The Michigan attorney general has reached a settlement with a California company to clean up toxic chemicals at four sites in Kent County.
FKI Hardware Inc. is based in California, but it is the successor to a former West Michigan metal company called the Keeler Brass Company.
“Companies cannot pollute the places where Michiganders work and live and expect taxpayers to bear the burden of cleanup,” Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said in a statement released by her office.
The attorney general sued FKI in 2022, saying toxic chemicals had been found, or were suspected, at nine former Keeler sites in West and Southwest Michigan. The toxic chemicals included trichloroethylene, PFAS, and other volatile organic compounds.
Now, more than two years later, the attorney general's office says it’s reached a settlement for FKI to agree to testing and cleanup at four of the nine sites. All four are in Kent County.
FKI Hardware will also pay the state’s legal fees, but it has not admitted responsibility for the toxic chemicals.
