A shoe manufacturer says it expects to spend about $3 million this year dealing with toxic chemicals at former dump sites in western Michigan.
The update from Rockford-based Wolverine World Wide came in a conference call with analysts Wednesday after the company reported third-quarter earnings. Wolverine has committed to testing wells, providing bottled water to residents and in some cases offering home filtration systems.
Company President and CEO Blake Krueger says the contamination affects "our families, our friends and our neighbors and we've been as proactive as possible and conservative and transparent."
The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality is overseeing Wolverine's investigation into groundwater contamination by perfluorinated chemicals from a former Rockford tannery that was demolished in 2010. The chemicals were in a substance Wolverine used to waterproof shoes.
