House Street Tree Clearing Complete

Following approval late last year of our Work Plan to install engineered caps at our House Street property, we began clearing trees in February and completed the process last week, ahead of schedule.

The trees have been stockpiled on-site and will remain there (along with the stumps in the ground) until cap construction this Fall, at which time they will be chipped and placed under the constructed caps.  In addition, soil erosion controls have been installed.

The next step in the process is to receive contractor bids, which are due on May 1, 2023.  Then, we anticipate awarding the contract by July 30, 2023, with a construction start date no later than October 28, 2023.  A detailed schedule will be determined as part of the bidding process, but the overall project is still expected to take at least three years to complete.

As a reminder, we performed routine on-site air monitoring during the tree clearing in accordance with the Air Monitoring Plan we shared with EGLE.  Results of this monitoring have consistently been below threshold limits, with no yellow or red level alerts.  This includes the most recent data for April 16-19, 2023.

You can view all air monitoring data to-date here, along with a guide showing how to interpret the results, and a map showing the locations of the air monitoring stations on the property.

We will continue keeping the community informed about this work, through regular updates on this blog, www.WeAreWolverine.com, and through information posted at kiosks and in other locations accessible to the public. As always, residents with questions or feedback are encouraged to contact Wolverine Worldwide directly at HouseStreet@wwwinc.com or (616) 866-5627.


House Street Update – March 30, 2023

Following approval late last year of our Work Plan to install engineered caps at our House Street property, we began on-site activities last month with tree clearing and are proceeding ahead of schedule.

We have been performing routine on-site air monitoring during the tree clearing in accordance with the Air Monitoring Plan we shared with EGLE.  Results of this monitoring have consistently been below threshold limits, with no yellow or red level alerts.  This includes the most recent data  for March 19-25, 2023.

You can view all air monitoring data to-date here, along with a guide showing how to interpret the results, and a map showing the locations of the air monitoring stations on the property.

We will continue keeping the community informed about this work, through regular updates on this blog, www.WeAreWolverine.com, and through information posted at kiosks and in other locations accessible to the public. As always, residents with questions or feedback are encouraged to contact Wolverine Worldwide directly at HouseStreet@wwwinc.com or (616) 866-5627.


House Street Update – March 24, 2023

Following approval late last year of our Work Plan to install engineered caps at our House Street property, we began on-site activities last month with tree clearing.  This phase continues to progress ahead of schedule, and will likely take 5-6 weeks rather than the initially anticipated 3 months.  We don’t anticipate a change in the amount of truck traffic to and from the property during this period.

In addition, we have been performing routine on-site air monitoring during the tree clearing in accordance with the Air Monitoring Plan we shared with EGLE and made available at this link.  Prior results reported here and here were good, with all readings below threshold limits and no yellow or red level alerts.  The most recent weekly results from this month also showed no alerts, with all readings well below threshold limits.  Please click here to review these recent results, click here for a guide showing how to interpret the results, and click here  for a map showing the locations of the air monitoring stations on the property.

We will continue keeping the community informed about this work, through regular updates on this blog, www.WeAreWolverine.com, and through information posted at kiosks and in other locations accessible to the public. As always, residents with questions or feedback are encouraged to contact Wolverine Worldwide directly at HouseStreet@wwwinc.com or (616) 866-5627.

Update on Tannery Work Plan

We want to provide some additional information about our plan to install a remediation system to prevent groundwater from impacting the Rogue River at our former Tannery property in Rockford.  Our initial plan was approved by EGLE on March 31, 2022, but after fieldwork indicated that it would not be as effective as intended we sought approval from EGLE in December 2022 to implement a substantially larger, more robust, and more effective system.  Unfortunately, EGLE denied our proposed expansion last week.  We would like to provide further background on our proposal, our next steps, and the delay that will result from EGLE’s decision.  

Our Remediation Plan

Our initial, EGLE-approved tannery remediation plan was submitted on March 31, 2022, and called for installing 22 extraction wells intended to capture groundwater before it migrated to surface waters.  We then performed additional pump testing, which indicated that due to previously unknown underground site conditions, our initial design would not be as effective as intended and would allow some groundwater to continue impacting Rogue River.

Rather than proceed with installing an approved but potentially underperforming system, we notified EGLE and proposed expanding and improving the system to make it substantially larger, more robust, and more effective.  We submitted this proposal on time on December 1, 2022, and the key features are:

  • Rather than rely solely on groundwater extraction wells as in the initial plan, we proposed pairing extraction wells with over 2,000 feet of groundwater collection trenches (similar to French drains).
  • There would be a sump and pump at each of the trench runs to pump groundwater from the trenches to the treatment system.
  • There would also be additional extraction wells to pump deeper groundwater, and several shallow wells to contain groundwater at the south end of the property. 
  • The initial plan with 22 extraction wells included 100 feet-spacing between wells.  The proposed expansion using extraction wells plus trenches, however, is much more effective and essentially equivalent to installing extraction wells at a spacing of 1-foot, continuously along the entire property. 
  • The use of wells plus trenches would achieve a much more uniform collection of groundwater, while actively inducing an inward hydraulic gradient, dictated by the control of the pump rates.  As a result, our anticipated groundwater collection volumes are nearly double what was expected with the initial plan that contained extraction wells alone.

Impacts of EGLE Decision

We are disappointed that EGLE denied our proposal to install a much larger remediation system that will be more effective at preventing groundwater from impacting the Rogue River.  EGLE did not express concerns about our plan to pair extraction wells and trenches to increase system performance, but asked that we submit more information and details about it.

We have already begun to assemble this information and look forward to working with EGLE to obtain quick approval of our expanded system.   EGLE’s denial will unfortunately result in a delay in preventing groundwater from reaching the Rogue River, but we are committed to implementing our expanded system and are moving forward with design and permit applications so we can begin construction as soon as regulatory approvals allow.

We will continue keeping the community informed about progress on our remediation plan and other matters through updates on this blog, www.WeAreWolverine.com, and through information posted at kiosks and in other locations accessible to the public.  As always, residents with questions or feedback are encouraged to contact Wolverine Worldwide directly at HouseStreet@wwwinc.com or (616) 866-5627.