PVS Chemicals Detroit – East Side Environmental

Company History and Ownership

PVS Chemicals, Inc. was founded in 1945 in Detroit by Floyd “Nick” Nicholson, originally as Pressure Vessel Service, Inc., focused on cleaning industrial boilerspvschemicals.com. The company soon pivoted to chemical distribution – starting with delivering hydrochloric acid for industry – and by the 1960s expanded into manufacturing (notably sulfuric acid) through acquisition of its first acid plantpvschemicals.com. PVS remains a family-owned company now in its third generation of Nicholson leadershippvschemicals.com. Over 80 years, it has grown into a global chemical producer and distributor with ~1,300 employees and 14 manufacturing plants in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Asiapvschemicals.com. The corporate headquarters has long been in Detroit; PVS has been based at 10900 Harper Avenue on the east side of the city since the 1980segle.state.mi.us. All four of PVS’s major divisions – PVS Chemicals (corporate), PVS Nolwood Chemicals, PVS Technologies, and PVS Transportation – maintain operations in Detroit, centered around the Harper Avenue facility. The Nicholson family’s continued ownership is often credited by the company for a strong safety culture and long-term community commitment (the company notes it has never had a worker strike or layoff)pvschemicals.com.

Detroit Facilities and Operations (Harper Avenue Campus)

Location: PVS’s Detroit complex is clustered near 10900 Harper Avenue on the city’s east side (adjacent to I-94). The headquarters offices are at 10900 Harper, and just across the street is the main chemical production site (PVS Technologies at 10825 Harper) along with distribution and trucking facilitiesegle.state.mi.us egle.state.mi.us. This campus is in an industrial corridor but bordered by residential neighborhoods to the west and south, making PVS a significant presence in the local community.

PVS Technologies (10825 Harper Ave) – Ferric Chloride Production: PVS Technologies is the manufacturing arm on Harper Avenue. The plant produces liquid ferric chloride, an iron-based chemical used as a coagulant in municipal drinking water/wastewater treatment and as an etching agent in electronicsegle.state.mi.us. (Historically, the site also produced anhydrous ferric chloride, but that process has ceased; now anhydrous product is only repackaged thereegle.state.mi.us.) The facility has operated at this location since 1991 and runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with roughly 18 employeesegle.state.mi.us. Ferric chloride is produced by reacting iron with hydrochloric acid, and the plant is equipped with scrubbers and tanks to handle this hazardous chemical process. The output is shipped by tanker trucks to regional water treatment plants and industrial customers. PVS Technologies is a registered minor air emission source in Michigan (State Registration ID (SRN) B2371) and requires permits for its process and air pollution control equipment (details in Compliance section below).
PVS Nolwood Chemicals – Chemical Distribution: PVS Nolwood is the distribution division, handling a variety of commodity and specialty chemicals sold in smaller volumes (drums, totes, cylinders, etc.). In Detroit, PVS Nolwood operates within the Harper Avenue complex, leasing part of the 10825 Harper facility for warehousing chemicalsegle.state.mi.us. This means drums and totes of acids, water treatment chemicals, solvents, etc., are stored on-site and distributed to customers. No active chemical processing or repackaging is done by Nolwood at the site – it is strictly storage and transfer – which is why regulators determined Nolwood’s warehouse operations are not subject to air quality permit requirementsegle.state.mi.us. (PVS Nolwood did historically have a separate Detroit warehouse on the west side – at 9000/9100 Hubbell Avenue – and that location appears in EPA recordsenviro.epa.gov. However, since the late 1990s much of Nolwood’s Detroit activity consolidated to the Harper facility. In fact, prior to PVS forming its Transportation subsidiary in 1996, the Harper Ave terminal itself was run by Nolwoodegle.state.mi.us.) PVS Nolwood’s Detroit hub supplies chemicals to municipalities (e.g. water fluoridation agents) and industry across Michigan. This division was expanded through acquisitions – for example, Nolwood acquired Young Chemical and Sagar Chemical in the 2000spvschemicals.com – making it a full-service chemical distributor.
PVS Transportation (11001 Harper Ave) – Bulk Transport and Terminal: PVS Transportation, Inc. is the trucking and logistics arm, created in 1996 by combining PVS’s in-house bulk truck fleet with that of a acquired firm (the Dynecol hazardous waste division’s fleet)mapquest.com. Its Detroit base is a rail-to-truck transloading terminal adjacent to the main plant on Harper. The terminal receives bulk chemicals (primarily acids and caustics) via railcars, stores them in large tanks, and then loads them into tanker trucks for deliverymapquest.com egle.state.mi.us. According to the company, the Detroit terminal can hold up to 462,000 gallons of hydrochloric acid, 60,000 gallons of sulfuric acid, and 115,000 gallons of sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) in on-site tanksmapquest.com. Railcars of acid are usually unloaded a couple of days per week, with each 20,000-gallon HCl car taking ~3.5–4 hours to emptyegle.state.mi.us. (The facility’s air permit actually limits acid unloading to no more than 4 hours per day, to control emissionsegle.state.mi.us.) PVS Transportation’s yard has capacity for about 25 railcars and a modern fleet of stainless steel tanker trucksmapquest.com. About 36 employees work at this Detroit terminal, generally on a daytime scheduleegle.state.mi.us. In addition to serving PVS’s own product needs (for instance, hauling ferric chloride from PVS Technologies to customersegle.state.mi.us), PVS Transportation also hauls chemicals for third-party companies. The terminal is an RMP-regulated site (due to large volumes of acids stored) and operates under state environmental permits (see Compliance section).

