Jim Lynch

The Detroit News

Detroit – — You don't see mugshots like Henry Kijanka's too often — not that there's anything special about the picture itself.

Environmental issues that end up in litigation rarely move out of the civil arena into the criminal courts. And rarer still is the case that winds up with someone in handcuffs. Fewer than half of 1 percent of environmental violations trigger criminal investigations.

But little about the case of Kijanka's HD Industries is typical.

Last week, six years of problems surrounding the aluminum dross operation on Detroit's west side came to a head — with Kijanka, the plant manager, arrested for contempt of court; the company was ordered to halt operations. It's a case that has been eight years in the making.

According to officials with Michigan's Department of Environmental Quality, HD Industries has been having air pollution issues at its Glendale Street location since it first opened in 2006. Recycling dross — a byproduct of aluminum production — allows companies like HD to pull out whatever residual aluminum remains. But it's an industrial process that produces emissions.

"When you're doing this process, you need to control the hydrochloric acid, which comes off as a gas," said Jeff Korniski, an inspector with DEQ's Air Quality Division. "When it hits the atmosphere and combines with water vapor, you get hydrochloric acid in the atmosphere."

Short-term inhalation of hydrochloric acid fumes can cause eye, nose and throat irritation, according to the EPA. Long-term exposure can lead to chronic bronchitis and skin inflammation, while prolonged exposure can result in dental discoloration or erosion.

HD Industries began its work without getting the required permit from the state. In fact, DEQ officials said they had no idea the company was in business until they started getting complaints about the plant on Glendale Street.

Once complaints started, they kept rolling in. From June 2006 through March 2013, DEQ logged at least 100 complaints about HD's operation. They came from a variety of sources, including nearby businesses, employees at the Detroit Public Schools bus depot and the Canadian Coast Guard.

Issues included the plant's emissions of "dark, black smoke" accompanied by a "pungent, urine-like odor." Other businesses complained that the plant's emissions were damaging buildings and personal vehicles parked in the area.

"You step outside and it smells like a burning carcass ...," said Corky Adams, a customer service representative for the Aldoa Company next door. "Everyone's paint jobs are ruined. The cars are covered in this orange sticky stuff that doesn't come off. It has to be buffed out."

For years, HD's neighbors called the DEQ asking for help and air quality inspectors would come to the neighborhood and drive around estimating the odor levels. In many cases, they were unable to detect a problem that rose to the level of a violation. Eventually, enough documentable problems piled up that the DEQ targeted the company for escalated enforcement in 2008 — resulting in a consent order in which HD agreed to address its issues.

But the complaints continued, and DEQ brought in its Office of Criminal Investigations, resulting in a criminal case brought against the company and Kijanka in 2011 by the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office. In a plea agreement in 36th District Court that year, charges were dropped against Kijanka, but HD Industries agreed to pay a fine and consented to testing at its facility.

When testing was finally performed later that year, results showed "absolutely no control of hydrogen chloride emissions," according to the state Attorney General's Office. The plant was emitting an average of 47 pounds of hydrogen chloride per hour. By comparison, the last permit the state issued to HD Industries in 2013 called for emissions of no more than 0.5 pounds per hour.

Legal wrangling continued. The DEQ cited HD for violations of the Clean Air Act in 2013, leading the Michigan Attorney General's Office to file a new complaint against the company. In February, HD officials began skipping court dates in Ingham County Circuit Court, where state officials had filed their latest civil charges.

Three months later, Judge James Jamo gave the company an apparent ultimatum: Submit a new operating permit application and agree to new emissions testing, or shut down within 60 days.

On Aug. 5, the company was found in contempt of court, told to cease operation and ordered to pay a $240,500 fine for Clean Air Act violations. For more than a month, state officials made repeated efforts to serve Kinjaka with the contempt order. Meanwhile, DEQ officials said they saw HD Industries operating intermittently.

Police officers in St. Clair Shores, where Kijanka lives, arrested him Nov. 24 and took him to the Ingham County Jail.

He was released two days later after paying a portion of his $7,500 contempt penalty and agreeing to cease operations at the plant.

Reached on Wednesday, Kijanka asked to be contacted later for comment. The Detroit News was unable to reach him again. The contempt charge is considered a civil matter and the latest alleged violations of the Clean Air Act are still before the Ingham County court.

"The state has a pending civil case against (HD Industries) for continued air quality violations," said Joy Yearout, director of communications for Attorney General Bill Schuette's office.

JLynch@detroitnews.com

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