As part of its ongoing efforts to remediate and prevent further problems with the use of contaminated backfill dirt in city demolition projects, Detroit’s Construction and Demolition Department announced additional improvements to its processes to ensure they meet contractual and environmental standards going forward.
In announcing the planned improvements on Thursday, March 5, city officials also said they suspect soil contamination at an additional 100-plus neighborhood demolition sites, and by their own numbers, are behind on an initial March goal to test what were initially said to be approximately 500 properties of concern, according to new information shared by the city amid probes into dirty backfill dirt.
Test results have shown neurotoxins and carcinogens like lead and arsenic above state environmental guidelines buried at dozens of locations — some of which flank occupied homes — potentially putting public health at risk.
New safeguards were first announced after a January Free Press report found neighbors of contaminated sites unaware of the risk, and environmental experts critical of the city’s dirt testing protocols. Those safeguards included a reduction in the number of demolition backfill suppliers “to allow for greater monitoring and control,” monthly inspections of sites being used to source backfill, and developing a plan to test backfill sources and future demolition sites being filled.
Thursday’s announcement appeared to reveal two new safeguards: Backfill dirt will now come from “only approved native/virgin material sites” rather than from other residential developments in the region or stockpiled material, the release said. Officials said the city also will “enhance” contracting language to increase its ability to ensure the material that left the source is the same material placed at the demolition site.
“Shortly after she took office in January, Mayor (Mary) Sheffield directed us to take immediate action to tighten controls on our supply of demolition site fill material so residents will have no questions that sites of any future demolitions are safe,” Tim Palazzolo, director of the Construction and Demolition Department, said in a statement announcing the changes. “These new measures, already in place or being put in place, do that.”
A new interactive status map also was released, Palazzolo said, that identifies the location of demolition sites that have been flagged for testing. Dots on the map are color coded to show their current status — to be tested, tested and awaiting results, tested clean, excavation in process and excavation complete.
Palazzolo said his department has distributed informational flyers to all homes within a 400-foot radius of each lot that has been flagged for testing, informing them of the location of the lot in the area being tested and a QR code directing them to where they can find the test results, once they are available.
As of late December, 59 tests had been completed and the dirt removed from those locations. The new map reflects limited progress since then: Testing and dirt removal is now complete at just 63 locations, with hundreds left to test.
In a statement, the city blamed the delays on what it called an unexpectedly long winter freeze and said it now plans to complete testing by late May.
The latest round of toxic dirt in Detroit’s 12-year demolition program was revealed by former Mayor Mike Duggan on Dec. 22, just before he left office to campaign full-time for governor. The companies involved are Detroit-based Gayanga and Milford Township-based backfill supplier Iron Horse.
Both companies have denied wrongdoing.
At the time of Duggan’s December announcement, the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) was investigating Iron Horse, which Duggan claimed owned a “native” — or clean — sand and gravel pit, but was found by a consultancy hired by the city to be trucking dirt in from other sources. The Detroit Police Department, meanwhile, was investigating Gayanga for potential fraud due to unclear documentation reflecting the source of backfill material.
At issue, Duggan said, were 424 sites where Oakland County-based dirt supplier Iron Horse may have provided Gayanga Co. and three other demolition contractors with contaminated backfill, and at least 87 additional sites where Gayanga may have used unapproved dirt to fill demolition holes and misrepresented the source of that soil.
All of those sites were to be tested by March, Duggan said.
The city’s news release March 5 indicated that there are now at least 100 more sites of concern on top of the initial 511 announced, pointing to “more than 400” Iron Horse sites being tested “after investigation by the Office of Inspector General, in cooperation with the Construction and Demolition Department, called into question the quality of the soil” and “nearly 200 more” Gayanga sites flagged by the Detroit police investigation.
The city said Thursday that 526 properties are slated for testing, but an additional 125 are privately owned and testing requires their owners’ consent.
Environmental experts have called the city’s testing protocols inadequate, saying they should not be limited to just backfill but also the topsoil residents are more likely to come into contact with. Given the scale of contamination, experts have also said wider-spread testing is needed. Gayanga, for example, has torn down approximately 2,500 houses in the city, but only dozens of its sites are being tested.
The changes come with the demolition program that has taken down approximately 27,000 houses since 2014 winding down. As of late December, Duggan said approximately 240 houses remained on the city’s demolition list.
Dana Afana is the Detroit city hall reporter for the Free Press. Contact: dafana@freepress.com. Follow her: @DanaAfana.