(Note: Another affiliated entity, Dynecol, Inc., was a Detroit hazardous waste treatment facility that PVS Chemicals owned and operated for decades. Dynecol’s facility (at 1923 Frederick St.) managed industrial wastes and waste acids. However, PVS sold Dynecol to US Ecology around 2012pvschemicals.com, and it now operates as US Ecology Detroit North. Thus, Dynecol is no longer a PVS branch, but it is part of the historical landscape of PVS’s Detroit operations.)

Environmental Compliance History (Air, Water, and Waste)

Air Quality Permits: PVS’s Detroit operations are subject to Michigan’s air pollution control rules and have had several permits and inspections over the last decade. The Ferric Chloride plant (PVS Technologies) operates under a Wayne County (now EGLE) air permit that, among other things, caps ferric chloride production at 52,600 tons per yearegle.state.mi.us. During an August 2015 inspection, regulators discovered that PVS had exceeded this production limit in prior years – producing ~53,403 tons in 2013 and 54,858 tons in 2014, above the permitted 52,600 tons/yearegle.state.mi.us. This resulted in a Violation Notice issued in October 2015 for exceeding permit conditionsegle.state.mi.us. PVS acknowledged the over-production occurredegle.state.mi.us and subsequently obtained permit revisions to raise or clarify the limit going forward (the company had actually submitted a permit application in August 2015 to update its operations)egle.state.mi.us egle.state.mi.us. No monetary penalty was reported for this violation, but PVS had to ensure future compliance with throughput limits.

During that same 2015 inspection, air pollution control equipment issues were noted. The ferric chloride process uses scrubbers (acid gas scrubber systems) to capture hydrochloric acid fumes. Inspectors cited that the scrubbers were not operating per permit specs – one scrubber lacked a required flowrate meter and another was not using the caustic solution it was supposed to for neutralizing acidegle.state.mi.us egle.state.mi.us. PVS’s response, however, contested some of these findings: the company provided evidence that flow meters were in fact installed on both scrubber units and that the second-stage scrubber did use sodium hydroxide solution as requiredegle.state.mi.us. PVS did acknowledge an administrative oversight: they had replaced the original scrubbers years prior with newer models (having higher capacity) without formally updating the permit’s stated design parametersegle.state.mi.us egle.state.mi.us. This meant the permit still referenced an outdated gas flow limit (800 ACFM) that the new units exceeded. PVS believed the replacement might have been exempt from permitting at the time, but ultimately agreed it should have notified regulatorsegle.state.mi.us egle.state.mi.us. In 2015, PVS filed for a Permit to Install (PTI) to formally incorporate the new scrubbers into its permit, and no further enforcement action was taken once the permit was corrected. By the next routine inspection in 2019, EGLE noted PVS Technologies was in compliance and that no community air complaints had ever been recorded against the ferric chloride facilityegle.state.mi.us.

