Residents and visitors around Torch Lake may have noticed excavators, barges and boats on the water this summer. Those machines were part of a cleanup led by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Michigan EGLE and Honeywell. This week, crews began removing equipment after taking 17,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment from the lakebed near the Lake Linden Recreation Area beach.
EPA Region 5 Regional Administrator Anne Vogel said the work went smoothly. “This is about as smooth as the project could go,” Vogel said. She credited the team’s early outreach to the Village of Lake Linden for successfully preparing the region’s communities. “We try to over-communicate these things.”
Crews dug up the sediment and collected confirmation samples to verify what remained. Workers dredged additional areas where needed, installed sheet pile walls to keep water out and backfilled the site.
Vogel said the summer work is one part of a larger effort by the Great Lakes National Program Office in the Torch Lake Area of Concern. Partners include municipalities, the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, EGLE and Honeywell. The goal is to remove remnants of the former mineral stamp operation that operated during the height of the Keweenaw Peninsula’s copper mining.
“For the community, and the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community in particular, it means they are not exposed to any contamination in the sediment, and neither are the fish,” Vogel said. “We can see the safe return of recreation and fishing on this part of the lake.”
Working underwater posed the project’s main challenge, Vogel said, a difficulty common at Areas of Concern like Torch Lake.
Summer work also affected recreation. The Jeff Moyle Watercross Race was relocated, and the Lake Linden Recreation Area beach closed to the public.
The next phase targets the former Hubbell Processing Area. The EPA has started early background work to prepare for that phase with its partners. Vogel said the feasibility study is underway and a plan will follow in the near future. Residents can expect more details in 2027, once the groups finalize their plans.
“There’s some work to be done to even understand the work needed to remediate the Hubbell Processing Area,” Vogel said. “We will have a plan in the near future to take the next step toward complete remediation of Torch Lake.”
Effective communication between project leaders, municipalities and residents remains critical to cleaning up areas of concern near communities where residents live and businesses operate.
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