A local businessman will face criminal charges “over his abandonment of an industrial barge in the waters of Lake Michigan off the coast of Leelanau County,” per an announcement yesterday from the office of Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel.

Last month, the Leelanau Ticker reported on the saga of a barge that has been sitting off the shores of Northport for the better part of two years. The craft, which is owned by Donald Balcom of Balcom Marine Contractors, previously sank near Greilickville in 2020, leaking pollutants into the water and prompting citations from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE). In May 2021, Balcom towed the barge away from Greilickville, but had soon anchored it near Northport, directly in front of a residential property. The barge has been there ever since.

Per a press release from Nessel’s office, the attorney general’s environmental crimes unit is charging Balcom with “a felony for the release of hazardous substances (oil) to waters of the state, as well as misdemeanors for trespass, marine safety violations, and placement of fill material (the barge) on Great Lakes submerged lands without a permit.”

The release includes the caveat that each charge is “merely an allegation,” and that the defendant “is presume innocent unless and until proven guilty.”

Pictured: A shot of the barge from spring 2021, when it was partially submerged near Greilickville (Credit: Chris Roxburgh)