K.I. (Kenneth Ingalls) Sawyer Air Force Base was located in the state of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, a peninsula of land in the Great Lakes. The Upper Peninsula is bordered to the south by Lake Michigan, to the north by Lake Superior, and to the east by Lake Huron. Originally, the base began as the K.I. Sawyer County Airport in the mid-1930s and operated until 1955, with the establishment of the K.I. Sawyer Air Force Base. The airport then functioned primarily as a jet base with about 300 civilian flight landings per month. The K.I. Sawyer Air Force Base operated from 1955 until its closure in 1995 (Witanen, 2017). The base closure devastated the Marquette County area. The base closure led to the loss of as many as 3,000 jobs, loss of businesses, and impacts on local schools and Northern Michigan University. The town of K.I. Sawyer suffered an economic decline, from which it did not recover. By 2016, the poverty rate was as high as 46% and unemployment reached as high as 24%. In addition, the area was perceived as a “drug den” (Witanen, 2017).

From 2013 – 2019, ATSDR was engaged with a local community group, Sawyer Community Alliance (SCA). ATSDR was asked to expand community engagement and risk communication activities. For several years, the Marquette County Commissioner, planner, and brownfields redevelopment experts had been discussing environmental concerns and redevelopment plans with Sawyer Community Alliance. The SCA vision was, “From Base to Place: Building a Healthy Sawyer.” Their primary goals are to improve health, economy, and social disparities by establishing a stronger sense of community. They focus on remediating blighted buildings, providing community services, and improving public services (water, transportation, etc.) (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, 2021). By 2018, SCA had enjoyed several successes:

Two former military members established a volunteer “community watch,” which grew to over 30 members within 2–3 years of its inception. The community watch:

coordinated their volunteer services with the local police

While focusing on small wins and positive successes, the SCA and partners continuously address and communicate risks during regularly scheduled SCA meetings (see Figure 2). For example, the baseball fields were filled with stamp sands, a coarse sand formed from processing metal ore in a stamping mill, which crushes material to remove ore. Residents were concerned about metal contamination in the stamp sands. The ball fields were in disrepair and not usable without the correct fill. Local residents obtained funding to have the stamp sands sampled and then removed. Ultimately, metal contamination was not a concern. The ball fields were updated with clean fill and reopened. In addition, 200 apartment housing units were vacant and abutted the school property. The harsh winter conditions had led to peeling, lead-based paint hanging in long strips on the exterior of the units. The units were an attractive nuisance to local teens, who trespassed in the units. The deteriorated buildings posed a risk of injury to the teens. The teens also risked bringing lead dust home on their clothing, potentially impacting younger siblings. The units were demolished and the soil that encapsulated the demolished remains was tested for lead. While lead was present, it was below regulatory limits. The County continuously discussed with SCA and the community the demolition risks as well as the levels of lead in soil.

One ongoing concern at K.I. Sawyer is a plume of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in groundwater. PFAS were often used on military bases in firefighting foam used for training and response. The County coordinated continuous delineation and monitoring of the plume area. In 2016, the Air Force detected PFAS at 13 of 15 sites. A former fire training area has the highest levels of PFAS. The drinking water at K. I. Sawyer is continuously monitored. Testing of 28 residential wells were non-detect for PFAS. Multiple agencies and partners inform the community about monitoring and PFAS risks. There is ongoing risk communication, using plain language and a website designated to provide information about PFAS and monitoring activities (Michigan PFAS Action Response Team, 2022).

Benton Harbor is in Berrien County, Michigan, a largely agricultural area of rural towns and small cities. The City of Benton Harbor was once a thriving harbor city on the St. Joseph River, which empties into nearby Lake Michigan. The City of Benton Harbor is 87% African American (Black), with a median household income in the city of $26,592 and 44% of the population in poverty. The United States Census Bureau defines poverty as a status when the family’s total income is less than the family’s money income threshold (pre-determined by the Census Bureau). Then the family and every individual in it is considered in poverty (United States Census Bureau, 2023, June 15). In comparison, Berrien County overall is 80% White and 14% African American, and the poverty level is 15% (United States Census, 2023). Figure 3 indicates 43 brownfields in Berrien County that have received federal funding, primarily for site assessment, A high density of these sites are clustered in the lower income areas, including Benton Harbor (United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2024, January 19). State-funded brownfields projects in Benton Harbor include 10 site assessments and more than 10 redevelopment grants and loans (Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy, 2023).

