UPPER PENINSULA, Mich. (WZMQ) – The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy today announced $9 million in grants to 19 municipal airports across the state. The funds are intended to address PFAS contamination related to the use of PFAS-containing firefighting foam.
The grant funding will be used for a wide range of activities, including PFAS testing and monitoring, potential source control and cleanup strategies for groundwater and stormwater, and cleaning of firefighting equipment and replacement firefighter turn-out gear.
The following airports have been awarded funding:
- Battle Creek Executive Airport – $300,000
- Bishop International Airport – $300,000
- Capital Region International Airport – $300,000
- Cherry Capital Airport (Northwest Regional Airport Authority) – $1,000,000
- Chippewa County International Airport / Chippewa County Economic Development Corporation – $475,000
- Delta County Airport – $476,697
- Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport – $370,000
- Ford Dickinson County Airport – $462,600
- Former Marquette County Airport – $1,000,000
- Gerald R Ford International Airport – $150,000
- Gogebic-Iron County Airport – $361,400
- Houghton County Memorial Airport – $1,000,000
- Kalamazoo / Battle Creek International Airport – $710,681
- Manistee County Blacker – $150,000
- Marquette Sawyer Regional Airport – $150,000
- MBS International Airport – $340,202
- Oakland County International Airport – $264,479
- Pellston Regional Airport – $1,000,000
- Willow Run Airport – $250,000
A total of 21 applications requesting $14.8 million for the $9 million in allocated grant funding were received in response to the request for proposals from the Michigan PFAS Response Team (MPART).
Commonly known as PFAS, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances are a group of potentially harmful man-made chemicals used in thousands of applications globally, including firefighting foam, food packaging, and many other consumer and industrial applications. They do not break down easily in the environment and are known to accumulate in the tissues of living organisms.
MPART is a team of seven state agencies established under an Executive Directive in 2017 to ensure coordination in implementing a response to PFAS contamination. MPART became an enduring body under an Executive Order in 2019. The goal of MPART is to protect public health by identifying sources of PFAS, addressing PFAS contamination at the sources, and working with local health departments to protect people in areas where groundwater is impacted by PFAS.
To learn more about PFAS and what the Michigan PFAS Action Response Team (MPART) is doing to address PFAS, go to www.michigan.gov/pfasresponse.
