Now, Detroit Water Is Contaminated With Uranium - What's Next?

I need someone to please tell me these Detroit Land Bank Authority demolished sites are not backfilled with uranium contaminated dirt.

Please.

I would not put it past these people to do something like this.

No wonder Detroit is #1 in the world for infant mortality and, as coincidence, only, #1 in the world for parinatal research.

Just remember to Make Your Date!

Conyers Hails Mayor Bing’s Order to Remove “Pet Coke” from Detroit River

FORMER REVERE COPPER PLANT COLLAPSES INTO DETROIT RIVER, PROPERTY CONTAMINATED WITH URANIUM FROM WWII'S MANHATTAN PROJECT

Congresswoman wants soil tested on more than 14,000 Detroit blight demolition sites

Canadian lawmaker urges probe of dock collapse at Detroit site

A Canadian lawmaker is calling on U.S. and Canadian officials to investigate last month's dock collapse at an industrial riverfront site in southwest Detroit and see if there is a threat of contaminating the river.

Michigan's environmental department said there is "no evidence to suggest that there is a current radiological risk" at the site, but it still plans to assess the situation with Friday boat examinations of the location and drone flights.

Brian Masse, a New Democratic Party member of the Canadian Parliament who represents the Windsor region, has expressed concern to the Canadian and U.S. governments about the collapse.

But Detroit Bulk Storage, a sand and gravel storage yard business with a long-term lease on the property, said the aggregate wasn't responsible for the collapse.

The limestone aggregate had been stored 100 feet away from the waterfront and piled 40 to 50 feet high along about 300 feet of waterfront, said said Noel Frye, vice president of Detroit Bulk Storage. Typical storage rules require the load to be stored only 50 feet off the waterfront and no more than 50 feet high, he said.

The collapse had more to do with high waters and consistent, heavy rain the night before the collapse, Frye said. The company has been in regular contact with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Michigan environmental department, he said.

“We’re complying with any government agency that wants to come down and take a look,” Frye said. “We have a remediation plan. We’re just putting the finishing touches on it.”

That remediation plan will include a new steel wall and dredging in the Detroit River to remove any aggregate that entered the water, Frye said. The dredged material will be placed on the dock to dry and then transported to an appropriate landfill if needed.

The site used to belong to Detroit Revere Copper and Brass, which during the 1940s handled uranium and other potentially dangerous materials as a subcontractor under the Manhattan Project that developed nuclear weapons. It is just east of historic Fort Wayne and is close to the planned location of the Gordie Howe International Bridge.

From 1943 to 1946, Revere Copper and Brass produced uranium rods at its Detroit plant and during the late 1940s and early 1950s rolled or produced uranium rods, according to U.S. Department of Energy records. Chemicals such as beryllium and thorium were handled on the site, according to government records.

Site contaminated with uranium partially collapses into Detroit River https://t.co/vFmC8wMlw9 pic.twitter.com/yCqmwentwu

— The Windsor Star (@TheWindsorStar) December 5, 2019

The site was considered to have "residual radiation" until it closed in 1984 and the manufacturing facility demolished.

Energy Department representatives visited the site in September 1989, and a "cursory radiological survey at that time revealed no areas with direct radiation levels above background,” according to a 1990 department report. A 1981 survey by Argonne National Laboratory found "no significant residual contamination in readily accessible areas or equipment."

In a Thursday letter to the Canadian minister of environment and climate change, Masse said the site is rated "high for contamination" because of the residual materials left on the site. It was based on an undated "Detroit River International Crossing Study."

"An immediate study should be conducted on the dangers presented to the Detroit waterways and Great Lakes region," Masse said. "Forty million people use the Great Lakes for drinking water, and the ecosystem is already fragile. Any potential threat should be investigated immediately on both sides of the border."

Michigan environmental officials rebutted the accusation.

"Federal testing has shown radiation levels at the site were not above background levels following remediation of the property," said department spokesman Nick Assendelft. "EGLE will aggressively investigate any impact to the public or environment as part of its assessment of the incident."

The U.S. Department of Energy's Legacy Management division oversees potentially dangerous properties where nuclear or radioactive materials were stored, particularly if they handled war-related equipment.

Masse called for a joint investigation that includes the International Joint Commission — a body that cooperates on river and lake issues along the U.S.-Canada border — and both national governments.

It is unclear how seriously the Canadian government will take Masse's request. The New Democratic Party is to the left of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's ruling Liberal Party, which has the most seats in Parliament but doesn't have majority control.

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