Detroit Bulk Storage has agreed to stop accepting shipments of pet coke and says its 40-foot pile of the messy substance will be completely removed from the Detroit River shore by the end of August.
Crain's Detroit Business: Last month, company executives met with officials from the Department of Environmental Quality, who had concerns over the escaping dust the 40-foot pile was generating and how it was affecting homes and businesses nearby.
On Friday, the company alerted the department that it was no longer taking in the shipments, said Brad Wurfel, communications director for the Michigan DEQ.
The company will continue to seek a permit to allow permanent storage of pet coke, a CO2-heavy coke derived from petroleum. A land-use hearing is scheduled for July 31 on the matter.
Detroit Bulk Storage's pet coke pile has led to several protests, including activists physically attempting to block trucks from delivering the substance. However, the company says their decision to stop accepting shipments for now had absolutely nothing to do with the controversy.
Nothing what so ever.
It was a business decision, they say. Someone just woke up one morning and thought: Hey, we should just stop doing that profitable, polluting thing we've been doing because business.
