Posted on August 11, 2025
The EPA, EGLE and Honeywell will begin tackling cleanup projects in the Keweenaw next year. The group has worked together since 2019 on the voluntary Great Lakes Legacy Act project agreement to clean up two sites, near the Hubbell Processing Area and the Lake Linden Recreation Area. The team recently completed design work for next year, and have begun preparing to collect contractor bids. The EPA aims to kick things off in May 2026.
What we’re anticipating our contractors will do as part of the cleanup. They will be blocking off the Lake Linden recreation area. There won’t be beach access for 2026. The immediate area of the beach will be fenced off and there will be equipment on the water in the Lake Linden area. This is going to be what’s called a mechanical excavation. Mechanical dredging. So it’s like an excavator scooping out the contaminated sediment. – Heather Williams, Environmental Engineer, Environmental Protection Agency
Prior to starting to work at both sites in the lake, Honeywell completed a source removal project at the former Mineral building between 2019 and 2020. Since then, the group has completed feasibility studies at both sites. The largest factor that slows down clean up starts with where the contamination is located. Under the water.
Our program has been successful at really moving very quickly overall. This one’s a little complicated because we have two areas and the drums are very unique situation to address along with contaminated sediment. But we can usually work from doing an initial sampling, analyzing cleanup options, performing the design and moving into construction in probably three or four years is a general average. – Heather Williams, Environmental Engineer, Environmental Protection Agency
The work stating in 2026 will dredge sediments from the torch lake recreation area, and using a barge, will be processed for clean up and Transporation to a landfill near the Hubbell Processing Area. Work around the drums will start after the group conducts feasibility study.
But the Hubble processing area, you know, is we did the drum pilot work last fall because we really needed more information on how to handle the drums in that area. We have a lot of debris in that area and it’s very deep water. So the pilot study gave us a lot of additional information. And we’ll now move into the feasibility study and look at the different alternatives for doing a larger cleanup there. – Heather Williams, Environmental Engineer, Environmental Protection Agency
The EPA is also planning an open house for the public in October. EPA Environmental Engineer Heather Williams says during past engagements the public has asked insightful questions and the group will have several team members available. They’re teaming up with the Torch Lake Public Action Council to share the date in their next newsletter. The Torch Lake PAC’s next meeting is scheduled for September 16th.
