‘Shut it down!’ shouted at factory manager in meeting about harmful pollution near homes

KALAMAZOO, MI — More than 150 people attended a meeting to hear about the link between community health and neighborhood pollution, and several people interrupted presenters to shout out criticism and demand action.

Citizens and government officials gathered in the gymnasium at Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Kalamazoo Thursday, May 18, to discuss health findings released by the state last week that confirmed levels of pollution seen regularly in nearby neighborhoods represent a health hazard.

“Shame!” people shouted after Tom Olstad, mill manager at Graphic Packaging in Kalamazoo, spoke briefly and said the company is committed to making progress on the odor issue related to toxic hydrogen sulfide gas detected regularly at the paper plant and nearby city wastewater plant, and the surrounding community.

“Shut it down!” others shouted. Dozens of people also stood in line and spoke at the meeting. Many of them delivered harsh criticism to state and city officials in attendance.

“I’m here for the same reason you are, I want to learn about this study,” Olstad said, and there are things for the company to learn as well.

“I’m not here to answer questions,” Olstad said. The company is looking for collaborative solutions to these issues, he said.

Northside Association for Community Development Executive Director Mattie Jordan-Woods said she thought steps would be taken to shut down the source of the hazard once it was identified.

“You had to know, once you put in the paper that this caused harm, that people would ask what are you going to do and they were not gonna accept ‘stay in the house,’” Jordan-Woods said.

People don’t want to hear that carbon scrubbers will be installed, she said, because they might find out months later the technology does not work right.

She and others mentioned the possibility of shutting down the factory.

“I would think your ultimate goal is to make sure people in the community are safe,” Jordan-Woods said.

Some held signs while waiting for their turns to talk.

“I don’t really understand why the source isn’t being shut down immediately,” Edison resident Emma Munson-Blatt said. “It doesn’t make sense that we need more testing.”

She criticized Graphic Packaging for not answering any questions. Olstad declined to answer any questions Monday night and a public relations representative said he planned to respond in writing at a later day.

“This meeting has been an insult to Kalamazoo residents,” Munson-Blatt said.

Residents focused on the need for urgency while responding to the report, which took nearly three years of work before it was released.

“We don’t want to wait,” parent Mary Andrew said, noting the health impacts are happening now.

There hasn’t been discussions of shutting down the plant, said Marcus Wasilevich, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Environmental Health Section Manager for the toxicology and assessment section.

City of Kalamazoo Public Services Director James Baker said the city has taken steps to try to address the odor and gas issue and more work is coming in the future.

Graphic Packaging is also doing work at its plant, including some that was required due to an order issued by state environmental regulators.

Residents aren’t happy about the damage already done.

“Y’all let these people come into our neighborhood and destroy it,” Margaret Perkins said.

Brandi Crawford, a plaintiff in a lawsuit against Graphic Packaging, said, “We can’t count on any of these officials or politicians to save our lives.”

The comments followed a brief presentation by state health officials. The crowd got louder as official responses grew longer and filled with technical details about the factory and city infrastructure.

Adam Frazier asked people to get engaged and push for changes. Frazier’s children attend school near the factory and parents there believe the pollution in the air is harming their children. Others asked for wearable monitors for the community or for children.

Justin Colacino, an associate professor in the areas of environmental health sciences and the environment at the University of Michigan, attended Thursday. He said he appreciates the work the state health department did on the report.

Colacino was one of multiple outside experts who identified a concern for long-term health and shared his concerns with MLive/Kalamazoo in an article published in November, about six months before the state’s health study was released.

“The community is right to be frustrated and angry about this pollution,” Colacino said. “The goal needs to be the removal of these chemicals from the air.

“Since we now know that there is a risk, in the short term, the city and state should consider additional efforts,” he said.

That could include providing affected community members with air purifiers for their houses and increased access to preventive care and treatment for respiratory diseases like asthma, he said.

Community members are sick of waiting.

“Are you really listening to the people who are here tonight telling you what’s happening in the community?” Nadine Whitfield said.

“We can’t pinpoint it, but the community is getting sick,” Whitfield said. “Our babies are getting sick. Are you really listening?”

Related: 10 takeaways from state investigation into Kalamazoo’s air pollution

Air concentrations of hydrogen sulfide gas next to Graphic Packaging International and the Kalamazoo Wastewater Reclamation Plant present a public health hazard, the state report found, after an analysis of 33 months of data.

Consistently breathing in levels of hydrogen sulfide exceeding 1.4 parts per billion can lead to chronic health problems. One of the main issues is an increased risk of nasal irritation that does not go away once the person stops breathing in the gas, the state health department said. Concentrations of gas throughout the communities next to the industrial facilities regularly exceed 1.4 parts per billion, MDHHS said.

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