A hazardous waste processing facility in Detroit — which could gain state approval to expand its storage facilities tenfold — has released excessive amounts of mercury, arsenic, cyanide and other toxic chemicals into the city sewer system more than 150 times since September 2010, a review of Great Lakes Water Authority records shows.
US Ecology is allowed to put pretreated chemical waste into the sewer system, but under strict, permitted requirements.
The Free Press, through the Michigan Freedom of Information Act, reviewed records related to the company's wastewater discharge permit going back to September 2010. The records are held by the Great Lakes Water Authority, the regional body that took over wastewater treatment operations from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department on Jan. 1.