In September of 2019, ATSDR was invited by local organizations to hold a soilSHOP – soil screening, health outreach, and partnerships – event during a weekly farmers market in downtown Benton Harbor. The community had been going through a lead water crisis attributed to failing, lead-lined water services lines. Partners from the local healthcare organization offered blood lead screening for children and environmental health education. Community members were concerned that soil lead levels may have increased from watering lawns and gardens with household water. Using an Xray Fluorescence machine, ATSDR screened over 80 soil samples for lead. None of the samples were of concern in terms of exceeding regulatory levels of lead in soil. However, lead pipe replacement at the time was only slowly progressing.

In 2019, Benton Harbor residents were using bottled water, largely distributed by churches and volunteer organizations. The Berrien County Health Department was distributing faucet water filters. While the County Health Department had a statement on their website regarding distribution of water filters, they had not implemented concentrated risk communication efforts, such as partnering with the local faith-based leaders or going door-to-door to conduct outreach. In addition, if lead levels are very high, water filters may not function effectively. The water crisis made national news, and residents, the Mayor, and one City Commissioner (i.e., a role within the Mayor’s office that is part of the legislative and policy-making body) were interviewed. People were, in general, confused and outraged. By 2023, over 99% of lead service lines (about 4,500) in Benton Harbor were replaced, and the remaining lines were scheduled for replacement. In addition, the state established a lead home assessment program in which inspectors would identify any sources of lead in homes, such as windows or paint, and repair and replace the items at no cost to the home owner.

In early 2023, a City Commissioner reached out to ATSDR with a specific request to help the City and residents increase their capacity to understand environmental and health risks. The Commissioner relayed that residents had feelings of distrust in their own city government and a need to understand chemical contamination. In response, we offered a 4-hour training in Communicating Environmental and Health Risks. The training offerered four continuing education units and a certificate of completion from our partner, National Environmental Health Association (NEHA). In March, we facilitated a 2-day event, with the training on Day 1 and a soilSHOP and community environmental education event on Day 2.

Knowing that the community might still be outraged and distrustful of government, our first goal was to establish trust early. We did so by holding the event at a local Boys and Girls Club. We ensured that the City Commissioner and a strong, well-known community advocate within the City government designed flyers for the training, conducted outreach, and introduced the training team from ATSDR and NEHA. We also included a guest lecturer from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy, who described multiple brownfields projects and successes funded by the state specific to assessment and remediation in Benton Harbor. We opened the training with, “what is a part per billion (ppb)?” demonstration, using images of one billion particles of soil with one white particle, a flask filled with one million particles of water and a drop of blue dye, and a bucket filled with one million particles of water and one red bead (i.e., one part red bead per million parts water, or 1 ppm), shown in Figure 4. We tailored the training around interactive exercises associated with lead in water and soil. Practice sessions included developing key risk messages with the participants, specifically regarding lead in water and soil. The key messages included links to resources for information, such as water quality updates or to sign up for the home assessment program. An example message map for concerns about lead in water is provided in Figure 5.

In total, 35 participants attended the training. The participants included residents, local non-profits, city personnel, partners from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) who also hosted the soilSHOP event on Day 2, and a class of eight students and one professor from nearby Andrews University. Several participants attended Day 2 of the event and had a chance to observe risk communication and environmental health education through the soilSHOP activity (see Figure 6). The EPA partners screened over 20 soil samples for lead, and none of the samples exceeded regulatory limits. During the event, the Berrien County Health Department provided free water filters and radon test kits. The State of Michigan also provided information about and a sign-up sheet for free home lead assessments.