[CPEO-BIF] Brownfields to biodiesel in Detroit

["Robert Hersh" <b_hersh@verizon.net>]

Motor City Methyl Esters

Biodisel Magazine
By Nicholas Zeman

Abandoned copper smelters, old dumps, chemical refuse heaps-these are the
hazardous waste sites that the U.S. Congress wanted cleaned up when they
established the U.S. EPA's Superfund program in 1980. The federal initiative
has provided the opportunity for a lot of innovative projects.

Biodiesel is a part of the resourcefulness involved in the "greening" of
ugly and dangerous brownfield sites in Michigan. A research lab, a biodiesel
producer and a major automaker are collectively looking to transform an
industrial cesspool near Detroit into a fertile, energy crop producing
landscape. According to the EPA three sites within a five-square-mile area
in Rose Township in Oakland County, Mich., were filled with about 5,000
drums of liquid industrial wastes including paint sludges, solvents, oils
and greases. The wastes were either buried or deposited on the surface.
"Some may have been emptied into the ground or in pits so that the drums
could be recycled," the EPA says, adding that the state removed most of the
drums in 1980, but groundwater, surface water and soils remained
contaminated for many years.

"DaimlerChrysler was one of the companies that was doing the dumping," says
Max Gates of DaimlerChrysler. "Since we were one of the larger companies, it
was just easier for us to take over the cleanup." While they weren't
responsible for all the pollution there, DaimlerChrysler and the other
responsible parties agreed that something needed to be done, and began
administering the effort to clean the site in 1988.

For the entire article, see:
http://biodieselmagazine.com/article.jsp?article_id=1752


Bob Hersh 
CPEO


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