analysis. Analytical results indicated the presence of RCRA characteristic hazardous wastes in the drums. Asbestos was not identified in any of the three samples.
On July 14, 2003, U.S. EPA mobilized START and ERRS to address a portion of the drums remaining on site. U.S. EPA will then conduct oversight of the removal of the remainder of drums by the PRP.
MDEQ continues to monitor the extent and magnitude of groundwater contamination at the Site. The information gathered from this study will be used to determine any additional remedial actions needed to close this Site. In addition, MDEQ will also be monitoring residential wells in the vicinity of the AW Site.
