DETROIT – Stellantis installed new technology to remove odors from the air outside the new Jeep plant on Detroit’s east side, but the odor has not gone away.
Stellantis sent out a letter telling residents about the new technology last month. The automaker said the new equipment destroyed odor-causing compounds.
Local 4 has been monitoring the odor. On Wednesday, Local 4 crews experienced some of the strongest fumes they have ever detected at the site.
“I smell paint right now and my eyes are burning. Even when I don’t smell paint, a lot of the times my eyes burn and I have a little something going on in my throat,” resident Robert Shobe said. “Something has to be done over here now. We can’t continue to keep smelling this and wait on the next bandaid.”
Shobe should not be detecting the sharp odor that Michigan environmental officials said is coming from the Stellantis Detroit Assembly Complex Mack Plant.
For the last few years, neighbors behind the plant have been complaining of a heavy odor of paint, hurting their eyes and lungs.
But at the end of June, Stellantis installed equipment to eliminate any odors has been installed at the plant and is up and running. Stellantis told residents that exhausted from two stacks will be routed to a new system to destroy odor-contributing compounds.
Local 4 crews detected a strong paint smell on Wednesday.