MADISON HEIGHTS, Mich. – Despite the COVID-19 outbreak, crews are still working on cleaning up the toxic green ooze that leaked onto I-696.
Update June 11, 2020: Michigan coronavirus (COVID-19) cases up to 59,496; Death toll now at 5,738
While work continues, the way the Environmental Protection Agency and the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy have been working has had to change due to coronavirus, but the cleanup never stopped.
Since the pandemic began, new precautions were put in place to make sure those working to clean up the ooze were safe at all times. Those precautions include limiting staff to three people working, defining work spaces to prevent contact and adding a second trailer to maintain social distancing.
Another change is the location of the man at the center of the controversy. Gary Sayers was transferred from the Federal Correctional Institution Morgantown Kennedy Center in West Virginia to the supervision of the Detroit Residential Reentry program.
The legal battle between Madison Heights and Sayers is ongoing. According to court documents, Sayers’ attorneys are fighting the order to have the building torn down and the ruling that Sayers be held financially responsible.
In November 2019, Sayers was sentenced to a year and a day in prison after he pleaded guilty to storing hazardous waste without a permit.
At Electro-Plating Services, inspectors found an estimated 5,000 containers of hazardous waste and materials that were improperly stored, unlabeled, open and corroded or in very poor condition.
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