Former Hayes Lemmerz International Inc. (Ferndale, Oakland County)

Joseph Rogers, RogersJ5@Michigan.gov, or 517-599-5312.

The former Hayes Lemmerz International Inc. is located at 1600 West 8 Mile Road. The site was developed by Ethyl Corporation as a research and development facility for chemical additives for gasoline products, and it operated as such from the 1930s until the 1980s. In the 1980s, site activities switched to manufacturing operations until 2012, at which point the buildings on the site were demolished. Multiple baseline environmental assessments (BEA) have been conducted for prospective redevelopment of the site since the buildings were demolished in 2012-2013. Findings of the BEAs revealed impacts to soils and groundwater for multiple hazardous substances exceeding various environmental criteria. EGLE requested a report detailing current environmental conditions onsite. The report was submitted for EGLE review on April 15, 2021, and it included initial results for various PFAS compounds.

The site is in the Clinton River watershed, and the closest surface waterbody is a pond located at the Woodlawn Cemetery, southeast of the site. The groundwater flows east-southeast across the area. The area is served by a combined sewer system for storm water and sanitary waste that flows to the Great Lakes Water Authority wastewater treatment plant. There is no run-off of storm water to nearby waterbodies. No drinking water wells have been identified near the site. The area is served by a municipal water supply from the Great Lakes Water Authority.

Content posted August 2021.

On April 15, 2021, EGLE received a current conditions report containing sample results from 28 monitoring wells across the site, which were tested for PFAS compounds. Twelve of the wells sampled contained PFAS concentrations above one or more criteria.

Additional groundwater sampling to identify the source and extent of PFAS contamination. Dependent on the additional groundwater sampling results, combined sewer sampling may be conducted to determine if PFAS contamination is present from the site.