Kai, It is not uncommon for illicit dumpers to pull into a dark corner of a parking lot and dump in a convenient storm drain. I think that is what they were suggesting as a potential source. However, it could easily have been from a source at U of M and no one is owning up to it. Our resources for conducting a criminal investigation for an event like this are limited and are very unlikely to yield any solid results. From our perspective, it is unfortunate, but incidents this like this happen and it is unlikely we’ll ever figure it out. We try hard to investigate and respond to complaints and, in this case, get U of M to perform appropriately, but circumstances are such that it does not always work out. Realistically, the best we can hope for is to push U of M to do better next time (and they are generally very responsive and take their obligations seriously). They are no obligations for U of M to make public notice for an incident like this. Obviously, there are spills where it is necessary to contact the County Health Dept and other agencies to evaluate risks and determine what notice/posting/warnings may be necessary. The pipeline spill on the West side of the state (which we have staff engaged on currently) is on the far side of the spectrum and there have obviously been many warnings about contact with the river and prohibitions against using the water for irrigation etc., but, as I said, that is the extreme example. It is not easy to convey or to accept sometimes, but we have to prioritize our efforts and beyond interfacing with U of M on getting reports submitted and improving practices there is not much more we can effectively do in this case. -Jon Jon E. Russell, Supervisor Water Resources Division MI Department of Natural Resources & Environment Jackson District Office (517) 780-7847 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Kai Petainen [mailto:ahknaten74@hotmail.com] Sent: Wednesday, August 04, 2010 3:50 PM To: Russell, Jon (DNRE) Subject: RE: UM - Nichols Road Spill Jon, Thanks for your response. I do appreciate it. I have seen nothing in any report that indicates it was residential dumping, and all reports have indicated that the source came from somewhere within University of Michigan property. However, when I spoke to people on the phone (including Rachel Matthews and others), they are all suggesting that it came from residential areas. Today I spoke with an official from (I believe it was Emergency Management?) and they told me that it was probably from some schmuck dumping oil on a side street near the hospital. Rachel went on to explain to me, "In addition, this type of discharge is more common then you may realize. Urban storm water is not clean, and generally the public still does not understand their personal impacts to water quality based on their actions. ". So this tossing aside of blame to the common public is rather annoying when most/all? of the area where the spill took place is at UM. So although all the reports indicate UofM properties, even folks within the DNR are blaming people outside of the University. And that is insulting. Theoretically possible, perhaps... but when most of the spill happens under UM area.... well... spend more time investigating UM. The hospital right now has a series of construction projects, demolitions, etc... and there are rumors that the spill sensors at the hospital were even turned off. So, it is insulting to me, when folks like Matthews give me lectures on common urban residential dumping, when this area is composed of university properties. It is seriously aggravating, that this incident was never reported as a health or environmental hazard to the public. The AAFD does refer to their attempts of narrowing down the chemical were unsuccessful. But, they don't identify it as petroleum either. That evidence of petroleum comes from someone analyzing a boot later on, and that is inconclusive as well. I am thankful for the AAFD response, after reading through the incident report, they worked hard, and I'm impressed. I do want to say thank you though... and it is for this comment... "I will have her follow-up with U of M on how to improve responses to future incidents." THANK YOU! That is seriously the first good comment anyone has said! I really would appreciate it if all parties involved learn from this. I think quite a few mistakes were made and I hope they make changes so these mistakes don't happen in the future. -kai -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: RE: UM - Nichols Road Spill Date: Wed, 4 Aug 2010 15:29:47 -0400 From: RUSSELLJ@michigan.gov To: ahknaten74@hotmail.com CC: MATTHEWSR@michigan.gov Kai, My understanding of the event was that the material that had been captured was washed away by the storm before it could be removed from containment (both at the outfall and downstream). The OSEH report made an assumption that was not true