Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Legal battle over, state wins clean-up costs for Ludington industrial site

$525,000 Settlement Reached

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment reached a settlement that secures re-imbursement of the costs incurred by the department to investigate contamination from the former Handy Things Manufacturing Company property in Ludington. The settlement with Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation, the corporate successor to Handy Things Manufacturing, also requires the company to address existing soil and groundwater contamination at the site and includes provisions to prevent any unacceptable exposures to the contaminants.

Soil and groundwater in the area are contaminated with volatile organic compounds, chromium, zinc, cyanide, and other metal plating materials. The former Handy Things Manufacturing Company is one source of the contamination in this area, two others are Industrial Plating and Manufacturing, Inc., property (formerly known as the Ludington Plating Company), and Straits Steel and Wire Company property. Both properties are owned by Straits Steel and Wire.

The DNRE and Department of Attorney General are currently in negotiations with Straits Steel and Wire to reach a similar settlement regarding pollution that is attributable to them.

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