hazardous chemicals left out in the open
and that's just the tip of the iceberg
the defenders take you inside the local
business posing such a danger the state
now has shut it down a local businessman
pleads guilty today in federal court to
storing hazardous waste without a permit
in his Madison Heights business waste
that endangered the public and the
environment inspectors found about 5000
containers of hazardous waste improperly
stored throughout electroplating when
the company was finally told to shut its
doors by the Michigan Department of
Environmental Quality defender Karen
drew is here now with the disturbing
images of what they found inside
karin-san Tran Jason 5000 barrels that's
what we're talking about this is crazy
so let's take you inside electroplating
on 10 Mile in Madison Heights and show
you exactly what the inspectors found
let's start with this this leaking
barrel you can see all the it was
labeled copper cyanide and this was
found in the basement then there is this
this green ooze on the floor and then
making it even a little bit more
startling take a look at this I mean
this is open part of the building open
to the elements open to all of us well I
was in federal court today when the
owner of electroplating 69 year-old Gary
sayers told the judge he was guilty
inspectors found an estimated five
thousand containers of hazardous waste
and materials improperly stored
unlabeled open and corroded or in very
poor condition inside electroplating in
Madison Heights when the company was
finally told to cease operations by the
Michigan Department of Environmental
Quality this is a serious case in my
opinion yes the conditions were the
worst I had ever seen
Jeff Lippert is an on-scene coordinator
for the EPA see right here yeah this is
where a drip from upstairs and eaten the
concrete he was in charge of leading the
cleanup of the environmental mess which
took nearly a year and two million
dollars of taxpayers money to clean up
holes in the walls and the ceilings and
and the containers stored in close
proximity with other reactive chemicals
that's what made this the worst because
in a sense if those chemicals combined
this place could have blown absolutely
what's so frightening about this case is
where electroplating is located within
500 feet of residential neighbors and
overlooking i-696 within a mile there
were nine daycares schools and senior
living facilities if an explosion did
occur experts tell the defenders a
catastrophe could have happened do you
think the public knew this was going on
I know that the the fire department had
had a long history and the DEQ it had a
long history it was no secret
electroplating was breaking the law that
offenders learned the company was cited
for compliance issues by the MDEQ
for nearly two decades so the defenders
wanted to know why did it take so long
to shut down the company is this how the
MDEQ operates are there other companies
with years of violations still operating
putting the public at risk well no one
from the N DEQ would answer our
questions and denied any kind of
on-camera interview only issuing this
statement saying in part past violations
were addressed through administrative
and criminal enforcement also stating in
2016 we received a new complaint
regarding improper chemical storage at
the Madison Heights Site the closure of
this facility was the only course of
action left to address ongoing
non-compliance including previous
criminal enforcement action and a prior
consent order in which the company
agreed to clean up the site and operate
in compliance with the law now the
prosecution is asking that Gary sayers
serve a 12 to 18 month sentence he could
face a fine up to $250,000 he'll be
sentenced on May 16th and prosecution is
hoping the judge hand hands down a very
serious sentence on this one you usually
don't see jail time and stuff like this
you know a lot of times in an
environmental cases they will give you
the big fine but they don't give you the
prison time and from what I'm hearing
from insiders that did investigate this
they want a message then I mean 5,000
gallons of all of this right by a
neighborhood like you said open to
anyone with that go in one mistake and
here's what can happen obviously they
want to send a message to others - most
definitely will be in court what you
know what happens right we'll be
following it thanks Karen