Over a year after a hazardous waste crime that dyed Macomb County's Bear Creek waters a bright greenish-blue, the men responsible have pleaded no contest to the charges and accepted various fines as well as probation, the Detroit Free Press reported.
Officials traced the source of the chemical to an old metal finishing factory with poor insulation against the cold. When the winter weather last February froze the pipes, the building's two owners — Saad Somo and Razooqi Batoo — disposed of the spilled chemicals improperly, resulting in the contamination of Bear Creek.
However, due to the perpetrators' excellent cooperation with law enforcement, as well as their cleanup of the damages to the creek, the sentencing was more lenient than it may have been otherwise.
"The defendants took responsibility by cleaning up the contamination they caused," Prosecutor Peter Lucido told the Detroit Free Press. "Their cooperation and remediation efforts spared taxpayers the burden of cleanup costs and were appropriately considered in the resolution of the charges."
Other chemical spill cases in recent years have been less straightforward to resolve.
In addition to being legal offenses, hazardous chemical spills have the potential to jeopardize public health along with the environment, risking human lives and wildlife alike. Fortunately, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy both ruled out the contaminants as dangerous to human health when ingested in drinking water, but the spill may still have negatively affected the creek ecosystem.
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To prevent future chemical spills, make sure to stay informed about local waste disposal procedures. Meanwhile, supporting green candidates in your area can help push pro-environment policies into action, protecting your creeks and other communal ecosystems in the long term.
"Reckless handling of hazardous chemicals poses a serious threat to both public health and our environment," Lucido continued.
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