Graphic Packaging International (GPI) in Kalamazoo, Michigan pictured in April of 2022. (Joel Bissell | MLive.com)Joel Bissell | MLive.com
KALAMAZOO, MI -- When state of Michigan environmental researchers flew a drone to search for potentially harmful chemicals in a portion of Kalamazoo, they skipped a sprawling factory that is a known source of some of the chemicals in question.
The delay was to allow time for the factory to finish “working out the kinks” of its new expansion, according to an internal email between state health and environmental officials obtained by MLive/Kalamazoo Gazette, in which a state official said the company might be more open to allowing access to their property for an inspection in the fall.
“This operation has already started and began in February, however, they are still working out the kinks,” EGLE Senior Environmental Quality Analyst Monica Brothers said in a May 2 email message obtained by the Kalamazoo Gazette/MLive through a Freedom of Information Act request.
“Jay said that the ‘working out the kinks’ process might take the summer, so that’s why GPI would be more open to doing the drone study over their facility in the fall,” Brothers said in the internal email to Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Toxicologist Brandon Reid. Jay Olaguer, the assistant division director for the Air Quality Division, is referenced in the email.
EGLE spokesperson Jill Greenberg said Graphic Packaging wanted to wait until fall 2022 when all equipment installed with their facility expansion was expected to be fully operational. EGLE also attributes the delay to differences in site topography.
“GPI’s terrain (building heights, stacks, steam plumes) is much more complex than the flight terrain at the Kalamazoo Water Reclamation facility. Therefore, additional time was needed to make the appropriate preparations to fly a drone at GPI,” Greenberg said.
State researchers have since pushed the possible study at Graphic Packaging until 2023, she said.
An email obtained by MLive that shows discussion of flying a drone over Graphic Packaging in Kalamazoo.
Residents said they noticed changes at Graphic Packaging when the new equipment came online earlier this year.
In February, four months before the email exchange discussing Graphic Packaging’s kinks, former Northside resident and environmental justice activist Brandi Crawford-Johnson emailed Reid and said residents noticed what looked like dark “smoke” coming from the factory, and it was harder for them to breathe. Residents also sent videos of the factory emissions to MLive.
“Is there anything MDHHS can do to help?” Crawford-Johnson asked the department in a February email obtained by MLive from the state.
David Benac, an associate professor of history at Western Michigan University and a member of the city of Kalamazoo Environmental Concerns Committee, joined Northside residents and others on the steps of City Hall to protest over the air pollution issues last week.
“It seems like states should be able to test the air and shouldn’t have to ask for permission,” Benac said about the drone study.
Greenberg said, based on a 2016 Michigan law, a government agency cannot take measurements over a facility using a drone unless an exception is met. Exceptions include getting express consent from the property owner, or if the agency has a valid search warrant, or if the agency believes there may be an imminent public health threat.
The drone flew patterns over the city of Kalamazoo’s wastewater treatment plant on May 23 and May 24, and found elevated levels of chemicals including formaldehyde, hydrogen sulfide and sulfur dioxide.
Graphic Packaging is a known source of some of the toxic chemicals being investigated including hydrogen sulfide, which can cause existing asthma to worsen.
Graphic Packaging told MLive/Kalamazoo Gazette it did not receive a request from EGLE to fly a drone over the facility this summer, but it agreed to provide access for the drones to fly over the facility this fall.
EGLE drone flies over Kalamazoo wastewater treatment plant
“Graphic Packaging is committed to working with EGLE, which is why we have approved the drone flyover to measure for (volatile organic compounds),” the company said in a statement on Sept. 14.
The company said it can not speculate about the meaning of “work out the kinks,” but the facility is committed to getting the new machinery safely up and running.
“There are many complexities to getting a machine of this size and innovation online, but we are grateful for the hard work of our team members and EGLE to complete this process correctly,” the company said.
