This archive report was first published on 23 December 2019.
On a busy freeway outside Detroit, a peculiar sight greeted motorists on a Friday: a bright green liquid oozing from a retaining wall on Interstate 696. The appearance of the substance snarled traffic and prompted lane closings to allow for a hazardous materials cleanup that started on Friday and could last for several more days, Michigan environmental officials said on October 2, 2006.
The mystery substance is believed to be hexavalent chromium, a cancer-causing manufacturing component featured in the 2000 movie 'Erin Brockovich.'
According to Jill A. Greenberg, a spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy, the green liquid was traced to a nearby plant, Electro-Plating Services Inc., in Madison Heights, Mich.
As reported by The Detroit Free Press, the state had shut down the site in 2016 for improper storage of hazardous materials and it had already been designated as a Superfund cleanup site.
Electro-Plating Services Inc.'s owner, Gary A. Sayers, and his company pleaded guilty in February to illegally storing hazardous waste, according to federal prosecutors.
Mr. Sayers was sentenced to one year in prison and ordered to pay nearly $1.5 million in cleanup costs.
