A Traverse City man pled guilty this week in the 13th Circuit Court in Leelanau County for violating the state's water resources protection law.
Donald Lewis Balcom, an 89-year-old man, faces a two-year felony after a barge he owned, sunk and released oil into Lake Michigan in 2020.
Balcom moved the barge to a new location in the Grand Traverse Bay a year later following a state order, where it sank again and he reportedly abandoned it.
The state filed criminal charges for releasing hazardous substances in the lake, trespassing, marine and safety violations and filling in the Great Lakes without a permit.
Since it sank more than two years ago, the barge is still resting on state-owned bottomlands and private land.
In a statement, Attorney General Dana Nessel said Balcom must move the barge to a "legal location" within 12 months or face the felony sentence.
"We have made it abundantly clear he cannot treat the bay as his own personal junkyard," Nessel said.