Residents have expressed they feel like they are being experimented on due to a lack of accountability, and their health is at risk. Some who live in the area have complained about delays in the investigation. The issue is prevalent in the city’s Northside, a predominately Black neighborhood.
Former resident Adrian Johnson, Brandi Crawford-Johnson’s husband, said he believes the neighborhood is a product of redlining, a historical practice that placed Black families into undesirable locations through denials of bank loans.
Related: Health, odor and air quality concerns raised for years in Kalamazoo, even before factory was approved to expand
“I feel like we’re just guinea pigs,” said Johnson, who is Black. “We’re the mouse on the wheel and anybody else is just casualties.”
Johnson has kidney disease, he said. He lived on the Northside about 36 years, and moved out of the city in November 2020.
Crawford-Johnson, who is taking several different legal avenues to try to bring justice, says she does not believe government officials will do the right thing on their own.
She believes there is a conflict of interest, because state and local government entities granted money to Graphic Packaging and signed off on its expansion.
Related: Tax breaks worth $21M approved for major Graphic Packaging expansion in Kalamazoo
The company received money from the state including Brownfield redevelopment funds, and state approval of tax-exempt bonds to help fund the factory’s expansion.
Exceedances at wastewater treatment plant
The Kalamazoo city wastewater plant processes sewage from residential customers, as well as large industrial users including Graphic Packaging in Kalamazoo and Pfizer in Portage.
In May, the drone detected chemicals in the air above the city wastewater plant including formaldehyde, hydrogen sulfide and sulfur dioxide, each exceeding Minimal Risk Levels set by the Centers for Disease Control’s Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.
Minimal Risk Levels are estimates, set by the federal government, for the amount of a chemical a person can eat, drink, or breathe each day without a detectable risk to health. The Minimal Risk Level exceedances mean researchers should look closer at a site, according to the state health department.
The highest readings of formaldehyde were 0.864 parts per million, according to data MLive obtained from the city. That amount is above the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration Permissible Exposure Limit for an eight-hour exposure.
“The employer shall assure that no employee is exposed to an airborne concentration of formaldehyde which exceeds 0.75 parts formaldehyde per million parts of air (0.75 parts per million) as an 8-hour (total weight average),” according to Michigan’s general industry and construction safety and health standards.
On July 21, 2022, Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration initiated an ongoing inspection at the city of Kalamazoo Water Resources Division, Erica Quealy, deputy communications director at the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity, told MLive/Kalamazoo Gazette. The inspection was initiated based on a referral from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy, she said.
“MIOSHA cannot provide information on an open inspection,” Quealy said. “Typically, this type of inspection may take several weeks or months to complete.”
The city of Kalamazoo told MLive/Kalamazoo Gazette “there may be detectable levels of formaldehyde inside the plant’s property which would require additional workplace safety policy and procedures.”
Residents are sick of waiting for the issue to be resolved.
“They’re killing us,” Deann Winfield told MLive/Kalamazoo Gazette last week during a protest on the steps of Kalamazoo City Hall. Both she and her son suffer from asthma. They were both hospitalized with breathing issues for several days at different times in August, Winfield said.
She thinks pollution is a factor in why her family is sick. Her daughter died after an asthma attack several years ago, Winfield said.
Residents and government officials are waiting for the state’s health consultation on air quality and odor concerns near Graphic Packaging and the Kalamazoo wastewater plant, which is still in progress, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Associate Public Information Officer Chelsea Wuth told MLive/Kalamazoo Gazette this week.
“We are working to incorporate the results of the May 2022 drone study,” Wuth said. “The health consultation will be released as soon as it is ready. We are not waiting for any future sampling.”
Citizens protest over toxins found in the air near their homes in Kalamazoo
Drone sniffs out toxic chemicals above Kalamazoo wastewater treatment plant
Asthma is killing Kalamazoo family living near a stinking factory. Now the state is studying asthma in the neighborhood.
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