Chemical spill at Ultium plant in Ohio investigated by feds

Jul 13, 2023

Federal regulators are investigating a chemical spill that happened over the weekend at Ultium Cells LLC's battery plant in Warren, Ohio, officials confirmed to The Detroit News.

A slurry containing battery materials and a hazardous solvent leaked over the weekend, spilling a black substance on the ground around equipment in the plant's mixing department, according to photos and video of the incident obtained by The News.

No employees were exposed or injured in the spill, Ultium said in a statement Monday. The company — a joint venture between General Motors Co. and LG Energy Solution — said area mixing operations have been temporarily halted and that it used a third-party company to help clean up and contain the leak.

Operations will remain paused until the area "has been inspected for damage and deemed safe," Ultium spokesperson Katie Burdette said via email. It's unclear how the stoppage will impact production.

"We believe this incident demonstrates that we have the right safety and reporting procedures in place and our teams are sufficiently trained to follow them," Burdette said. "We are grateful to our team members for their swift and responsive action."

Ultium on Monday reported the incident to the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which opened an investigation. The agency will collect details about what happened, what Ultium did to address the issue, and whether employees are still at risk, spokesperson Scott Allen said via email. Allen said OSHA is still investigating the extent of any exposure from the spill.

The slurry contained n-Methylpyrrolidone (NMP), according to OSHA. NMP is a solvent used to dissolve polymer that combines battery materials such as lithium, aluminum, nickel and manganese for use in batteries.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has determined NMP presents "an unreasonable risk" to human health. However, there is no federal permissible exposure limit for the chemical under OSHA. The agency can use a different legal mechanism to protect workers from hazardous levels of the solvent "if workers are becoming seriously ill from NMP," Allen said.

NMP is particularly harmful for reproduction: Short-term exposure can cause fetal loss, and long-term exposure can reduce overall fertility in both men and women. It is risky in nearly every stage of use, according to EPA, from import and processing to commercial and consumer use and disposal.

NMP can also impact the nervous system, causing headaches, nausea, dizziness and drowsiness in the short term and more significant impacts in the long term, such as difficulty concentrating, memory loss, depression, anxiety and irritability. The state of California has a 1 part per million (ppm) limit over 8 hours on NMP in the air workers breathe.

Cathode slurry typically contains 40-60% NMP, said Greg Less, technical director at the University of Michigan Battery Lab. NMP is almost always used for cathode production to create a polymer that holds active and conductive battery material, he said, though the industry is seeking ways to eliminate it from its processes because it is hazardous and expensive.

"That stuff is pretty nasty," Less said. "It's got a lot of safety concerns with it."

U.S. EPA did not respond to an inquiry Monday from The Detroit News on whether it was aware of or investigating the incident.

The United Auto Workers union has been raising concerns about conditions at the plant. It released a scathing white paper in July arguing the battery plant had "hazardous conditions and low wages" and argued generous federal subsidies should not go to companies fostering such conditions. Ultium has called the union's characterization of safety concerns at the plant "knowingly false and misleading."

"This is the latest in a long line of serious health and safety hazards our members have had to endure at Ultium and underscores why it is critically important that Ultium adopt the health and safety standards that generations of auto workers have fought for and won at General Motors," UAW President Shawn Fain said in a statement about the slurry spill. "These accidents are preventable and manageable. Sadly, Ultium is choosing to prioritize their bottom line over human safety."

OSHA has six open investigations into Ultium's Warren facility. It has conducted and closed five other investigations.

Ultium has paid $31,078 in fines for violations of workplace safety laws as a result of those investigations, according to OSHA records. OSHA has fined the company for failing to have an appropriate emergency evacuation plan; for failing to provide "insulating equipment" for employees that could withstand any potential voltage; and for failing to ensure workers used proper procedures to control hazardous chemicals while fixing damaged equipment, according to OSHA documents seen by The News.

The incident comes three months after Fain and GM Vice President Mike Booth, head of the union's GM Department, met with Ultium workers in Warren to discuss the benefits of joining the UAW's national agreement with GM. Ultium workers have voted to unionize but do not yet have an inaugural contract. Ultium has argued it is a separate legal entity and cannot include its workers in GM's national contract.

UAW's Fain acknowledged that during a solidarity rally Sunday in Warren, Michigan. He said union teams are still negotiating for workers at the Ultium plant, but when asked if the union is still pushing to have Ultium workers covered by the national agreement, he said Ultium is "a separate company as it is."

The union is "working hard to get an agreement," Fain said. "We want our standards in this transition to EV. If we don't get these standards ... everyone's going to lose. This whole country's gonna lose. It's imperative that we have good labor standards especially when our tax dollars are financing that."

The new Warren facility is the first of three Ultium Cells facilities planned. An Ultium Cells plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee, will open later this year. A third plant is under construction in Delta Township near Lansing and will open in 2024. GM is also planning a joint-venture battery plant with Samsung SDI for New Carlisle, Indiana. That facility is slated to open in 2026.

Riley Beggin reported from Washington, D.C.

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