Wyandotte Residents Sound Off on EPA Project

A handful of Wyandotte residents came out to a public meeting on Wednesday to ask questions about

Detroit Tubular Rivet Co., 1213 Grove, was cited in January for 16 hazardous and liquid industrial waste violations, including “failure to maintain hazardous waste containers in good condition and for sloppy waste handling."

After the company failed to correct the problems, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is coming in to remove hundreds of waste containers abandoned at the site.

EPA officials inspected the property and found 300 drums, totes and small containers. Some of the containers were sampled and found to contain cyanide, acids and methylene chloride–all considered to be hazardous. The EPA has determined that the site poses an "imminent and substantial threat to human health and the environment."

Five residents came to a public meeting where they asked questions ranging from how long the cleanup should take and why the project isn't waiting until the summer seeing as to how is located 400 feet from the plant.

Brian Kelly, the EPA’s on-scene coordinator for the project, said the work should begin May 21 and last between four to eight weeks.

He said there's no anticipated danger to the school or any other businesses or residences in the area. There's also no need to delay the work, he said, because as long as the hazardous waste is removed safely, there will be no issues.

"I don't think there's any reason to wait to take the waste out of there because the waste has been being generated for many, many years and then safely removed from the company for decades," Kelly said. "They safely removed hazardous waste from the site before going bankrupt."

Detroit Tubular Rivet manufactured bolts, nuts, rivets and other small parts. It also provided zinc and brass electroplating services. The company opened in 1954. It filed for bankruptcy in December 2010 and closed in August 2011.

Diane Dulimba came to Wednesday's meeting with questions, but said she left with the answers she was looking for.

"I’m very comfortable with the project," she said. "I’m confident that everything will go quite smoothly. … I know the EPA is highly trained in removing hazardous materials.”

Judy Shimoda lives mere blocks from the site and was interested enough to come to the meeting to find out more information.

“I’m fine with it," she said. "I just wondered what was in there. … I didn’t realize they left all their poison when they went bankrupt. That’s not good.”

Shimoda said she's pleased that the contaminants are being removed, but isn't too fond of the federal government having to pay for it.

“It’s really good that they’re going to clean it up," she said. "I think the property owners and the people who owned the place should have thought about cleaning it up, knowing they were going bankrupt. It’s not something that’s a sudden surprise. … They should have done the right thing rather than leaving it for us to pay for.”

said his department has plans in place should a fire or other emergency incident occur at the plant or any other business where hazardous materials are stored. However, he said, he'll be even more comfortable once the hazardous waste has been removed from this plant.

“To take chemicals that are unsupervised that are now going to be … taken care of and offsite, makes me feel a lot better with a vacant building," he said.

EPA officials have spoken with a former Detroit Tubular Rivet employee who has provided information on other possible contamination on the site in addition to the hazardous waste barrels, Kelly said. That information could lead to additional work being done on the site, either now or in the future.

While removing the barrels is the focal point of this project, Kelly said, it's not the only work that needs to be done to get the site entirely cleaned up.

“I am positive there will be environmental problems left over," he said. "That will be left up to whomever buys the property.”

For more on the cleanup, .

More information also is available on the project's website.