bofors nobel, inc.

5025 EVANSTON AVE

The Bofors-Nobel site (the Site) is a 85-acre site six miles east of downtown Muskegon in Egelston Township, Muskegon County, Michigan, and includes a formerly operating specialty chemical production facility (Lomac, Inc.) and 10 abandoned sludge lagoons. The site is bounded on the south by Big Black Creek which receives the site groundwater discharge. Alcohol-based detergents, saccharin, pesticides, herbicides, and dye intermediates were produced at the site, starting around 1960; the unlined lagoons were used for wastewater and sludge disposal until approximately 1976. Wastes include iron sludge, 3,3'-dichlorobenzidine and other organics, zinc oxide, calcium sulfate sludge, and detergent wastes. In the 1970s, contaminants were discovered by the State of Michigan within site groundwater, and the creek ecosystem was severely affected. In 1976, four extraction wells were installed by Lakeway (since then increased to a total of 12 wells) to capture contaminated groundwater before it reached the creek, and these wells are still present but operate in a limited capacity. Approximately 1,800 people live within a 1.25 mile radius of the site.