Overview:
- Aevitas Specialty Services withdraws its Michigan environmental permit application to rebuild its east side Detroit oil recycling facility, which closed after a June 2025 fire.
- The facility received five air quality violations and 64 complaint investigations since 2012.
- Environmental advocates credit organized community resistance for the closure, calling it an unprecedented environmental justice win.
After years of air quality complaints and a June 2025 fire, an oil recycling facility on Detroit’s east side withdrew its effort to reopen Wednesday. Environmental advocates say it’s a victory made possible by residents raising their voice.
Aevitas Specialty Services withdrew its application to the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) to rebuild Wednesday.
“This is an unprecedented win for our neighborhoods and residents who have been impacted by Aevitas’ pollution for over a decade,” Eden Bloom, an environmental activist who lives a half-mile from the facility, said in a statement.
The closure of Aevitas is due to residents organizing against the company’s effort to rebuild and reopen, he said.
Aevitas CEO Rob Slater said he would provide comment to Planet Detroit later Thursday.
The public comment period on Aevitas’ air quality permit application is closed, and a planned Aug. 18 public hearing at Wayne County Community College is canceled, EGLE said in a statement.
A new application by Aevitas would require “a thorough review and evaluation prior to being opened for public comment,” according to the state environmental regulator.
Demolition is underway at Aevitas, at 663 Lycaste St., near East Jefferson Avenue and St. Jean, and is scheduled to conclude Aug. 31, according to state documents.
Dust suppressing water spray was in use at the time of a July 29 inspection, and no dust issues were observed, according to an EGLE report.
‘I’m pinching myself’
Two of Bloom’s three children have asthma, he told Planet Detroit outside an EGLE open house held Wednesday at the Georgia Street Community Collective.
“Once you lose for so long, it’s hard to process a win. I’m pinching myself,” he said.
Bloom lives on Cadillac Boulevard. The experience in the neighborhood has been markedly different in the year since Aevitas shut down, he said.
“I’m thrilled. My trust is low. My hope is high.”
Andrew Bashi, attorney at the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center, said Aevitas’ shutdown shows “that environmental justice has real legal teeth.”
What’s been missing is leadership willing to use those teeth, he said in a statement.
“That is worth marking, and worth remembering the next time a fight like this comes to our doorstep.”
Oil recycler’s history of environmental complaints, fire
Aevitas received five air quality violations and 64 air complaint investigation reports from EGLE since 2012, Planet Detroit previously reported.
Aevitas handles and recycles used hydraulic oil from the automotive industry.
When the facility caught fire June 30, 2025, it extensively damaged waste treatment machinery and caused approximately 1,000 gallons of oily water to spill onto the street. The fire was brought under control after about seven hours.
In October, the Detroit City Council approved a resolution introduced by Councilmember Latisha Johnson that outlined pathways for the city to fine or penalize Canadian-owned Aevitas.
The company applied to the city to demolish a portion of the damaged building and expand the remainder from roughly 15,700 to 24,100 square feet.
Aevitas’ proposal to rebuild included the enclosure of some of its oil tanks, a scrubber system for odor control on some of them, and the installation of a foam fire suppression system.
The Detroit building department denied Aevitas’ application for special land use approval to rebuild and expand July 17.
The company did not appeal the city’s decision by the July 31 deadline, Bloom said.
Planet Detroit contacted the Detroit Buildings, Safety Engineering, and Environmental Department for comment on this story.
MORE AEVITAS COVERAGE
Detroit denies land use approval for east side oil recycling facility after 2025 fire
Detroit’s Buildings, Safety Engineering, and Environmental Department denied special land-use approval for Aevitas Specialty Services Corp., an oil recycling facility with 64 air quality complaints and multiple state violations.
Detroit oil waste facility seeks approval to reopen, expand after fire: Residents protest ‘noxious fumes’
A Detroit oil recycling facility that caught fire in 2025 is seeking city and state approval to reopen and expand, despite a 13-year history of odor complaints and air quality violations that have affected nearby residents.
City must act against Aevitas oil treatment facility that caught fire: Detroit councilmember
A Detroit firefighter was injured during the response to the June 30 fire at Aevitas Specialty Services, which took about seven hours to bring under control.