In Michigan, we have laws in place that give the state the power to essentially rope off polluted areas instead of cleaning them up. Instead, those laws tell the public: don’t drink the water or build your house here.
Sometimes these sites are cleaned up to a certain point and sometimes they’re just left polluted with some measures in place to control the risks.
Through a public records request, we’ve found that there are now more than 2,000 sites like this in Michigan.
In 1995, a law was amended that took polluters off the hook for polluting and shifted that cost to taxpayers. It made it easier to partially clean up a contaminated site and expanded the ability to set land use restrictions. These restrictions (also called institutional controls) let people use these sites while keeping them from coming in contact with toxic chemicals.
Sybil Kolon is retired from the Department of Environmental Quality. She worked in the Remediation and Redevelopment Division for 24 years.
Listen to the interview with Sybil below: