US footwear producer contributes to lake clear-up
The US footwear group Genesco Inc. has reached an agreement with the state of Michigan, under which the Nashville-based group will pay half the cost of clearing up a contaminated lake in the state. The agreement follows protracted negotiations between Genesco, the US Department of Environmental Quality and the city of Whitehall, where the tannery was located.
The contamination relates to a long-defunct Genesco group leather company, Whitehall Leather, which was based on the shoreline of White Lake between 1866 and 1996 and lent its name to the Lake’s ‘Tannery Bay’.
Under the agreement, Genesco and the state of Michigan will split the $6.7 million cost of removing 73,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment from the floor of the bay. Dredging is expected to begin by early summer 2002 and should be completed within three or four months. The plan additionally calls for contaminated sediments on the tannery site to be solidified and removed to landfill. Genesco moved out of leather tanning altogether last year, with the sale of its leather finishing business to the S.B. Foot Tanning Company.
