July 31, 2006

            LANSING - Attorney General Mike Cox announced today a lawsuit in Ingham County Circuit Court against J. Fons Company and Daniel P. Fons regarding contamination at the former Sanicem Landfill in Auburn Hills.  

            "Non-regulated landfills created prior to today's landfill requirements have caused serious environmental problems in Michigan, with the generation of methane gas often a hazardous result," said Cox. "We must take steps to hold those who would put our citizens at risk accountable for their actions."

            The Attorney General's office, in conjunction with the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), filed the lawsuit on July 31, 2006.  The lawsuit seeks to compel the former owners and operators of the Sanicem Landfill to: 1) comply with a June 16, 2005 Administrative Order (AO), 2) properly close the landfill and clean up off-site contamination, 3) reimburse the state its past and future response activity costs, and 4) pay civil fines. 

            The Defendants were ordered in the AO to address explosive concentrations of methane discovered under buildings adjacent to the landfill.  Methane (a colorless, odorless, flammable gas) was found traveling from the landfill through the soil.  Decomposition of waste in the landfill is producing methane gas, posing a potentially serious public health and safety risk.  The DEQ took steps to alleviate the known methane threat when the Defendants failed to take action, resulting in the expenditure of public money.  However, much more work needs to be done to remedy the methane problem and other environmental concerns at the landfill, including contaminated liquids, or leachate, leaking out of the landfill refuse, and suspected groundwater contamination. 

            Under the state's environmental clean up law (Part 201 of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act), the Defendants have an affirmative obligation to remediate contamination they caused.  Failure to perform a clean up, especially pursuant to an order, subjects parties to civil fines of up to $25,000 for each day of violation.  Subsequent owners and operators of contaminated property are not responsible for the clean up if they disclose a baseline environmental assessment to the DEQ that distinguishes existing pollution from any potential future release of contamination. 

            The Defendants operated the Landfill located on nearly 70 acres from 1969 to 1978, prior to laws requiring engineered landfills.  The northern 40 acres are along Lapeer Rd. in Orion Charter Township with the remainder in the city of Auburn Hills.  The property is now owned by a developer wishing to redevelop the landfill for light industrial use.

            For more information, contact Rusty Hills or Nate Bailey, Attorney General's Office, at (517) 373-8060. 

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