"THEY KILLING US!" Kalamazoo Michigan Residents POISONED as MI Governor Gretchen Whitmer Does Nothing

"Everybody in the whole entire neighborhood has asthma, COPD, emphysema, or cancer," Kalamazoo activist Brandi Crawford tells Status Coup about Graphic Packaging's release of toxic gases

Multi-billion dollar international packaging company, Graphic Packaging International [GPI], has been emitting toxic levels of gases from its massive paper mill in Kalamazoo Michigan for over a decade, sickening and distressing local residents forced to smell odorous gas day and night, 24/7.

The public health threat, and damage to the community, was made worse in 2021, when the state of Michigan, under Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer, approved a resolution that allowed for a $125 million bond deal to fund a major expansion of Graphic Packaging’s Kalamazoo plant. Whitmer’s administration approved the funding for GPI’s expansion knowing full well about the complaints and health problems residents had been experiencing due to toxic gases being emitted from GPI’s plant.

That expansion, which began in the early part of 2022, has only made residents in the poor, Black neighborhood next to the plant more desperate for help.

“[A resident in the neighborhood near Kalamazoo’s Graphic Packaging International ] called me the other day…said she had to quit working because her two-year-old, one-year-old, and nine-month-old grandchildren, who she is raising, have to go to the doctor every single day because of burning eyes and not being able to breathe,” said Brandi Crawford, a Kalamazoo activist and former resident who left Kalamazoo because of Graphic Packaging’s pollution, told Status Coup News.

Deann Winfield, a Kalamazoo resident who took several videos over the last year of the toxic gases coming from the plant, can be seen nearly choking from GPI’s pollution while filming the gas cloud coming from the plant .

“The smell out here is choking the shit out of me,” she said while coughing and filming a video.

Tragically, Winfield’s family has been devastated by Graphic Packaging’s pollution. Her 17-year-old daughter died after having a severe asthma attack. Winfield’s 30-year-old son has had several heart attacks and severe asthma attacks—and is currently on life support. Winfield’s grandchildren are also suffering from asthma and other health issues requiring routine doctors’ visits.

According to the Michigan’s environmental department’s data that has been released, toxins from GPI’s Kalamazoo plant include hydrogen sulfide, nitric oxide, nitrogen oxide, methyl mercaptan, lead, carbon disulfide, and PFAS (any more).

Residents, business owners, and even plant employees have been reporting illnesses and an odorous smell from the plant into the community for years, ex-Kalamazoo resident Brandi Crawford and current resident David Benac told Status Coup. Crawford is a former member of the Environmental Concerns Committee in Kalamazoo and Benac is a current member. Although GPI’s toxic pollution has mostly affected the poor Black part of Kalamazoo, in more recent years the toxic gases have been smelled—and felt—in white neighborhoods (like in the one Benac lives).

Crawford noted that the majority of both state and local representatives have been intentionally ignoring the increasing litany of illness and pollution related to GPI’s pollution. Crawford said that even the mayor, David Anderson, was encouraging concerned residents and committee members to, “keep quiet.”

According to Benac, the local government has provided a litany of excuses in order to shield Graphic Packing from accountability.

“There have always been two excuses why the city, the state, the county, nobody can take action against Graphic Packaging,” he told Status Coup, explaining that one excuse the state has used to not take action against GPI has been the plant’s proximity to Kalamazoo’s wastewater treatment facilities. He also noted that there is no clear process for the collection of data and proper oversight or monitoring of the toxic gases being emitted from GPI’s plant.

The haphazard way that data is being collected, and ignored, is allowing local leaders to scapegoat and ignore risks. “They’re not collecting data in a scientific manner and then they say they can’t do anything because they don’t have the data,” Benac said.

Benac called Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) regarding complaints of odors in his neighborhood. He also complained the state environmental officials’ testing was completely inadequate—featuring an environmental official getting out of their car, with no equipment in hand, and simply sniffing the air to determine if it’s dangerous.

“It circulates, there’s nothing being done because there’s no intention to do anything,” Benac said.

Status Coup will continue uncovering what the national media covers up and rooting out corporate corruption by handing the microphone to impacted communities. We will be doing MORE ON-THE-GROUND coverage—and are hoping to report in Kalamazoo soon. To keep the engines running and reporters on the beat, we don’t rely on corporate investments or high-dollar ad placements, we rely on viewer support. You can gain access to exclusive content and help today by becoming a member today for as low as $5 a month at https://statuscoupmember.com/join.