EPA Adds Michner Plating – Mechanic Street Site in Jackson, Michigan to the Superfund National Priorities List, Taking Action to Address Risks to Public Health and Build a Better America
CHICAGO (March 17, 2022) – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the Michner Plating – Mechanic Street site in Jackson, Michigan will be added to the Superfund National Priorities List (NPL) of contaminated sites that pose significant human health and environmental risks. Cleaning up contaminated sites is important for the health, safety, and revitalization of communities.
“No community deserves to have contaminated sites near where they live, work, play, and go to school. Nearly 2 out of 3 of the sites being proposed or added to the priorities list are in overburdened or underserved communities,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “EPA is building a better America by taking action to clean up some of the nation’s most contaminated sites, protect communities’ health, and return contaminated land to safe and productive reuse for future generations.”
“Today’s addition of the Michner Plating-Mechanic Street site to the NPL demonstrates our commitment to the protect people living in Jackson County communities near hazardous waste contamination,” said EPA Regional Administrator Debra Shore. “We will continue to build a better America by working with our state and local partners to use our federal resources to clean up and redevelop this site.”
“Adding the Michner Plating industrial site to the Superfund National Priorities List is encouraging news for the well-being of the Jackson community,” said Rep. Tim Walberg. “By pushing forward on the clean-up of this long-abandoned site, we can benefit the environment, revitalize the property, and generate new jobs and economic opportunity.”
“We are pleased to partner with the EPA in addressing this longstanding contamination to protect the community and return the land to productive use,” said Liesl Clark, director of the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE).
“The City of Jackson is pleased to hear that the U.S. EPA is taking swift action to remedy the environmental hazards at Michner Plating,” said Jackson City Manager Jonathan Greene. “Collaboration between federal, state and local government is essential to protecting the immediate and long-term health of our community. The former plating is located in the heart of our City, and once it’s cleaned up, we can start planning for a better future for the property.”
Thousands of contaminated sites, from landfills, processing plants, to manufacturing facilities exist nationally due to hazardous waste being dumped, left out in the open, or otherwise improperly managed. President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will accelerate EPA’s work to help communities clean up these contaminated sites with a $3.5 billion investment in the Superfund Remedial Program and reinstates the Superfund chemical excise taxes, making it one of the largest investments in American history to address legacy pollution. This historic investment strengthens EPA’s ability to tackle threats to human health and the environment, and EPA has already set action in motion to clear the backlog of the 49 contaminated sites which had been awaiting funding to start remedial action.
With this Superfund NPL update, the Biden-Harris Administration is following through on its commitment to update the NPL twice a year, as opposed to once per year.
The Michner Plating-Mechanic Street site is adjacent to the Grand River and consists of four buildings within four-acres in a mixed residential and commercial portion of the city of Jackson. The site is a former metal plating facility which operated from 1938 until 2007. The state issued numerous violation notices to the facility beginning in 1989 and nearly every year until it ceased operations in 2007.
The state of Michigan referred the site to the EPA because of the extensive contamination left in place at the Michner Plating facility. Contamination at the site includes solvents, arsenic, hexavalent chromium, and high concentrations of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) including vinyl chloride. In addition, per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been detected in groundwater beneath the site. EPA has removed approximately 1,100 drums and hundreds of 55-gallon totes, but buried drums remain beneath the building slab. The site is currently owned by Jackson County, which intends to redevelop the property for productive use after cleanup.
Background
The NPL includes the nation's most serious uncontrolled or abandoned releases of contamination. The list serves as the basis for prioritizing EPA Superfund cleanup funding and enforcement actions. Only releases at sites included on the NPL are eligible to receive federal funding for long-term, permanent cleanup.
EPA adds sites to the NPL based on a scientific determination of risks to people and the environment, consistent with the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act and the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan. Before EPA adds a site to the NPL, a site must meet EPA’s requirements and be proposed for addition to the list in the Federal Register, subject to a 60-day public comment period.
Superfund cleanups provide health and economic benefits to communities. The program is credited for significant reductions in both birth defects and blood-lead levels among children living near sites, and research has shown residential property values increase up to 24 percent within three miles of sites after cleanup.
Further, thanks to Superfund cleanups, communities are now using previously blighted properties for a wide range of purposes, including retail businesses, office space, public parks, residences, warehouses, and solar power generation. As of 2021, EPA has collected economic data on 650 Superfund sites. At these sites, there are 10,230 businesses operating on these sites, 246,000 people employed, an estimated $18.6 billion in income earned by employees, and $65.8 billion in sales generated by businesses.
For information about Superfund and the NPL, please visit: https://www.epa.gov/superfund
For Federal Register notices and supporting documents for NPL and proposed sites, please visit: https://www.epa.gov/superfund/current-npl-updates-new-proposed-npl-sites-and-new-npl-sites