Trenton Channel Power Plant Drops Ash on Trenton

Equipment failure at the DTE Energy Trenton Channel Power Plant Tuesday morning caused black coal particulates to fall from the sky, according to Randi Berris, media relations for DTE Energy.

A generating unit, near furnaces used to burn coal, malfunctioned at about 10:40 a.m. requiring plant operators to shut down the unit.

Particulates known as fly ash or emissions were released into the air for about 15 minutes.

Berris said the particulates are not hazardous and can be washed off similar to "common dirt."

"The fly ash is nonhazardous," Berris said. "Our goal is to maintain compliance to opacity standards 100 percent of the time. Sometimes we exceed the regulation levels due to equipment malfunction."

Gina Sadler of Trenton said she had clothes drying on a line in her backyard that were affected by the ash.

Berris said Sadler's clothes should come clean after washing them.

Other residents and employees of the Chrysler Trenton Engine Plant reported a black cloud hovering over Trenton, depositing black soot on vehicles and buildings.

Trenton resident Patricia Toth said she went outside for lunch at the Chrysler Trenton Engine Plant found ash on the ground, building  and cars.

She said she saw "a huge black cloud coming from Detroit Edison stacks overhead."

The malfunction comes less than one month after The Sierra Club filed a lawsuit accusing DTE Energy of at least 1,400 violations of the federal Clean Air Act, according to the Huffington Post Detroit.

Berris said, the DTE Energy fleet of coal-burning plants achieved an overall opacity rate that met or exceeded government standards more than 99 percent of the time in 2012.

The opacity standard is the measurement of the opacity of emissions from stationary sources by continuous opacity monitoring systems (COMS), in order to determine compliance with an emissions standard, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

DTE Energy customers are not expected experience any change in service.

*A previous version of this article misspelled Randi Berris and stated fly ash is synonymous with opacity.

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