Work continues at Freedom Hill County Park in Sterling Heights, where improvements to the park caused environmental problems with an old landfill. One of the problems has been addressed, but another problem is getting worse, according to an investigation by WJR News.
Methane emissions from an old landfill under the park have migrated off the property along Metro Parkway and into the baseball field of the Bethesda Christian Church to the east of Freedom Hill. A state Department of Environmental Quality inspector tells WJR that vent monitoring points show methane escaping from the ground there for the first time.
The DEQ says no building is nearby, and the gas will dissipate.
Freedom Hill is actually considered an environmental remediation project. It’s on top of a now-closed landfill. The concept of a park was advanced as a reclamation project a number of years ago.
A contractor filled in part of a parking lot and put in a berm, damaging gas vents, and causing liquid leachate to gurgle up to the surface. That has been addressed.
The state says it would not have approved the project that caused the damage, if it had been notified.
The mayor of Warren, Jim Fouts, says it was illegal dumping on the part of the county government.