Search

Jonathan W. Bulkley (1938-2019) was the University of Michigan's Professor Emeritus of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Peter M. Wege Endowed Professor Emeritus of Sustainable Systems in the School of Natural Resources and Environment (now the School for Environment and Sustainability). Bulkley's expertise in water resource management and water policy was sought in numerous lawsuits over the course of his career, most notably as special master (1978-1979) and monitor (1979-2009) in several cases regarding the failure of various Michigan organizations to comply with iterations of the 1972 Clean Water Act. He was also a member of the Ann Arbor, Mich. Housing Commission and served as its president in 1974-1976. This collection primarily documents Bulkley's legal and other professional activities and includes architectural drawings, clippings, correspondence, court proceedings and testimony, reports, legal documents, committee and meeting files, operating logs, notes, publications, and photographs. A small portion of records relates to Bulkley's work on the Ann Arbor Housing Commission. These records include records of meetings, policy statements, and staff materials documenting the work of the commission.

The Jonathan W. Bulkley papers primarily document Bulkley's involvement in several legal cases, including the 1977 lawsuit United States v. The City of Detroit (case number 77-71100) and the 1987 lawsuitU.S. v. Wayne County (case number 87-70992), both presided over by Judge John Feikens. These lawsuits concerned the failure of both the City of Detroit and Wayne County's wastewater treatment plants to adhere to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act and Clean Water Act. Judge Feikens was lauded for his handling of these cases, as he focused on negotiation and settlement, rather than unilateral judgement; the cases were resolved through complex consent judgements that were amended over time.

This collection also documents Bulkley's involvement in the Ann Arbor Housing Commission as well as various other academic and professional work he undertook throughout his career. Examples include his work in various smaller lawsuits, including one brought against the City of Toledo, Ohio by the U.S. (civil action number 3:91:CV7646), his involvement in the controversy over the removal of the Huron River's Argo Dam, and his work with the Michigan Environmental Science Board (MESB).

Materials in this collection include correspondence, maps, memos, reports, articles and clippings, notes, papers, court proceedings, testimony, and other legal materials, committee and meeting files, operating logs, course notes, architectural drawings, subject files, project plans, and photographs.

Researchers should note that due to the complex and intermingled nature of the various legal cases, some materials relating to the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) may be found in the Rouge River Watershed (RRW) series, and vice versa. When possible, materials have been kept in Bulkley's original groupings, and have been arranged in a rough chronological order.

This collection documents the impact of PBB upon the Snider family of Cadillac, Michigan, and how they sought to understand what was happening to them and raise public awareness to gain federal relief for people negatively impacted by PBB.

This collection documents the impact of PBB upon the Snider family of Cadillac, Michigan, and how they sought to understand what was happening to them and raise public awareness to gain federal relief for people negatively impacted by PBB. There are two series, the papers John “Jack” M. Snider, Sr. and those of Loretta “Rae Rae” D. Snider, which compose the majority of the collection. The collection, which is organized by size, alphabetically, and chronologically, includes correspondence, medical records, court cases, federal government testimonies, photographs, copies of news and journal articles, and Church of Scientology brochures. Their obituaries are in Box 1 folder 1. Boxes 1-2 are .5 cubic foot letter-size and Box 3 is .25 cubic foot legal-size.

John ‘Jack’ M. Snider, Sr.’s papers consist mostly of correspondence with lawyers and copies of legal documents related to court cases to attain financial settlement for PBB damaging the family’s health and payment for their accrued health bills. This includes his correspondence with then Michigan politicians Speaker of the House Bobby Crim and Senator Jack Toepp, who represented Cadillac, and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. Court cases documented in his papers in which the Snider family sued for damages include Michigan. Circuit Court for the County of Kent, Complaint of many, including John Jr., vs. Velsicol, Farm Bureau Services, Inc., Michigan Chemical Co., et al. 1977, and Supreme Court of Michigan Case No. 60519, related to U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Eastern District of Michigan. Southern Division, Case No. 84-01478-G formerly No. 82-00651-W (Northern Division), Farm Bureau Services, Inc., Debtor, 1983-1986. Original federal testimony of Rae Rae and physicians Stephen M. Soble and I.J. Selikoff, the official record of their testimony, and related correspondence from Al Gore to Rae Rae, as well as related materials of Representative Don Albosta are also in this series. Lastly in Jack’s papers are correspondence with Dun, Schouten and Snoap, Attorneys, re: PBB Creditors Committee Memorandums, Agenda, 1983, including Michigan Chemical Co. Stipulations for PBB Cow Quarantine and Burial, 1975, all related to the Bankruptcy Case, 1975, 1983.

Loretta ‘Rae Rae’ D. Snider’s papers include her correspondence with Michigan politicians U.S. Representatives Don Albosta and James Blanchard, Michigan departments of Commerce, Natural Resources, and Public Health, the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences; physicians, hospitals, laboratories, Pat Kidder of the PBB Action Committee; Michigan Citizens Lobby; and representatives off the Detroit News, as well as multiple teams of lawyers informing them of her family’s health, gathering information, and trying to get their PBB-related bills paid, and advocating for increased government awareness and support of families affected by PBB. In those pre-digital days, she communicated with Joyce Egginton, author of the Poisoning of Michigan (1980), about hotels and their prices near Mount Sinai before she and her family traveled there for medical tests and care. Her search for information to help her family led Rae Rae to gather information from the Church of Scientology on Chemical Purification; PBB information from news clippings (copies) mostly from the Cadillac Evening News, Detroit News, Detroit Free Press, and Grand Rapids Press, and one each from the Bay City Times and Oscoda County News, and journal articles; a cardiologist’s opinion (see the airmail letter and related note from [No Surname] Lynne and Jerry to Mr. and Mrs. Owen Brainerd); and a letter noting how many school days John, Jr. had missed. There is a personal letter from Roxane, then living in Utah, on Halloween 1978, describing her outrage over an enclosed news article from Salt Lake Tribune, October 29, 1978, about how Wexford County Circuit Court Judge William Peterson exonerated the Michigan Chemical Company and Farm Bureau Services, Inc. in the $250,000 suit brought by dairy farmers Roy and Marilyn Tacoma of Falmouth. The role of the Marina Ristorante and Lounge as a meeting place for Schenk’s PBB legal team is evidenced by undated photographs and a 1977 Thank You note to Rae Rae. Also included are May 1978 photographs documenting Rae Rae with lawyers and witnesses, including Marlene (Mrs. Alpha “Doc”) Clark, in Wexford Country Court House, probably for the Tacoma trial. Unique amongst the Clarke’s PBB collections in her papers is a DNR news release on deer hunters and venison PBB analysis, 1977 (in Box 2).

Medical records of John M., Loretta D., and Mark B. Snider are found in four folders in the collection and so noted on the folder labels. In her public federal testimony, Rae Rae also describes her family’s health challenges after they unknowingly consumed PBB-poisoned food. In 2024 Archivist Marian Matyn obtained permission from Mark B. Snider to retain and make available for public research his and his parents’ medical test results. A copy of the permission form is found in each of the relevant folders.

Researchers may be interested in multiple primary source collections and secondary sources in the Clarke Historical Library documenting the Michigan PBB Disaster.

Processing Notes:

A total of .25 cubic foot of duplicates and acidic materials, mostly newspaper clippings and articles, were withdrawn during processing. Photocopies of the acidic materials were retained in the collection. Personal medical records of Jack were withdrawn and those of Rock and Roxanne Snider were returned to them as per their request.