By Eric Freedman
A company that illegally handled material containing asbestos at an abandoned automotive brake system component plant in Saginaw, Michigan, has been fined $500,000 and placed on probation for two years.
Applied Partners pleaded guilty to violating asbestos work practice standards under the federal Clean Air Act in demolishing a building at the site.
The company had bought the 65-acre site in 2018, planning to demolish and scrap some of the buildings there before reselling the property, according to the plea agreement.
In 2019, contractors hired by Applied Partners “used heavy machinery to break apart brick walls and to pull down at least one large component covered in asbestos-containing material from the upper floors” of the building known as the Power House.
The contractors were not criminally charged.
“Disturbing asbestos minerals or other asbestos-containing materials can release tiny asbestos fibers, too small to see, into the air. Breathing asbestos can cause tiny asbestos fibers to get stuck in the lungs and irritate lung tissues,” according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Workers and others who breathed asbestos fibers over many years have developed asbestos-related cancer and noncancer diseases, Some of these diseases can be serious or even fatal,” the agency said.
The criminal charging document said, “Congress found that medical science has established no minimum level of exposure to asbestos fibers which is considered safe to individuals exposed to the fibers.”
Potential asbestos exposure victims who worked on the demolition were contacted in July 2025 but none identified themselves as actual victims or asked for restitution, the plea agreement said.
The building, constructed in 1942, provided heat and steam to the complex known as the TRW Integrated Chassis Systems facility.
During the demolition and with Applied Partners’ knowledge, [the contractor] caused a hopper, covered in asbestos-containing material, to drop from the upper levels of the Power House,” the plea agreement said. The contractor “dragged the hopper to the northern side of the site and left other debris, including asbestos-containing materials, scattered in and around the footprint of the Power House.”
It said the contractor did the demolition work “without having a representative trained in the provisions of asbestos regulations on site.”
The demotion halted when inspectors from the state Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy visited the site and took samples of the debris, it said.
The company has paid the fine, according to defense lawyer Matthew Borgula of Grand Rapids.