March 9, 2004

The Department of Environmental Quality announced today that it has completed an initial screening of suspected lead smelter sites located in the city of Detroit.

The screening study was commissioned to determine if there are any impacts from lead emissions from these historical smelter operations. Elevated levels of lead are expected to occur in older urban environments as a result of historical deposition of lead and lead compounds, including lead-based paints and leaded gasoline.

The DEQ screening study evaluated 17 suspected lead smelter sites that were identified in a January 2003 Detroit Free Press series on lead poisoning. Of the 17 suspected sites, seven were either already being evaluated or remediated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency or the DEQ, or as a result of changes to the landscape over time (such as freeway construction and other development), no longer existed. After removing these 7 sites from the list, the remaining 10 sites listed below were evaluated in the study:

• Michigan Smelting – 7885 Joseph Campau
• Federated Metals Division – 11630 Russell
• Great Lakes Smelting – 1640 East Euclid
• Detroit Lead Pipe Works – 7001 Lyndon
• Acme Metal Company – 1436 Holbrook
• Wolverine White Metal – 3421 Gibson
• Industrial Smelting – 19430 Mt. Elliott
• City Metals Refining – 2945 Hubbard
• Continental Metal Company – 11500 Russell
• Aetna Smelting – 1826 Illinois

Sampling was conducted in the neighborhoods surrounding each of the 10 sites. Although the data is limited in nature, lead levels in excess of the DEQ’s residential lead criterion of 400 parts per million were detected in some samples.

Additional studies will be performed at each of the 10 sites to more clearly identify the nature and extent of off-site impacts to neighboring properties and to assess on-site conditions at the suspected smelter sites. This work is currently expected to begin later this spring.

“The DEQ is committed to protecting neighborhood communities from the risks posed by lead contamination from these sites,” said DEQ Director Steven E. Chester. “This study is an important first step in determining the extent of the contamination and the information obtained will be used to develop a plan to address those sites requiring remediation.”

Copies of the screening study report, which is nearly 500 pages long, are available at the following public library locations:

• Hamtramck Public Library
  2360 Caniff, Hamtramck
• Detroit Public Library - Main Branch
  5201 Woodward, Detroit
• Detroit Public Library - Wilder Branch
  7140 E. Seven Mile Road
• Detroit Public Library - Douglass Branch
  3666 Grand River
• Detroit Public Library - Parkman Branch
  1766 Oakman

The report can also be reviewed at the DEQ’s Remediation and Redevelopment Division Detroit Field Office, 3058 W. Grand Blvd., Suite 2-300, Detroit, (313) 456-4668. In addition, the text of the entire report can be accessed at the DEQ’s website at: http://www.michigan.gov/deq/0,1607,7-135-3311_4109_9846_9847-86603--,00.html.

Editor’s note: DEQ news releases are available on the department’s Internet home page at www.michigan.gov/deq.

Revised March 9, 2004 by Pat Watson