The PVS Transportation terminal (11001 Harper) also operates under air permit conditions despite being a distribution site, because of its potential emissions from acid storage and handling. Its permit (Wayne County #C-10424) requires an acid scrubber system to treat vented hydrochloric acid fumes and sets operational limits like the 4-hour-per-day unloading cap for HCl railcarsegle.state.mi.us. Inspections show a mixed compliance record in recent years. In May 2018, EGLE found the terminal had violated two permit conditions: (1) unloading acid for longer than 4 hours in a day, and (2) the scrubber effluent had a pH above 6.0 (indicating the scrubber wasn’t adequately neutralizing acid)egle.state.mi.us. However, PVS took immediate corrective actions – adjusting procedures and maintenance – and no formal Violation Notice was issued for the 2018 findingsegle.state.mi.us. The next year, on August 29, 2019, another inspection found the scrubber flowrate was below the required minimum of 30 gallons per minute, a recurrence of control equipment problemsegle.state.mi.us. This time, the facility was deemed in non-compliance and EGLE issued a Violation Notice in October 2019egle.state.mi.us. PVS Transportation was ordered to fix the scrubber and was required to submit a Preventative Maintenance Plan to ensure the acid gas scrubber is consistently operated within specificationsegle.state.mi.us. In response, PVS repaired the scrubber system and improved monitoring. By late 2019, PVS reported the issues resolved, and the Detroit terminal has not received further air quality violations since. Notably, EGLE documented no odor or air pollution complaints from the surrounding community about the Harper terminal in all these inspectionsegle.state.mi.us.

Neither PVS Nolwood’s warehouse nor the corporate office have their own air emissions permits – the Nolwood drum storage is considered a trivial activity in terms of emissions (no active mixing or processing on-site)egle.state.mi.us. Thus, the main air regulatory focus has been on the ferric chloride plant and the bulk acid terminal as described above. Both are classified as minor sources under state rules (meaning their emissions are under major source thresholds, after controls).

Water and Wastewater: PVS’s Detroit operations do not appear to have any direct wastewater discharge to surface water – there is no NPDES permit in PVS’s name on record. Process wastewater from ferric chloride production (if any) is likely minimal, as the process consumes the acid and iron, and any rinse water or spilled acid would be neutralized and either recycled or hauled off-site. It’s possible PVS has a permit to discharge treated process water or non-contact cooling water into the Detroit sewer system under the Great Lakes Water Authority pretreatment program (this would be a local industrial sewer permit). However, no specific violations or issues regarding water discharges by PVS were found in public sources from the last 10 years. Stormwater at the sites is managed under general permits – again with no known compliance problems. In short, no major water pollution incidents have been attributed to the PVS Harper Avenue facilities in the past decade.

