The DSC McLouth Steel Gibraltar Plant sits at 28000 W. Jefferson Ave. in Gibraltar, Michigan. Steel finishing operations, including annealing, pickling, and cold rolling, ran there from the early 1950s until 1996 under McLouth Steel Products Co. After the company went bankrupt, Detroit Steel Corp. acquired the facility and began an environmental investigation in 1997. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List in March 2015.
Cleanup is organized into three operable units: the steel mill and lagoon area, a countywide landfill, and countywide groundwater. Catch basins at the site receive wastewater from adjacent landfills. A remedial investigation and feasibility study started in 2016 to assess the nature and extent of contamination across all three units. The study for the Countywide Landfill is expected to finish by 2023, while studies for Landfills A and B and groundwater are anticipated by 2026. Remedial investigation for groundwater began in August 2015 and is still ongoing.
EPA issued a Record of Decision for the steel mill and lagoon area in September 2016. Selected cleanup methods there include neutralization using pumping and treatment, offsite disposal, and leachate monitoring. Remedial action for that unit started in September 2016 and continues. EPA also conducted removal actions at the site in 2010, 2015, and 2016. Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding will support pumping and hauling of landfill leachate from Landfills A and B to protect local drainage systems. The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy currently oversees offsite hauling of leachate from the Countywide Landfill and plans to build an on-site treatment facility there, with construction anticipated to begin in 2024.
EPA has not yet gathered enough data to determine whether human exposure is under control or whether contaminated groundwater movement is stabilized. Physical construction of cleanup activities is not complete, and the site is not ready for its anticipated use. A five-year review was completed in April 2024. The countywide landfill remedy decision is targeted for March to May 2028, with design work estimated to begin August through October 2028.
Community members can review written records at the Trenton Veterans Memorial Library at 2790 Westfield Road in Trenton, Michigan, or the Flat Rock Public Library at 25200 Gibraltar Road in Flat Rock, Michigan. For questions, residents can contact the EPA Community Involvement Coordinator or the Remedial Project Manager.
