How Entrepreneurs Are Fighting Back Against an Invisible Toxic Threat

Northern Michigan is known for pristine, natural beauty and world-class recreation, thanks to the Great Lakes. Lake Huron may not be as mysterious as Lake Superior or as beachy as Lake Michigan, but it boasts long stretches of shoreline, dotted with dunes, cliffs, forests, and towns that an estimated three million people call home. But one of those small towns, tucked into the northeastern edge of the mitten, is earning a reputation for much more than its breathtaking views: Oscoda is developing an industry around innovation and testing for PFAS–toxic chemicals that have blighted the region and so many others in the U.S.

In Oscoda, Dean Wiltse, 66, runs testing company Enviro Lab Services out of a building on the decommissioned Wurtsmith Air Force Base, which is about 200 miles north of Detroit. Founded in 2019, Enviro Lab Services tests and analyzes water, blood, soil, and biological tissue samples for everything from E. coli and metals to the toxic group of close to 15,000 chemicals known as PFAS.

Wiltse also offers discounted testing to cash-strapped innovators who are looking to prove their technologies could be scaled to remediate PFAS contamination–a crisis that extends far beyond Lake Huron’s idyllic shores. So far, Wiltse says, he has partnered up with companies as far away as British Columbia and New Jersey, as well as entrepreneurs closer to home. In one colorful case, a Marquette, Michigan-based company called Myconaut that used Wiltse’s testing earned National Science Foundation grant funding to research whether fungi can break the bonds in PFAS.

“[My goal] is to make Oscoda the innovative hub of all the technologies and all of the players working together to solve this problem, and then share what we learn,” Wiltse says.

There was a time when the sleepy community of Oscoda had never even heard of PFAS. Wiltse, who moved there in 1979 at 21 years old, was originally focused on running Wiltse’s Brewpub & Family Restaurant, which he founded with his brother. Back then, the community did not yet know about the odorless, colorless chemicals contaminating their water.

To understand the roots of this problem, consider the Wurtsmith Air Force Base, which sits on the shore of Van Etten Lake in Oscoda. Founded in 1923, the base has played notable roles in several conflicts throughout history, including in World War II, when the famous Tuskegee Airmen briefly trained there. It was also the lifeblood of industry and employment for Oscoda and the surrounding areas until it was decommissioned in 1993. And for decades during its operational years, military firefighters would use fire suppressant packed with PFAS during routine drills.

PFAS, which stands for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, have been manufactured and used since the 1940s for their flame-resistant, water-resistant, stain-resistant, and durability-promoting properties. These attributes have made them popular for use in various industrial and consumer products, from firefighting foam to nonstick coatings on cookware. They earned their “forever” modifier from a strong molecular bond that does not easily break down, meaning the chemicals build up in the environment and bioaccumulate in people, plants, and animals following repeated and high exposure. Even at extremely low levels, PFAS are toxic to humans, and have been linked to various cancers, increased cholesterol levels, depressed immune response, hormonal changes, and decreased fertility in women.

When the base finally closed, Wiltse, who served as Oscoda township supervisor from 1992 to 2000, was among those leading the charge to redevelop the decommissioned site so the community wouldn’t feel as if “the federal government has pulled the rug out from under us,” Wiltse says.

Even then, he knew there would be environmental issues to contend with–but no one could have foreseen just how serious the problem would prove to be. “There were a number of significant environmental issues,” Wiltse says. “PFAS wasn’t known.”

For Wiltse and others in the Oscoda community, that all changed several years ago.

In 2016, Tony Spaniola received a letter in the mail. The 65-year-old business attorney lives in the Detroit suburbs full time, but he and his family own a vacation home in Oscoda. Their backyard looks out over Van Etten Lake, which also washes up against Wurtsmith Base. The letter, Spaniola recounts, said the home was located in the base’s “zone of concern” for PFAS contamination and warned the family not to drink the water.

Spaniola says he began questioning, “If my water is unsafe to drink now, that means it’s been unsafe to drink for how long? What are the impacts on family members? How do we live with this going forward?”

“You really begin to realize how much you rely on your water. How many times you brush your teeth, you take a shower, you water your lawn, you grow your plants,” he says.