EPA to Remove Hazardous Waste Left Behind at Closed Wyandotte Shop

Officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will be in Wyandotte for the next two months, cleaning up hazardous materials left behind when a manufacturing company closed its doors after filing for bankruptcy.

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,” according to the EPA, which calls the matter an “imminent threat.”

After the company failed to correct the problems, the EPA has deemed it necessary to take “emergency action” to clean up hundreds of waste containers abandoned at the site.

“We consider the drums as an urgent problem in the community,” said Brian Kelly, the EPA’s on-scene coordinator for the project. “(At this point,) there has been no danger to the community. … We are trying to step in before that occurs.”

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."

While the hazardous waste is confined to the plant, Kelly said, there are signs of trespassing at the vacant site, causing officials to worry that people could track the waste outside of the plant and into the open environment. Or worse yet, he said, a fire could spark, sending the hazardous materials inside the waste containers into the air.

About 600 residents and businesses owners within a half-mile of the site were mailed official notices of the pending cleanup, Kelly said. is located 400 feet from the plant.

Residents or businesses shouldn’t have to evacuate while the work to remove the hazardous materials is under way, Kelly said. Extra truck traffic likely will be seen in the area during the cleanup, as well as workers dressed in full protective gear, he said. Air monitoring will be done to ensure the area around the plant is not compromised during the work, he said.

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.

EPA officials said the cleanup will start in mid-May and should take four to eight weeks to complete. The project is estimated to cost more than $200,000.

While the first priority is to get the site cleaned up, Kelly said, the EPA plans to attempt to recoup the money it’s spending from the plant's former owners.

If an investigation finds that they had the financial means to get rid of the waste themselves and opted not to, Kelly said, the EPA will go after that money through an “enforcement process.”

He said he's doubtful any money will be recouped, however, as it seems that the former owners “fell on hard times” and legitimately filed for bankruptcy.

That is backed up by an email sent in January to the EPA from Gerald Keast, one of Detroit Tubular Rivet’s former principal agents.

“Detroit Tubular Rivet will not be able to address all of your violations,” he said in the email, which is now part of the cleanup project’s public file.  “As of now I am jobless with no money coming in to pay for any disposal fees.”

Anyone with questions on the project can attend a public meeting being held by the EPA from 4 to 6 p.m. Wednesday at the , 4201 13th St.

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