For Friday, Jan. 28, 2022

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1 – A contaminated Bay City site will be redeveloped with help from the Michigan Economic Development Corp. 

Wilkinson Minerals, a salt brine mining operation, purchased the vacant site in 2020. It’s one of the few remaining spots in North America where brine the company uses still exists. 

A company redevelopment project will construct a new salt brine mining facility with six buildings. 

The project represents about $164 million of investment and will create about 80 jobs. 

The Bay City Brownfield Redevelopment Authority has received approval for $4.9 million from the state to clean up the site. The city is supporting the project through a local tax capture valued at $7.3 million. 

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2 – An update on the state’s response to PFAS contamination in Oscoda is planned for March 2. 

Officials say the Michigan PFAS Action Response Team will provide an update on actions near the former Wurtsmith Air Force Base and Oscoda area sites at a virtual community meeting from 6-8 p.m. 

PFAS are a family of manmade chemicals used in things like firefighting foams that can contaminate drinking water.

You can register beforehand or join the March 2 meeting when it begins. After presentations, there will be an opportunity for attendees to ask questions.

Go to Michigan.gov/MPARTevents for details. 

The March 2 meeting will be recorded and posted within a few days after the meeting along with materials at Michigan.gov/Wurtsmith.

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3 – Among those weighing on a MI Healthy Climate Plan is an organization called Greenlink. 

A Greenlink Analytics report concludes that for every $1 invested in a clean energy transition, $7.70 benefits would be achieved statewide.

The draft MI Healthy Climate Plan outlines how leaders plan to make the state’s economy carbon neutral by 2050. Public comments are being taken through Feb. 14. 

An analyst for Greenlink says its report shows there are economic and health benefits to transitioning toward clean energy and “saying no to the status quo.”

The Greenlink report found a clean energy transition would:

• Reduce asthma cases  
• Reduce premature deaths
• Increase worker productivity.

Greenlink is the developer of an award-winning modeling tool called ATHENIA. 

– Mr. Great Lakes is heard Friday mornings in Bay City, Michigan, on Delta College Public Radio 90.1 FM (listen). Follow @jeffkart on Twitter #MrGreatLakes

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