in that regard. The pipe definitely comes from U of M properties and they are responsible for responding to contaminants/incidents that would come from the storm sewer. I am not sure where your reference to residential areas or residential dumping comes from. That is not mentioned in my note. My note refers to discharges from urban storm sewers in general and that some of those discharges sources can not be accurately determined. I am not sure what analytical technique that the AAFD used to reach their conclusion, but it had to be some sort of field test and those are far from definitive. In fact, the report indicates that it was not conclusive on the material in question. It is unfortunate that the material was not able to be removed prior to the heavy rains and that U of M was not able to get a vactor truck there more expeditiously. I have not spoken directly to U of M. I suggest you contact Rachel Matthews if you have any further questions, since she has had the lead on this. I will have her follow-up with U of M on how to improve responses to future incidents. -Jon Jon E. Russell, Supervisor Water Resources Division MI Department of Natural Resources & Environment Jackson District Office (517) 780-7847 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Kai Petainen [mailto:ahknaten74@hotmail.com] Sent: Wednesday, August 04, 2010 1:19 PM To: Russell, Jon (DNRE) Subject: RE: UM - Nichols Road Spill Jon, According to the report you gave, ""However, the boom deployed downstream at Gallup Park was in place prior to the start of the rain event, and thus, should have collected/removed available residue from the surface of the river" I believe this portion to be in error, attached is the fire department report (attached), it states... "I returned to the scene to see if the containment made it through the night with the heavy rains that we had. It appeared that all of the booming materials had been washed away" Also, the fire department sample refers to the phosphoric acid with 88% confidence. And it refers to how the pipe led to the university of michigan area. (there is no mention of it leading to residential areas and residential dumping) -kai -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: RE: UM - Nichols Road Spill Date: Wed, 28 Jul 2010 09:53:07 -0400 From: RUSSELLJ@michigan.gov To: ahknaten74@hotmail.com Please see the attached report that we received from U of M. Unfortunately, with all the storm sewers that connect to water ways in urban areas, it is not that uncommon to see a spill whose source can not be determined. -Jon Jon E. Russell, Supervisor Water Resouces Division MI Department of Natural Resources & Environment Jackson District Office (517) 780-7847 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Kai Petainen [mailto:ahknaten74@hotmail.com] Sent: Tuesday, July 27, 2010 8:43 AM To: Russell, Jon (DNRE) Subject: RE: UM - Nichols Road Spill As Deb is out of the office, I'll ask you... According to the HRWC, OSEH was put in charge of reporting... As I have investigated this a bit more, this document has come to my attention (attached): http://www.oseh.umich.edu/stormwater/SWMP2010.pdf There is a section in it, Section 1.6 that talks about "Discharges Which May Endanger Public Health or the Environment". As I viewed the oil spill for a few hours, the source is unknown, the quantity is unknown and the substance is unknown (apart from telling me it was a 'petroleum' product) and it wasn't completely cleaned from the river (as booms were compromised during the rain), and I developed a headache. I believe the spill to 'MAY' have endangered the environment or public health. Note, it doesn't say 'WILL', but 'MAY'. As such, I believe it would be prudent that section 1.6 be filled out by them and given to the MDEQ Jackson District Supervisor. I believe they may have troubles filling out the: name of person responsible for spill, location of discharge, and the pollutants -- as they were unable to find the location, conduct a thorough test on the sample (they just say it is petroleum based), or find the location of the discharge. Note, in that document there are time restrictions as well as to how fast they must produce it. I have waited for a week and very little has been stated to the public apart from the Ann Arbor.com news article and my little ireport on CNN. I'm not sure who to ask, but if it is under my legal right to see that particular section of the report, then I would like to. As I live along the Huron River, and I was exposed to the spill, I hope it is in within my right to know. Any help is appreciated. -kai -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: ahknaten74@hotmail.com To: russellj@michigan.gov Subject: FW: UM - Nichols Road Spill Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2010 21:22:27 -0400 fyi -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: ahknaten74@hotmail.com To: snelld@michigan.gov Subject: RE: UM - Nichols Road Spill Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2010 20:24:09 -0400 BTW... Hopefully some lessons can be learned from this 'minor' event. I certainly do not wish or desire a 'major' or 'minor' event, but I hope that lessons are learned on evidence collection and identifying the source. 