Michigan Department of Environmental Quality closed the case on 148 North Main in Clarkston.
The closure report on the former muffler shop, written by MDEQ Project Manager Terri Golla and submitted on May 29, found corrective efforts to be satisfactory, with “no demonstrable long-term threats to human health, safety, or sensitive environmental receptors.”
State environmental law required an audit be complete within 90 days or the report would be considered approved. No audit was requested, and the report was considered final as of Oct. 1.
According to MDEQ, 148 N. Main has been an automotive related business since around 1920. In 1991, MDEQ found four underground tanks leaking gasoline. Two were installed in 1951, and the others in 1972.
The DEQ found a plume of pollution around the property in 2015, when it was being considered for use as a coffee shop.
The report was based on findings showing the residual contamination was shrinking due to natural biodegradation, aided by property owners’ remedial actions and the coarse-grained sandy soils in the area.
The property is currently occupied by Morgan’s Auto Repair.
The report means no further monitoring is required, but property owner Curt Catallo has no immediate plan to abandon the existing monitoring wells, said Neil Wallace, Catallo’s attorney.
“For now they will be available for future monitoring to confirm the plume continues to shrink,” Wallace said. “The deed holder and his consulting firm have worked hard to get us to this point. My client acquired control of this property fully aware of this problem and convinced from the experts that the development it wanted to do could be done without disturbing this ever-shrinking plume.”
– Phil Custodio