Major progress made cleaning up toxic green ooze site in Madison Heights

Hexavalent chromium, a known carcinogen, was found leaking onto I-696 on Dec. 20, 2019

MADISON HEIGHTS, Mich. – Enough progress has been made in cleaning up the toxic green ooze site in Madison Heights that the federal government has handed control back over to Michigan officials.

The work has never stopped at the green ooze site -- even during the pandemic. The EPA handing the case over to EGLE is a major sign of progress made.

The I-696 ramp to Couzens Avenue, which was closed indefinitely in November 2020, reopened Thursday.

Madison Heights officials said EGLE and EPA conducted an extensive investigation, installed a treatment system and collected more than 350,000 gallons of contaminated groundwater to be treated.

Gary Sayers, the owner of the building at the center of the Madison Heights toxic ooze case, hasn’t been seen much since November.

Sayers hasn’t been seen since we tracked him down here in Detroit.

A virtual town hall meeting with Madison Heights officials, the EPA and EGLE will be held Tuesday at 6 p.m. More information can be found here.


About the Authors

Hank Winchester is Local 4's Consumer Investigative Reporter and the head of WDIV's "Help Me Hank" Consumer Unit. He works to solve consumer complaints, reveal important recalls and track down thieves who have ripped off metro Detroiters.

Derick is a Senior Web Producer for ClickOnDetroit and has been with Local 4 News since April 2013. Derick specializes in breaking news, crime and local sports.

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