'Small' events like this can help other communities learn from our mistakes. I hope that the organizations involved help educate other communities on what to do better. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: ahknaten74@hotmail.com To: snelld@michigan.gov Subject: RE: UM - Nichols Road Spill Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2010 20:19:24 -0400 Deb, A sincere thank you to you. You listened to my concerns and responded. For that I am grateful. I have put together a summary of the events. Since we do not have a local newspaper, I put together and I-report. In it, I do thank the DNRE for help. I also offer some suggestions on improvements. Hopefully some lessons can be learned from this 'minor' event. You can see it here http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-476148 -kai -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: RE: UM - Nichols Road Spill Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:20:43 -0400 From: SNELLD@michigan.gov To: ahknaten74@hotmail.com All we know at this point is that it was some sort of petroleum-based oil. I wish we knew specifically what type of oil but unfortunately we don’t. Deb Snell Environmental Quality Analyst Michigan Dept of Natural Resources and Environment Water Resources Division Jackson District Office (517)780-7929 fax: (517)780-7855 snelld@michigan.gov -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Kai Petainen [mailto:ahknaten74@hotmail.com] Sent: Monday, July 26, 2010 4:18 PM To: Snell, Debora (DNRE) Subject: RE: UM - Nichols Road Spill Since they collected it in booms and pads, what was the material then? -kai -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: UM - Nichols Road Spill Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2010 15:54:40 -0400 From: SNELLD@michigan.gov To: ahknaten74@hotmail.com CC: RUSSELLJ@michigan.gov Hi Kai. I spoke with Ms. Heather Rice, UM OSEH, this afternoon. She stated that UM personnel continued to investigate the source of the spill last week, checking all the buildings in the area (including UM Hospital among many others) that could have contributed to the storm sewer outfall near Parking Lot M29, however they were unable to find a source. She stated they determined the substance, which was yellowish in color with a petroleum odor, was not fuel but an oil of some sort. They were able to rule out the UM helipad because it does not drain to the same storm sewer as the one involved in this spill. UM staff re-checked the storm sewer outfall and the upstream storm sewer manholes in the days following the event and again today. Ms. Rice stated there has been no sign of oil in the storm sewer. Based on the information we have, it appears this was a minor spill and an isolated event of unknown origin. Based on my review of the incident, UM followed all reporting requirements to the DNRE. They responded appropriately to the spill and conducted a thorough investigation. The City of Ann Arbor also appears to have followed all reporting requirements to other local agencies. UM and the Ann Arbor Fire Department used oil absorbent booms and pads to capture as much of the material as possible – although we recognize not all the material was captured and contained which was complicated by rain on the night of the 19th. It is possible the material you observed in the storm drain discharge on the 24th was related to the rain event which occurred on the 23rd. Sediment, parking lot run off, and other pollutants associated with storm water would be present in the storm water discharge. If any residual oil from the spill on the 19th had remained in the pipe until the 23rd, it would have been discharged as well – but I would suspect only minor residual amounts of oil from the spill would have remained in the pipe, if any. It is unfortunate that responders were unable to determine a source of the spill despite their best efforts. UM will continue to monitor their storm sewer system and will contact me if they receive any additional information. Ms. Rice will also be sending me a written report regarding this incident. Thank you for your conscientious reporting and follow-up regarding this spill. Your care and concern for the environment are much appreciated. Should I learn of any new or different information regarding this spill I will let you know. Sincerely, Deb Snell Environmental Quality Analyst Michigan Dept of Natural Resources and Environment Water Resources Division Jackson District Office (517)780-7929 fax: (517)780-7855 snelld@michigan.gov