Frustrated with the City of Detroit's “lack of oversight" of its demolition contractors, the state is pushing for fines and additional penalties against the city after environmental inspectors found dozens of properties where deadly asbestos was mishandled.
The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality has already demanded thousands of dollars in penalties against Detroit's demolition and asbestos abatement contractors after finding violations at more than 100 properties across the city since 2014, including multiple homes that were torn down before crumbling asbestos was removed.
The findings suggest the possibility of a larger problem with demolitions in the city.
DEQ can hold both contractors and the property owner — in this case the city, the Detroit Land Bank Authority and the Detroit Building Authority — equally responsible for asbestos violations. Until now, however, DEQ had sought fines against only contractors.
That changed May 4, when DEQ Director C. Heidi Grether told Detroit's top lawyer that her department would seek a consent order or judgment against the city for asbestos violations. In the letter to Melvin Butch Hollowell and obtained by the Free Press, Grether said DEQ officials had "compliance concerns."
More:
http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2017/05/20/detroit-demolitions-blight-asbestos/101520078/Asbestos - the gift that keeps on giving.
