US authorities have finally managed to determine the nature of the strange “greenish-yellow liquid” which suddenly started spewing from the wall of Interstate 696 in Madison Heights, Michigan earlier this week, Detroit Free Press reports.
According to the media outlet, an investigation by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has revealed that the liquid in question was likely groundwater contaminated with hexavalent chromium which apparently originated from a currently closed business called Electro-Plating Services whose owner was sentenced to a year in prison after pleading guilty in April for operating an unlicensed hazardous waste storage facility.
While the EPA previously removed hundreds of containers filled with hazardous chemicals from the site as it was shut down, the agency reportedly did not “remediate soil or groundwater contamination”.
This incident resulted in the temporary closure of the afflicted part of the interstate as hazmat crews rushed in to clean up the spill.
While the US Occupational Health and Safety Administration notes that hexavalent chromium “is known to cause cancer at high levels of exposure,” the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy said that a team of state investigators determined that there is no imminent risk to the public, the media outlet said.