There used to be a somewhat grim aphorism about the old Cliffs-Dow site along Lakeshore Boulevard in the city of Marquette: The place is so toxic with old industrial pollution that even the crows pack lunches when they fly over it.

Overstated? Perhaps. But clearly, decades of charcoal manufacture through hardwood distillation and God only knows what else has left much of the soil there foul and unusable.

Just how foul and unusable? It appears, after years of discussion, a process will unfold this construction season to find out. Using an EPA grant, the city will oversee an environmental clean-up of Cliffs-Dow with a long-term eye on development of the site.

And oh, what a lovely site it is. Situated within a stone’s throw of the Lake Superior shoreline on the east and an abandoned railroad grade on the west, we’re talking about 47 acres of prime real estate, the quality of which Marquette just doesn’t have any more of.

Here’s a bit of history. Cliffs-Dow was placed on the EPA’s Superfund program’s National Priority List in the 1980s but following initial remediation efforts, it was taken off of that list in 2000. Over the years, the city has engaged in several site monitoring and clean-up efforts, including the removal of 845 tons of carcinogenic wood tar in buried trenches and piping in July 2011.

A Mining Journal story from last week noted the city purchased the approximately 77 acre property in October 1997, “with the intent of securing control over redevelopment options for large undeveloped lakeshore property,” according to a report titled “Former Cliffs-Dow Site Project Update” presented in a Marquette City Commission work session and regular meeting in December 2019.

The city sold two parcels of the property in 1998 and 1999, leaving approximately 46 acres. A “deed restriction placed on limit(ed) property to non-residential uses and prohibit(ed) groundwater use,” and in 1999, MDEQ (now EGLE), indicated that the city was responsible for clean-up of the site, according to the 2019 report.

Marquette Director of Community Development Dennis Stachewicz said this week that the EPA has approved in-situ remediation for the site which involves treatment of the groundwater directly at the site without excavation or removal of material. Clean-up is expected this calendar year, he said.

Stay tuned for updates on how this is going to go. The city won’t have a good handle on what it’s dealing with until it really gets in there and starts work. By all accounts, the ground is loaded with toxic chemicals of one sort or another.

If that’s the case, it may take much more than the EPA grant to do the job properly and completely. We can’t help but wonder who’s going to foot that bill.