#saline232

via Flickr: 

Photograph taken yesterday, Saline, Michigan. 

"This site is designated a high priority for EPA under the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA)."

re Johnson Controls cleanup of its former die cast factory property at 232 Monroe Street in Saline, Michigan (Washtenaw County).

That’s what I see as the takeaway line in a letter I received today from the State of Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, in response to an inquiry I made to DEQ Director Dan Wyant in August.

Two additional points that strike me as noteworthy:

Corrective action at the site is still being governed by an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) order dating back to 2003. That means a plan based on circumstances now a dozen years old.

No reference to Saline River Properties or the building foundation break-up. How often (and emphatically!) have we heard that cited as the be-all, end-all reasoning for the property having been neglected to seriously deteriorate over the course of many years?

This DEQ letter wasn’t from Director Wyant, of course. I wouldn’t have expected it to have been. But I admit to having been a bit surprised to see that the Johnson Controls work at 232 Monroe Street falls under the DEQ “Hazardous Waste Section,” as this letter indicates.

Video 9/19/2015: Status of Saline former die cast factory site cleanup work by Johnson Controls. Significant progress appears to have been made on “surface.”

Die casting machine bays, factory at 232 Monroe Street in Saline, Michigan, circa 1982.

Photograph taken just off of Monroe Street, at what at the time was the northeast corner of the building; facing west, southwest.

Recent photos of the 2015 site cleanup by Johnson Controls can be referenced to the image above by two remaining cement pillars, painted yellow. Those pillars (not shown in this framing) once bounded the top of the ramp shown here, lower right.

Perspective on just how close current die cast factory cleanup site is to Curtiss Park in City of Saline, Michigan.

Photo believed to have been taken in 1982, when “Saline Die Casting Division” was owned by Hoover Universal. Pallets, chemical barrels, and scrap metal castings are visible on the lot itself.

Standing water remained 2 days after light rain fell on 232 Monroe Street brownfield site. 

This is obviously a concern, given past Environmental Protection Agency involvement in assessing this former die casting parts production facility in Saline, Michigan, and findings of contamination. Additionally, Johnson Controls itself has argued (e.g., to E.P.A. and in U.S. District Court) that removal of the former concrete foundation slab from the factory compromised what it characterized as a necessary “engineered barrier” to contamination.

Change noted: Trucks are now covered when hauling debris from Johnson Controls die cast factory cleanup site at 232 Monroe Street, in Saline, Michigan.