The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and its partners celebrated the completion of restoration work in Muskegon Lake area of concern in Michigan May 24.
The decades-long project cost $70 million and required a partnership of federal, state and local entities, a news release reported, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
“We know that removing legacy pollution from the Great Lakes is an investment in the economy, in public health and in our future,” EPA Regional Administrator Debra Shore said in the release. “Thanks to the funding provided in President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, EPA will be able to accelerate large-scale remediation and restoration work in other Great Lakes areas of concern.”
Muskegon Lake was designated an area of concern in 1987, after heavy industry polluted the area with contaminants, including petroleum hydrocarbons, mercury and lead. The area of concern includes all of Muskegon Lake, branches of the Muskegon River, Ryerson Creek, Ruddiman Creek, Four Mile Creek, Bear Creek and Bear Lake, the news release said.
Cleanup and restoration started soon after the Area of Concern was designated, according to the release. Comprehensive environmental evaluations will continue in the area of concern so that when the lake meets “applicable cleanup criteria,” removing the lake from the list of areas of concern will proceed.
“Today we are celebrating an exciting milestone for Muskegon Lake, one that NOAA and our partners have worked toward for many years. NOAA has helped support Muskegon Lake’s recovery through numerous efforts including restoration of wetlands, shorelines and nearshore habitat and designating it as one of our Habitat Focus Areas,” NOAA’s Carrie Selberg Robinson said in the news release. “We’re proud to recognize the incredible progress that all of our partners have made to reach this important step toward removing Muskegon Lake from the list of Great Lakes areas of concern.”
U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich, said in the news release that Muskegon “has worked hard to protect Muskegon Lake and the surrounding Great Lakes.”
“It has been an honor to partner with them and secure the single-largest-ever investment in the Great Lakes last year in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act,” Stabenow said. “Thanks to our bipartisan efforts in Congress, and with the President’s leadership, we were able to get the funds necessary to accelerate the cleanup and restoration of Muskegon Lake.”