One notable water-related issue involving PVS did occur in 2021, though not as an ongoing discharge but rather a chemical handling error with serious potential consequences. In July 2021, PVS Nolwood mis-labeled four drums of sulfuric acid as fluoride and shipped them to the city of New Baltimore’s water treatment plantfox2detroit.com fox2detroit.com. Operators began feeding what they thought was fluoride (for drinking water fluoridation) and immediately noticed a violent reaction – fortunately halting the process before any of the acid entered the public water supplyfox2detroit.com fox2detroit.com. This “near-miss” could have contaminated the city’s drinking water with corrosive acid. The incident prompted a state investigation. Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) took the unusual step of issuing an advisory to all water systems in the state that PVS Nolwood was “no longer authorized” to supply water treatment chemicals under the Safe Drinking Water Actfox2detroit.com. Essentially, the state temporarily decertified PVS as an approved vendor, instructing municipalities to source their fluoride and other treatment chemicals elsewhere until the matter was resolved. PVS’s President, David Nicholson, publicly responded, insisting that PVS’s certification was never formally “stripped” and that it was not illegal to use their chemicals – framing the incident as an isolated mistakefox2detroit.com. PVS stated it had accounted for all mis-labeled drums and tightened its quality control to prevent a recurrencefox2detroit.com. EGLE allowed PVS to resume supplying water chemicals after compliance reviews, but the incident clearly shook confidence. While no regulatory fine was announced in this case, the enforcement action was effectively a temporary ban on a key business line for PVS Nolwood and underscores the importance of careful hazardous material management.

Hazardous Waste Management: PVS is not primarily a waste management company (since divesting the Dynecol unit). However, as a generator of hazardous waste (e.g. off-spec chemicals, spill cleanup residues, lab wastes), it falls under RCRA regulations. PVS Nolwood Chemicals, Inc. was subject to an EPA hazardous waste enforcement case in 2022. According to EPA records, PVS Nolwood (Detroit) was cited for RCRA violations related to hazardous waste storage/handling and reached a settlement in 2022, paying a $23,396 civil penaltyviolationtracker.goodjobsfirst.org. (The EPA’s enforcement docket (RCRA-05-2022-0011) indicates PVS Nolwood had operated a facility that required a RCRA storage permit; likely the issue was storing hazardous waste on-site for too long without a permit or proper contingency plans. The settlement was formalized as a Consent Agreement and Final Order in July 2022.) Aside from that federal action, state inspectors have not reported significant hazardous waste infractions at the Harper Avenue sites. PVS Technologies and PVS Transportation would typically generate some hazardous wastes (e.g. spent acid filters, used oil, contaminated cleanup materials), but EGLE’s inspections in 2019 noted no improper waste accumulation at those facilities.

It’s worth noting that PVS’s past subsidiary Dynecol (sold in 2012) had a history of serious violations when it was in operation – including improper waste storage and odor issues – but those were addressed in the context of US Ecology’s takeover and are outside the timeframe and scope of PVS’s current operations. The Detroit hazardous waste facility formerly run by PVS (Dynecol) is now separately regulated (and indeed was recently the center of its own enforcement and consent order in 2022–2023 due to odor problems under US Ecology’s watchbridgemi.com, unrelated to PVS). In summary, for 2014–2024, PVS Chemicals’ Detroit branches have one notable RCRA enforcement (2022) on record and no major spills or uncontrolled hazardous waste releases reported.

Occupational Safety (OSHA/MIOSHA): The safety record of PVS’s Detroit facilities has been generally solid, with no fatalities or high-profile accidents reported in the last decade. The company emphasizes a “safety first” culture, and anecdotally the Harper Ave plant has had low worker turnoverpvschemicals.com. Nonetheless, there have been a few OSHA/MIOSHA inspections. In April 2022, Michigan OSHA cited PVS Nolwood Chemicals in Detroit for a Serioussafety violation involving powered industrial trucks (forklifts)osha.gov. The inspection (ID 1582882) resulted in a $7,458 penalty for unsafe forklift operations or training deficiencies, which PVS paid after abatement of the issueosha.gov osha.gov. No other OSHA penalties were found for PVS’s Detroit sites since 2014, suggesting compliance with workplace safety standards has been satisfactory overall. (For context, PVS does handle high-hazard materials – acids that can cause severe burns – so workers must follow strict PPE and procedures. The 2017 death of a worker who fell into an acid tank at a different Michigan facility – not PVS, but a steel plant in 2017 – heightened awareness industry-wide of acid bath dangerscbsnews.com. PVS’s own facilities have had no such incidents reported.)

