Michigan’s Attorney General filed a lawsuit against an electroplater that left Michigan after allegedly contaminating multiple properties in West and Southwest Michigan with PFAS and other hazardous materials.
Dana NesselThe lawsuit filed by the Attorney General Dana Nessel seeks compliance and damages from FKI Hardware, Inc., successor to the former Keeler Brass Company, to address its alleged releases of hazardous substances into the environment. Those hazardous substances include volatile organic compounds such as trichloroethylene (TCE), per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), and metals. The suit lists nine sites of known or suspected contamination.
“Michigan residents deserve to be safe from environmental contamination in their communities,” Nessel says. “Companies that do business in Michigan, pull up stakes and leave their communities with contaminated air and water will pay the price. This lawsuit is another demonstration of my department’s commitment to do what is necessary to hold companies that polluted our environment accountable.”
The lawsuit seeks to require the company to properly investigate the risks posed by their contamination, which is in soil and groundwater. TCE may be present in some locations at concentrations that can cause harmful vapors to seep up into the air inside buildings above the contamination. These vapors can expose people breathing the indoor air to unacceptable health risks.
The suit says that “an imminent and substantial endangerment to human health and the environment is known to exist at one site (the Godfrey Property) from TCE.” The suit further states that the “Attorney General and the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) are concerned that fuller investigation and a complete effort to reduce health risks are necessary to protect workers and other occupants of buildings in the vicinity of these former Keeler or FKI Hardware properties.”
EGLE has demanded compliance with state law regarding remediation at all nine sites, but FKI Hardware has not met its obligations, the suit alleges.
“It is critical that companies take responsibility for contamination they caused and that they work with EGLE to achieve full compliance,” Nessel says.
