City of Dearborn mandates local business make up to $4M in improvements to curb air pollution
Published Feb. 19, 2025
The Southend industrial waste processing company Pro-V Enterprises has agreed to invest up to $4 million in improvements to its operations in order to mitigate air pollution by June 30, 2025, thanks to a renewed legal settlement with the City of Dearborn.
In April 2023, the City filed a lawsuit against the company for continual violations of the City’s ordinance prohibiting the spread of fugitive dust (containing hazardous waste) from industrial operations and posing serious public health and environmental hazards to Dearborn’s Southend residents.
That July, the company came to an initial settlement with the City to conduct $1 million in improvements to its trucking and scrap processing operations to control fugitive dust emissions.
The new agreement will see the company spend a maximum of $4 million in total improvements.
Mayor Abdullah H. Hammoud stated, “This is yet another important step in holding corporations responsible for environmental damage and public health impacts. The mandates from this new settlement are a victory for Dearborn residents, especially those in the Southend who have long been exposed to harmful industrial impact on air quality.”
Total improvements include:
- Planting 91 evergreen trees spanning 1,360 linear feet to help with water absorption, combat heat island effect, and further screen the property.
- Complete paving of all harmful industrial waste storage areas. This is to ensure no “track out” occurs into the Wyoming public right-of-way or creation of any fugitive dust. The goal of this requirement is to improve air quality by reducing airborne particulate matter that occurred from trucks loaded with waste driving on unpaved roads.
- Complete replacement of the stormwater management system to meet the State’s stringent clean surface water standards.
- Allowing the City of Dearborn Engineering Department to perform an annual inspection of the company's stormwater system to ensure they are remaining compliant and that the system is working properly.
The additional costs over the original settlement are attributed to an improved water detention system and additional on-site paving and concrete underneath waste stockpile areas, amounting to 75 percent of the site being paved concrete.
Kaileigh Bianchini, Dearborn Planning and Zoning Manager, stated, “We look forward to the additional improvements this business has agreed to implement in order to be a good business neighbor to the surrounding community. These changes will mean increased tree coverage, better remediation of harmful dust, and routine inspections to ensure this company remains committed to the City’s high standards.”
The new agreement also requires that the company immediately reduce its operations under a prohibition of its continued encroachment onto an adjacent property.
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