After the lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court, attorneys working for city discovered that Amoco was working for a consent decree with state environmental officials. City officials aren't satisfied with the possibility the company could enter into what they consider self-policing with the state. We're going to get blind-sided again by Amoco and the Department of Environmental Quality. All we're asking is they fix the problem before someone gets killed. We have a global corporate commitment to make continuing improvements in all our activities.
Officials worry that another explosion is possible.
In 1997, an investigation showed petroleum products were again making their way into the sewers. In a meeting held Monday in front of city officials and state senators, River Rouge Fire Inspector David Chirillo pulled out nine jars of water samples taken on Monday from wells near the Amoco Oil terminal on Marrion near Jefferson. One of the sealed samples was the color of bourbon, saturated with what looked like gasoline. Two of the jars, which will be sent to an independent laboratory for testing, had an even separation of clear water and what looked like black oil floating on the top. Pretty much the samples have been the same.