E.P.A. begins $4 million ChemServe cleanup in Detroit

No. 07-OPA072

CHICAGO (April 23, 2008) - E.P.A. Region five this week begins a projected $4 million cleanup of ChemServe Corp., which manufactured dyes and soaps at 9505 Copland St., in Detroit's Delray neighborhood.

E.P.A. and partner agencies will host 2 open house sessions to discuss the plan with residents on May 1, from one to three p.m. and six to eight p.m., at the Delray Neighborhood House, 420 Leigh Saint

On March 25, Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, with assistance from the Michigan Attorney General's office, issued an imminent hazard order requiring ChemServe owner Aram Moloian to shut down operations and clean up open and leaking drums, and other mismanaged hazardous materials on the property. E.P.A. issued a comparable order on March 27 under the federal Superfund statute.

The cleanup is expected to continue through August or September. The plan involves characterization, containment and proper disposal of about 2,000 drums and 3,000 smaller containers of potentially flammable or corrosive liquid waste and process chemicals. The work will be funded and managed by EPA's Grosse Ile-based Superfund emergency response team. Cost recovery efforts will follow on a separate track from the cleanup activity.

ChemServe has been the subject of numerous local, state and federal efforts to address hazardous location conditions. E.P.A. is also conducting a cleanup at Dearborn Refining in Dearborn, Mich., another facility formerly
owned by Moloian. Utilizing funds via the Oil Pollution Act, Superfund has spent in excess of $2.6 million at Dearborn Refining since 2006.

In addition to the MDEQ and E.P.A. orders, Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Growth issued a notice to ChemServe on March 31 citing the company for occupational safety and health violations. On April 1, Detroit revoked ChemServe's operations permit.

Residents with questions about the cleanup may contact E.P.A. Community Involvement Coordinator Dave Novak, 800-621-8431, Ext. 67478, or [email protected]. An information repository with location documents has been established at the Campbell Branch Library, 8733 W. Vernor.

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