Community Incidents and Concerns

One measure of a facility’s impact on its neighborhood is the record of community complaints, emergency incidents, and how transparently issues are addressed. According to EGLE’s Detroit district staff, the PVS Harper Avenue operations have not generated resident odor or emission complaints in the past decadeegle.state.mi.us. This contrasts with some nearby facilities (for example, the US Ecology waste plant and an asphalt refinery) which have been frequent targets of community complaints. The absence of odor complaints about PVS suggests its scrubbers and chemical handling practices (when functioning properly) have been effective at containing fumes. Longtime residents are certainly aware of PVS’s presence – chemical tanker trucks are frequently seen entering and exiting, and the site has storage tanks visible – but there haven’t been publicized protests or notable opposition focused on PVS specifically. In meetings about eastside industrial pollution, PVS is sometimes mentioned alongside other facilities, but it has not been at the center of an environmental controversy.

That said, several incidents in recent years have raised some concern:

Near Miss in Drinking Water Supply (2021): The New Baltimore acid mislabeling incident discussed earlier not only led to state action but also made local news. Residents in New Baltimore were alarmed that a Detroit chemical supplier nearly poisoned their water; quotes like “It could have been a fatal catastrophe” were aired on the newsfox2detroit.com. This incident, though occurring 30 miles from PVS’s plant, sparked broader conversations about chemical safety and trust. PVS had to work to reassure both regulators and customers that it had improved its quality control. EGLE’s decision to bar PVS Nolwood from supplying water treatment chemicals (even temporarily) was a significant public rebukefox2detroit.com. For a company that prides itself on community trust, this was a serious event. PVS’s swift action and cooperation likely helped it regain its status; as of 2022, Michigan municipalities resumed using PVS for certain chemicals, but the incident remains a cautionary tale in the community’s memory.
Tanker Truck Spill (2025): In May 2025, a PVS Transportation truck carrying ferric chloride experienced a leak at a suburban Detroit intersection (8 Mile & Middlebelt, on the Farmington Hills/Livonia border). Approximately 300 gallons of corrosive ferric chloride solution spilled onto the roadwayfox2detroit.com fox2detroit.com. The county hazmat team responded in full gear, and it took nearly 24 hours of cleanup to ensure the road was safefox2detroit.com fox2detroit.com. Luckily, officials reported no injuries and confirmed that none of the chemical entered sewers or waterways (it was contained on the pavement)fox2detroit.com fox2detroit.com. The spill did cause major traffic disruption and some anxiety for nearby residents until it was resolved. The Livonia Fire Chief noted they had dealt with minor spills before, “but nothing of this magnitude” in that areafox2detroit.com. PVS Transportation will likely bear the cleanup costs, and this incident underscores the transportation riskinherent in PVS’s operations – moving hazardous chemicals on public roads. It also tested emergency response, which by all accounts was handled well. This spill did not occur in the residential area next to PVS’s plant, but it involved a shipment from that plant. It serves as a reminder to Detroiters that even if on-site emissions are controlled, the chemicals are still moving through the community.
Minor Fire/Explosion Reports: There have been unconfirmed reports on social media of small incidents at the Harper Ave facility. For example, a Detroit fire scanner page noted an “explosion” at 11001 Harper one morning in 2021 with one person injured (possibly a minor flash fire involving a tanker)bloomberg.com facebook.com. However, no official news outlet reported on this, suggesting it was not a major fire. The company did not release statements about it. Without confirmation, it’s hard to gauge, but it appears PVS’s Detroit plant has avoided any large-scale fires or catastrophic releases in the past decade. (This contrasts with some other Detroit chemical facilities – e.g. a 2014 blaze at a solvent plant, and the 2020s fires at an oil recycler and a hazardous waste facility – which grabbed headlines. PVS has stayed out of the news in that regard.)

