Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is suing two finishers in the state for air and water pollution violations.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has filed a complaint in the 30th Circuit Court in Ingham County against Tribar Technologies, Inc. and Adept Plastic Finishing, Inc. for allegedly violating the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act (NREPA). The complaint alleges past and ongoing illegal discharges and past unlawful air emissions from five automotive supply facilities operated by the companies in Wixom.
Attorney General Nessel, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy and the People of the State of Michigan, alleges multiple violations of Part 31, Water Resource Protection, and Part 55, Air Pollution Control, of NREPA, including the 2022 discharge of hexavalent chromium, a highly toxic chemical, from a chrome-planting facility into the Huron River through the Wixom Wastewater Treatment Plant.
The complaint also alleges failures by the automotive suppliers to comply with permitting requirements, including repeated violations of water and air pollution standards. While the companies have shut down the facilities, the complaint alleges perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS)-laden stormwater continues to discharge from two of the Wixom sites.
Tribar made national headlines in 2022 when an employee discharged approximately 10,000 gallons of insufficiently treated wastewater from a holding tank at Plant 5. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Michigan, the employee “disabled approximately 460 alarms and discharged the wastewater to the Wixom sanitary sewer system and ultimately to the Wixom POTW without completing the treatment necessary to remove chromium from the wastewater, as required by Tribar’ s Industrial Pretreatment Program Permit.”
In December 2024, Tribar Technologies pleaded guilty to negligently violating a pretreatment standard under the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. §§ 1317(d) and 1319(c)(1)(A)). It was fined $200,000 and placed on probation.
“Michigan’s environmental laws exist to protect the air we breathe and the water we use from toxic chemicals,” Nessel says. “When companies cut corners or violate these protections, my office will use every tool available to hold them accountable and ensure proper cleanup and compliance.”
“Protection of public health and water resources is of the utmost importance in Michigan. We must ensure that those who violate the laws are held accountable and that parties responsible for pollution are held liable,” said Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy Director Phil Roos. “Thanks to Attorney General Nessel for taking decisive action to protect the people of Michigan.”
Attorney General Nessel is seeking civil penalties and contamination cleanup from the companies. Additionally, the Attorney General is seeking penalties under the Michigan Business Corporation Act, alleging Tribar lacks the necessary certificate of authority to operate in Michigan.
