Thursday, January 25, 2018

Detroit Ghost Factories


Lead is in dirt, just like it is in air and water. Lead naturally occurs in soil, but can also be left over from prior land use. Demolished buildings, incinerators, and gas stations can all leave behind high levels of lead in soil. Often forgotten, and possibly worse are “Ghost Factories”. “Ghost Factories” is a term USA Today gave to demolished or abandoned lead smelting factories that were active up until the 1960s.These factories were used to  separate lead from other metals to be sold as raw materials for manufacturing.In 2003, the newspaper took a look at “Ghost Factories” all across the country. Using old records, such as insurance and fire maps, and community knowledge, they found over 400 sites that the EPA and state environmental agencies had no idea about. These factories are not active now, but their effect can still be found.
In Detroit alone, there are 16 total sites. Many of the factories are long gone, as the Detroit Free Press found in 2003, and have been redeveloped or sit as empty lots. Some are now owned by companies like Pepsi or American Axle and Manufacturing. Others are owned by the City of Detroit. Even Ford Field even sits on top of a former factory. Most importantly, these factories have polluted the soil of surrounding residential areas, which show dangerously high levels of lead. This poses threats for gardening, and for children playing outside.
“Ghost Factories” raises problems. First, much of the cost of cleaning up these sites falls on the back of the taxpayers. Many of the companies that operated these factories simply don’t exist anymore, and can’t be held accountable. Second, the EPA and DEQ don’t have the money to clean up these sites. The MDEQ has only started clean up on one of these sites in the 14 years it has known about them. Last, “Ghost Factories” raise questions about the monitoring quality and capacity of agencies. It was the work of newspapers and the community that brought these sites to the attention of the public, not agencies.

You can learn more about Ghost Factories here:https://www.usatoday.com/section/ghost-factories/