Information on St joseph michigan bank one locations

Baseball, asbestos and brake parts. That's hardly an appropriate slogan or corporate jingle in today's environment. But in the '40s and '50s, before green was the politically correct color. that combination was a way of life for workers at Auto Specialties Co. in St. Joseph, in southwestern Michigan.

A leading producer of automotive components. Including cast-iron parts from its foundry, hydraulic and mechanical jacks, asbestos brake linings and fabricated brake shoes, Automotive Specialties was a typical manufacturer for its time. There was no reason to believe it was doing anything wrong or causing any harm to the area.

The Tiscornia family, which founded Auto Specialties in 1917, was well-respected and very civic-minded. Employes enjoyed an on-site baseball diamond, which hosted semi-pro games and exhibitions between major league clubs.

But after 70 years of heavy manufacturing and dumping of hazardous materials, the Tiscornias' field of dreams has turned into a field of waste and has put the community at risk. The site borders residential houses on one side and is adjacent to the Paw Paw River, about a quarter-mile inland from Lake Michigan. Luckily, local sources say. no health-related incidents have been reported.

By the time environmental concerns came to the forefront in the 70s, Auto Specialties was on the verge of financial ruin and could not afford to meet new standards. Still, the company continued to pile waste in a non-certified landfill and ignored other new regulations.

A strike in the early-'80s was the final blow. Auto Specialties filed for bankruptcy in 1988, and all operations stopped in 1990. The company also closed two plants in nearby communities that are almost as dirty as the St. Joseph site, and sold another -- as well as the Auto Specialties name -- that still is in operation but is not involved in the St. Joseph dilemma.

In the end, the St. Joseph site was listed on the Michigan Sites of Environmental Contamination Proposed Priority List and is maintained under the Michigan Environmental Response Act (1982 P.A. 307).

How bad is it? The site consistently ranks among the Top 10 worst polluters -- among more than 2,500 Michigan hazardous waste locations -- in terms of level and type of contamination, which is hardly a distinction founder J.W. Tiscornia had envisioned.

The intitial investigation and surface cleanup could cost between $7 million and $9 million. A comprehensive scrubbing could be $30 million to $50 million -- about one-tenth of the total funds set aside by the state for hazardous waste cleanup.

Without help from a potentially responsible party -- someone or some entity to pick up at least part of the cleanup tab -- the cost is prohibitive and as a result the DNR has not committed to further cleanup or a feasibility study.

The state lost a civil suit against the company's bank, Manufacturers National Bank of Detroit. A suit against members of the Tiscornia family is pending.

"This is probably as complicated a cleanup) as you'll see," says Robert C. Hunt of Brown Root Inc. of Houston, the company assigned to analyze the site and determine what type of cleanup needs to be done. (It involves just about everything type of pollutant) you can think of.

Before the investigation can continue, however, most of the remaining buildings must be demolished. The project was delayed when the first wrecking crew went bankrupt midway through the tear-down, leaving rubble and partial buildings looking like they've been bombed.

But the St. Joseph community hasn't given up. A group of local businesses and city officials formed the Cornerstone Alliance to develop a plan -- including golf courses, marinas and several residential developments.

The key to attracting new developers is to get the DNR to commit to a less expensive so-called Type C cleanup and to secure a covenant not to sue.

If the plan is to work the entire area needs to be cleaned up; surrounding properties are nearly as bad as the old site.

But there's plenty of incentive to complete the project. For starters, the area desperately needs new jobs; unemployment in neighboring Benton Harbor is more than 25%. With a cleanup, property values may well skyrocket to as high as $200 million for the area. In contrast, the property is almost worthless in its present condition, a victim of past sins against the environment.

RELATED ARTICLE: Greenfield or Brown? It's a Tough Call

Although huge cleanup costs have frightened many suppliers from taking over old automotive plants and other abandoned manufacturing sites, not everyone rules out such purchases.

At Auburn Hills, MI-based ITT Automotive Inc. some 20 sites in western Michigan have been explored as potential locations for its new windshield wiper and ignition switch plant see Pipeline, p.104), including both greenfield and brownfield sites. ITT has narrowed its selection to a handful of sites and will conduct a complete environmental analysis on each, whether the site is in the heart of a city or the middle of the countryside.

"It environmental liabilities) is definitely a concern," says Thomas Walker, president of ITT Automotive North America. But there also can be benefits to taking over existing plants. Moving into a brownfield site can save a full year in production startup if an extensive cleanup isn't needed, he observes.

There's an abundance of prime plants ready for suppliers to move into, adds Vincent A. Maffeo, ITT Automotive's vice president and general counsel, but most of them will never be used again unless legislative policies are changed. "The industry already is overcapcitized; it just makes it worse when the companies that are expanding have to go outside the existing network of facilities to grow," he says.