Unfit Custodians
Limestone and contaminated soil crashed into the Detroit River for the second time in two years. Detroit Bulk Storage once again violated permits and stored limestone too close to the water’s edge. As a result, the weight of the material put pressure on the earth and collapsed the soil under, sending rock and into the river.
This time we were lucky. Instead of falling into the open river, the limestone went into a slip cut into the river bank. The Army Corps of Engineers uses the area for storing boats and barges. As a result, much of the spill has been contained outside of the main river current. Still, the oil slick could be clearly seen on the water and the gravel and soil filled the slip, altering the water depth from 19 to 3 feet. Officials are monitoring water quality, as both Detroit and Windsor have water intake plants downstream from the spill area.
The Revere Dock area has long been recognized as one of the most polluted industrial sites along the river. Along with heavy metals and industrial waste, it was also a site involved in the Manhattan Project and the production of the first atomic bomb. Uranium and radioactive waste contaminated the land. Increasingly, as climate change affects water and soil, areas along the river become less stable and more vulnerable to erosion and collapse. Long buried and settled wastes are much more likely to be disturbed.
Detroit Bulk Storage has proven itself to be an unfit custodian of land and water. They have repeatedly violated ordinances, been slow to respond to spills, and operated without regard to public safety. Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib said after the first spill, “For people like Revere Copper -- as well as Detroit Bulk Storage -- for them to circumvent and not follow the process, not to apply for permits, to be that irresponsible. We have to stand up and say, ‘Enough is enough.’” But after a few fines and the agreement to build a new seawall, the company was allowed to continue.
In this second collapse Detroit Bulk Storage was quick to report it and did begin to move materials away from the water’s edge. But in spite of Detroit police and building and safety shutting down the commercial operations, Crain’s published a picture taken late in the week showing another ship unloading more of the same kind of material, on the very same spot.
The Detroit City Council took action following the first spill and is now considering ways to strengthen oversight of corporations abusing the river. At the very least Detroit Bulk Storage should be shut down and their licenses should be terminated. Outgoing city council member Raquel Castaneda-Lopez has called for such actions because of the companies “transgression.”
These spills are not accidents. Detroit Bulk Storage intentionally violated ordinances. It continues to operate in spite of being told to cease action. It thinks “containment’ is acceptable. In essence Detroit Bulk Storage embodies all that is wrong with corporate industrial culture.
The belief that the earth will bear anything in the name of profit is a belief that is endangering life everywhere on the planet. The idea that we can abuse the earth, then contain our mess, is foolish. All of us are in danger. This latest spill pushing soil that holds the memory of some of the deadliest weapons ever developed by humans should be a place of mourning, not of profit.