In general, PVS attempts to engage with the community quietly. The company has supported local charitable drives – for instance, hosting donation drop-offs for neighborhood causes at the Harper HQfacebook.com – but it does not have a high public profile. Some residents remain uneasy simply because of the nature of the business (hazardous chemicals in their midst). A Reddit discussion in 2021 on “PVS chlorine tankers” had locals debating the risk; one commenter noted that while seeing acid and chlorine tankers roll by is unsettling, incidents are thankfully rare and regulations do a decent job preventing disastersreddit.com. Still, the potential for an accident is a constant undercurrent of concern in this overburdened area.

Environmental Justice Context

The neighborhood surrounding PVS Chemicals’ Harper Avenue complex is considered an environmental justice (EJ) community due to its predominantly low-income and minority population and the concentration of industrial pollution sources. According to EPA’s EJScreen data for the central east side of Detroit, the census tracts near PVS are ~86% People of Color (mostly African American) – putting it in the 92nd percentile in Michigan for people of color population. Poverty is high: about 56% of residents are low-income (85th percentile in state). Unemployment and lack of high school education are far above state averages (around the 85th–88th percentile). These socioeconomic factors make the community more vulnerable to environmental harms.

At the same time, the area’s environmental burdens are significant. Within a 1- to 3-mile radius of PVS, there are multiple polluting facilities – including heavy truck traffic corridors, a large auto assembly plant, scrap metal yards, a hazardous waste processor, and more. EJScreen reports that this area ranks in the 91st percentile in the U.S. for toxic air pollutant releases and in the 95th percentile for proximity to Risk Management Plan (RMP) facilities (sites like PVS that handle extremely hazardous substances). Residents are also in the 97th percentile nationally for proximity to underground storage tanks (fuel tanks, etc.) and 81st percentile for hazardous waste site proximity. These indicators show a heavy cumulative exposure potential.

Health outcome data reflect these burdens: the eastside Detroit community has asthma hospitalization and heart disease rates far above state averages. For example, adult asthma prevalence is about 15.7% in this area, which is in the 94th percentile in Michigan and 99th percentile nationally – meaning asthma is almost ubiquitous, likely exacerbated by air pollution. Life expectancy is also lower than average (only 71st percentile, indicating people live shorter lives than in 70% of the country).

From an environmental justice standpoint, PVS Chemicals is part of this mosaic of stressors. It holds permits for large quantities of chlorine and acids under RMP – adding to the “chemical hazard burden” that the community bears. Any additional pollution or accident at PVS would hit a population that already faces disproportionate environmental health risks. This is why community groups and local leaders keep a close eye on facilities like PVS. For instance, the “Central Eastside” EJ report identifies PVS (and its parent company) when discussing cumulative industrial impacts in Detroit’s District 5, noting the cluster of chemical and waste operations in that corridoregle.state.mi.us egle.state.mi.us.

It’s also worth noting positive steps: PVS has engaged in some sustainability initiatives that, while primarily at other plants, show a recognition of environmental responsibility. The company touts that its acid regeneration processes recycle spent acids into fresh product, reducing wastepvschemicals.com. At its Chicago sulfuric acid plant, PVS invested in cogeneration to cut CO2 emissionspvschemicals.com. In Detroit, PVS sponsored local green space improvements and has provided bottled water during water crises. However, the community’s main ask is simply that PVS operate safely and within regulations, given the legacy of disinvestment and pollution in the area. EGLE’s new Environmental Justice screening tools flag this neighborhood for enhanced scrutiny on permit reviews, meaning PVS may face stricter review if it seeks to expand operations.

