"Michigan motorists were taken aback on Friday by an alarming image lurking just off the highway: a mysterious green liquid oozing from the walls of Interstate 696, spilling onto the road's shoulder.

"It certainly is an impressive sight," said Jill Greenberg, spokeswoman with the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy.

Soon after, state and federal environmental officials descended on the interstate just north of Detroit, and it did not take long to trace the green liquid's source.

Just up the hill from the road sits the now-shuttered Electro-Plating Services Inc. The owner of the industrial site was prosecuted for operating an unlicensed hazardous waste storage facility. Last month, the man, Gary Sayers, was sentenced to a year in federal prison and ordered to pay $1.4 million to clean up the plant."

Bobby Allyn reports for NPR December 23, 2019. [2]