"I am appreciative that General Motors has stepped up to the plate and reached an amicable settlement with the State of Michigan," said Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, who along with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality filed and received approval on the settlement in the Ingham County Circuit Court. "The environment is a resource that we all share, and therefore we all must abide by the law to ensure its preservation."
The settlement requires GM to comply with limits contained in a new permit recently issued by the MDEQ. The company is required to pay a civil fine of $92,349 for use by EPA to settle air pollution violations.
In addition, GM will spend $113,000 on two environmental projects to reduce mercury pollution and detect mercury releases. The projects consist of donating $33,000 to the Michigan Association for Local Public Health to fund a mercury thermometer exchange program within the Saginaw Bay Watershed, and spending $80,000 on mercury vapor analyzers to be donated to six county health departments. Another $65,000 will be spent to install a filtration unit to reduce soot and to assess whether use of the unit can eliminate the solid waste generated by pollution control equipment. General Motors has also agreed to retire pollution "credits" valued at approximately $185,000 in the current market that it could have used to increase emissions.
In the event GM fails to comply with the limits in the new permit, there will be additional fines.