No threat yet found at Marion Twp. site connected to – The Times Herald

A greenish-yellow liquid flows through a retaining wall on I-696, triggering a lane closure Friday afternoon and haz-mat clean-up Friday night, Dec. 20, 2019.(Photo: MDOT)

Further tests at a Sanilac County property connected to the "green ooze" incident along I-696 in Oakland County have not turned up a significant risk to public health, said Jill Greenberg,Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy spokesperson.

"We're going to discuss what we found at the siteand any steps forward," she said.

In December, a green liquid flowed through a retaining wall on I-696 in Madison Heights, which lead to a lane closure, hazmat cleanup and scrutiny about where it came from. It was traced back to an electroplating facility owned by Gary Sayers. Sayerspleaded guilty to illegally storing hazardous materials at the metalplating business he inherited, and sentenced to a year in prison in Nov. 2019, the Detroit FreePress reported.

Authorities began looking into other properties owned by Sayers, including the Sanilac County property on Loree Road in Marion Township.A round of initial assessments in January 2020 found no contaminants posing a health risk.

On Feb. 10, the EGLE got an administrative inspection warrant for the Loree Road property. EGLE entered the house on the property and did not observe environmental issues of concern, Greenberg said.

EGLE used ground penetrating radar on the driveway, a section of land across a creek on the property that was cleared of trees and had disturbed earth and a site next to the house.

"We found really small anomalies, but nothing that would indicate that the barrels were buriedon site in those locations," Greenberg said.

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The team also used a metal detector, but did not detect metal in those areas, Greenberg said.

"We identified it as a minimal impact site," shesaid.

EGLE will meet to discuss whether any additional work will be done at the property.

"There's no other way to describe it other than he was an industrial hoarder," Greenberg said of Sayers.

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Jeremy Ervin covers environment, education and more. Contact him at (810) 989-6276 or jervin@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter@ErvinJeremy.

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No threat yet found at Marion Twp. site connected to - The Times Herald