Compliance and Enforcement Summary (2014–2024)

Below is a summary of known public enforcement actions, violations, and legal agreements involving PVS Chemicals’ Detroit operations in the past 10 years:

2015 – Air Quality Violation (PVS Technologies): Michigan DEQ (now EGLE) issued a Violation Notice (Oct 2015) after finding PVS exceeded its ferric chloride production cap (producing ~54k tons vs. 52.6k allowed) and had scrubber compliance issuesegle.state.mi.us egle.state.mi.us. No fines; issue resolved via permit amendments and equipment upgrades.
2018 – Air Compliance Issue (PVS Transportation): EGLE inspection found excess HCl unloading hours and high scrubber effluent pH at the acid terminalegle.state.mi.us. PVS promptly fixed problems; no Violation Noticewas issued in this caseegle.state.mi.us (facility was warned to maintain compliance).
2019 – Air Quality Violation (PVS Transportation): An EGLE inspection in Aug 2019 noted the acid scrubber was not maintaining the required 30 gpm flow rate, indicating a maintenance failureegle.state.mi.us. A Violation Notice (Oct 7, 2019) was issued to PVS Transportationegle.state.mi.us. PVS submitted a corrective action plan (including a Preventative Maintenance Plan for the scrubber) and returned to compliance by end of 2019. No monetary penalty from the state was assessed.
2021 – State SDWA Action (PVS Nolwood): After the mislabeled sulfuric acid incident in July 2021, EGLE ordered that PVS Nolwood be temporarily disallowed as a drinking water treatment chemical supplierstatewidefox2detroit.com. PVS cooperated and rectified the error; the restriction was lifted after the company demonstrated compliance. While not a traditional “fine,” this was a significant enforcement action leveraging the Safe Drinking Water Act. The incident was widely reported and put PVS under public scrutinyfox2detroit.com fox2detroit.com.
2022 – Federal RCRA Consent Agreement (PVS Nolwood): The U.S. EPA Region 5 took action for hazardous waste violations at PVS Nolwood’s Detroit facility. In July 2022, PVS Nolwood Chemicals, Inc. signed a Consent Agreement and Final Order (Docket RCRA-05-2022-0011) and paid a $23,396 penalty to resolve the allegationsviolationtracker.goodjobsfirst.org. The violation likely involved operating as a storage facility without a proper RCRA permit (e.g., holding hazardous wastes beyond the allowed 90 days). PVS Nolwood has since complied with all required hazardous waste management practices under EPA oversight.
2022 – Worker Safety Penalty (PVS Nolwood): Michigan OSHA (MIOSHA) inspected the Nolwood warehouse and in April 2022 issued a Serious citation for violations of the Powered Industrial Truck standard (forklift safety)osha.gov. PVS paid a fine of $7,458 and corrected the issue by June 2022osha.gov. No injuries were associated with this violation; it was a compliance matter (e.g., perhaps inadequate operator training or unsafe forklift operation observed).
Other: No known EPA Clean Air Act or Clean Water Act consent decrees involve the Detroit PVS facilities in this period. PVS Chemicals, Inc. did have an EPA enforcement back in 2013 related to EPCRA reporting at a Chicago-area facility (CAFO for TRI reporting, Docket CERCLA-05-2013-0006) and a 2007 EPA case (penalty) on recordviolationtracker.goodjobsfirst.org, but those did not directly pertain to Detroit operations and fall outside the 10-year window. Locally, no civil lawsuits or consent judgments against PVS by residents or the City of Detroit were found in this period. PVS has generally worked with regulators to address issues without resorting to protracted legal battles.

Sources: Company and regulatory records were used to compile this report, including Michigan EGLE inspection reports and violation noticesegle.state.mi.us egle.state.mi.us, U.S. EPA enforcement docketsviolationtracker.goodjobsfirst.org, OSHA inspection dataosha.gov, news articles from local media (FOX 2 Detroit, etc.) detailing incidentsfox2detroit.com fox2detroit.com, as well as PVS Chemicals’ own published materials on its history and operationspvschemicals.com mapquest.com. These sources are cited throughout for accuracy and specificity. The information reflects the situation up to October 2025, focusing on 2014–2024 events.