We Are Wolverine

Last fall Wolverine Worldwide began implementing an EGLE-approved Work Plan for the construction of three engineered caps that will cover approximately 27 acres of our House Street property and help prevent the infiltration of PFAs into groundwater.  That work included contractor selection, tree clearing, fenceline and work area air monitoring, stripping topsoil, constructing stormwater controls, relocating some waste, constructing lay-down areas and office trailers, and stabilizing and seeding the site for winter.  For details on the work completed last year, please see our prior blog posts here and here.

After taking the winter off, we are now preparing to resume work at our House Street property and want to provide an update what to expect in the coming weeks and months.  Our contractor, RECON, is scheduled to return to the property during the week of April 1.  They will first begin earth work to relocate and consolidate waste materials, and then will construct the three engineered caps.  We anticipate work this year will continue through November and that some remaining work, such as grass planting, will occur in 2025.

Like last year, this year we will again be performing air monitoring across the property.  Over the winter we have evaluated the wind data from last fall and made some adjustments to the fenceline locations so we can continue monitoring dust in the areas that are downwind of our work areas.  These updates and others are in our revised Air Monitoring Plan, which is available at this link and includes:

• Station 1 will be moved from the northern to the northeastern fenceline.  The new location is based on review of prevailing wind data from the on-site weather station.
• We have added information to Section 6 of the plan that describes how GZA completes the periodic readings with the hand-held equipment.  
• We have added the former location of Station 1 as a location where periodic readings will be completed.

The air monitoring equipment was set up during the first week of March and has been collecting background readings, with the first two weeks of data available here and here. Air monitoring will continue during construction work and additional air monitoring summaries will be posted on this blog as they were last year.

We will continue to use all of our air monitoring data, including wind data, to make adjustments as necessary.  If there is an exceedance of project action levels at the fence line monitors, we will contact EGLE and nearby residents to communicate the exceedance and explain the mitigation measures being taken.

In addition to our Air Monitoring Plan, two Health and Safety Plans were developed for the work.  Our environmental consultant, GZA, and the primary contractor, RECON, each have a HASP to protect their onsite employees during performance of work. 

We look forward to completing the final remedy at our House Street property this year, and we will continue to use this blog to keep the community informed as work progresses.  Residents with questions are encouraged to contact us directly at HouseStreet@wwwinc.com or (616) 866-5627.

We have completed work for the year at our House Street property.  As we summarized in prior posts here and here, that work included tree cutting and staging, stripping some topsoil, relocating some waste (no waste will be left exposed over the winter), and stabilizing soil and seeding for the winter.  We performed air monitoring during that work in accordance with our air monitoring plan, and when work resumes next year we will continue to perform air monitoring.

We have regularly posted the air quality data to this blog, and you can find the latest data here.    This data continues to show levels were far below action limits, with no issues or concerns identified.

Air quality data is not the only data our real-time air monitoring systems collect.  As explained in our air monitoring plan, we also utilize an onsite meteorological system (located at Station 3 on the south perimeter of the property) to monitor wind speed and direction, temperature, and relative humidity.  In particular, wind speed and direction are continuously recorded to track the actual onsite wind conditions and ensure the effectiveness of our monitoring. 

All of our wind data to date has shown that the wind at the site blows in the directions where we have monitors.  The map below shows the areas of work during fall 2023 along with the “wind roses” showing the predominant wind directions and perimeter dust measurements for those time periods.    

We will continue to use all of our air monitoring data, including wind data, to ensure appropriate and effective air monitoring while work is occurring at the site.  If there is an exceedance of project action levels at the fence line monitors, we will contact regulators and nearby residents to communicate the exceedance, explain the mitigation measures being taken, and provide an update.

Wolverine will be using this blog to keep the community informed as work progresses in the weeks and months ahead.  In addition, residents with questions are encouraged to contact Wolverine directly at HouseStreet@wwwinc.com or (616) 866-5627.

As mentioned in previous updates on this blog here and here, we expect the 2023 work at our House Street property to wrap up at the end of this week, at which time RECON is expecting to remove the construction equipment.  Between now and then, we continue to prepare the site for the winter, including sloping it for proper drainage and installing soil erosion controls.  

Over the winter, the site will be visited regularly to complete observations of the soil erosion and stormwater controls.  When frost restrictions are lifted from the roads in the spring, RECON will remobilize to the site.  We will provide an update on that schedule as the time is closer.

The air monitoring at the site continues to show levels far below action limits, with no issues or concerns identified.  Now available are the most recent air monitoring results for the weeks ending November 3 and November 10.  When air monitoring results for this week are compiled, they will be added to this blog post. 

See below for photos, including an aerial photo of sitework taken in October, and a photo taken this week showing the site stabilized for winter with straw and seed.

Wolverine will be using this blog to keep the community informed as work progresses in the weeks and months ahead.  In addition, residents with questions are encouraged to contact Wolverine directly at HouseStreet@wwwinc.com or (616) 866-5627.

For the past several years Wolverine Worldwide has been conducting environmental investigation and remediation work in northern Kent County related to PFAS, a family of chemicals that were used in Scotchgard and a variety of other industrial and consumer products. We have used this blog to provide updates on our work, which includes environmental remediation at our House Street property, installing a groundwater interception system at our former tannery property, funding a municipal water system expansion, and sampling soil, groundwater, and pore water.

We recently began some additional environmental investigation work in the area, at our Rockford headquarters and at a former warehouse across the street that now houses footwear repair and warranty operations. Earlier this year a purchaser of property to the south of the warehouse conducted a routine prepurchase inspection and identified PFAS in shallow groundwater at that property.  Upon receiving those results the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) began sampling nearby residential wells for PFAS, and we began a focused investigation at our headquarters and warehouse properties.

We previously sampled groundwater at our headquarters property for PFAS and the results were all below criteria. We are now conducting additional PFAS sampling on that property and also sampling the warehouse property. We prepared the plan for this expanded work in consultation with EGLE, and are awaiting sampling results.  The data will be used to help inform ongoing investigation efforts in the area, and when we receive the results we will coordinate with EGLE to determine what, if any, next steps are appropriate.

In addition to this groundwater sampling, we have also engaged our environmental consultant to review records and files and perform additional onsite investigation work at our properties.  Included in this work is a review of historic permits issued by EGLE to occasionally dredge sediment from the Rogue River in front of our former tannery to ensure proper operation of the water intake pipes. Pursuant to these State-issued permits, some of the dredged sediment was placed at the headquarters property in the 1980s and early 2000s. We are actively working to identify and delineate the sediment, and will coordinate with EGLE to determine any next steps.

We will continue to use this blog to keep the community informed as our investigation and related work progresses in the weeks and months ahead.  As always, residents with questions or feedback are encouraged to contact Wolverine Worldwide directly at HouseStreet@wwwinc.com or (616) 866-5627.

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