The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has begun cleaning up a hazardous waste site at a former chemical plating plant just north of Detroit. The EPA says that the $2 million cleanup effort began this week at the former Electro-Plating Service Inc. facility in Madison Heights. The company was ordered to cease operations in December after the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality said it found an estimated 5,000 deteriorating drums and tanks full of toxic chemicals. The agency said inspectors suspected the chemicals were cyanides and hydrochloric acid, among others.
Jeffrey Lippert is an EPA on-scene coordinator for Michigan and Ohio. Lippert says the cleanup is expected to last four months and is funded by the EPA's Superfund Redevelopment Initiative. Phone messages left by the Associated Press seeking comment from Electro-Plating President Gary Sayers weren't immediately returned.