A greenish-yellow liquid oozing onto a section of a major Michigan highway is the same cancer-causing substance that was involved in the notorious California water pollution case brought by activist Erin Brockovich, according to authorities and reports.
The mysterious slime was discovered in the right lane of eastbound Interstate 696 in Madison Heights around 2:30 p.m. Friday, Michigan State Police tweeted.
Authorities determined that a commercial building had been leaking the chemical, hexavalent chromium, and that it ran from the basement of the building, down into the ground and then through a drain that empties around the eastbound interstate, police said.
“Once the chemical came up through the drain, it froze into a yellow blob,” police said.
Hexavalent chromium — which can cause cancer with high levels of exposure — is the same chemical that Brockovich revealed was contaminating water in California in 1993, according to ABC News. Brockovich’s uncovering of the poisoning was chronicled in the Oscar-winning 2000 film “Erin Brockovich.” She was played by Julia Roberts.
The Michigan building where the current spill originated is home to the shuttered Electro-Plating Services, whose owner is serving a year in federal prison for operating an unlicensed hazardous-waste storage facility, said the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) to the Detroit Free Press.
Since the business’ 2016 shutdown, the US Environmental Protection Agency shelled out nearly $1.5 million cleaning up the site as part of a Superfund removal action, according to the report.
While the agency removed hazardous chemicals from the site, soil and groundwater contamination remained an issue, the Free Press reported.
“We are operating under the presumption that this is groundwater contaminated with chromium from historic-plating operations,” EGLE spokeswoman Jill Greenberg told the paper.
Greenberg said there is no immediate health threat — as the leakage isn’t affecting air quality or drinking water.
A basement sump is being used to collect and remove water and dispose of it in a portable sink, which reduces the amount of contaminated liquid draining off the property, according to Greenberg.
That system will be in place until authorities find a long-term solution, she told the outlet.