Read the full article by Ryan Stanton
“ANN ARBOR, MI – Now that it’s known a Wixom manufacturing company is a source of PFAS contamination in the Huron River, Ann Arbor area lawmakers are urging Gov. Rick Snyder to take action to shut down the plant’s discharge of harmful chemicals.
‘On behalf of our constituents, we urge you to act immediately to protect human health and the waters of the state from the ongoing discharge of toxic perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS),’ states a letter sent to the governor from state Rep. Yousef Rabhi, D-Ann Arbor, on Thursday, Sept. 27.
In addition to Rabhi, the letter is signed by four other Democrats from Washtenaw County, including state Sen. Rebekah Warren and state Reps. Donna Lasinski, Ronnie Peterson and Adam Zemke.
They’re calling on Snyder to prevent further harm by shutting off the pollution at the source.
‘It is not acceptable to allow a known polluter to continue to poison our river even one day longer,’ the lawmakers argue…
The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality has identified Adept Plastic Finishing Inc., a maker of chrome-plated automotive parts that is now part of Tribar Manufacturing, as a source of PFOS, or perfluorooctane sulfonate, sent to the Wixom municipal wastewater treatment plant. The contaminated water is subsequently discharged to Norton Creek, which feeds into the Huron River…
It’s an emerging issue that Ann Arbor is spending close to $1 million trying to address right now through new filtering methods.
The city of Wixom recently issued an administrative order seeking to get Adept/Tribar to reduce or eliminate the PFAS it is sending into the city’s wastewater treatment plant.
Adept/Tribar is being represented in the PFAS matter by Northville-based law firm Fausone Bohn LLP.
Through its legal counsel, the company released a statement on Sept. 21 saying the Adept Plastic Finishing Plant 4 in Wixom historically used PFAS chemicals, but that use was ceased by the company in 2015 after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency gave notice to chemical manufacturers that the products were being removed from commerce…
The lawmakers who sent Snyder a letter on Thursday said the company’s PFOS discharge is ‘indisputably impairing surface water quality and exposing humans through fish consumption, contact with foam, and drinking water.’
If improvements such as filtration systems or new plating tanks are necessary to control PFOS levels in effluent, they argue, the DEQ should require those before any further discharges are allowed.”