Kelly House

No-contact order lifted after investigators conclude that most of the chromium released from a tank at Tribar Manufacturing in Wixom never made it into the Huron River. 

A series of violation notices raise new questions about the events at the plant. State regulators indicate that on-site alarms at the company were overridden hundreds of times during a weekend evening when “no one should be at the facility.”

After a Wixom chrome plater released hexavalent chromium into sewers that lead to the Huron River, locals and activists are calling for tighter regulation to prevent future spills, if not an outright ban on nonessential uses of the toxic metal.

A don’t touch advisory remains in effect for the section of the river in Oakland and Livingston counties, after a Wixom automotive supplier released thousands of gallons of liquid containing the toxic metal.

State regulators say testing is ongoing and caution residents to still avoid stretches of the upper river. One official calls tests so far ‘encouraging.’

While state regulators await test results to determine how far the hexavalent chromium-tainted water has spread, Huron River advocates are calling for stiff penalties against a company with a history of polluting the river.

Residents in parts of two Michigan counties are told to avoid “all contact” with Huron River water due to “several thousand gallons” of liquid containing a carcinogen from Tribar Manufacturing in Wixom, the plant behind a previous spill involving PFAS.