Yahoo Finance General Motors' (GM) Chemical Spill Under Investigation
Federal regulators are investigating General Motors Company’s GM chemical spill at the Ultium Cells battery plant in Warren, OH. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) confirmed the investigation to The Detroit News.
Per the photos and video of the incident obtained by 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 mixing department of the Ultium Cells battery plant.
Ultium Cells, a joint venture between General Motors and LG Energy Solution, stated that no employees were exposed or injured in the spill. It added that area mixing operations have been temporarily halted and that it is seeking the help of a third-party company to clean up and contain the leak.
Katie Burdette, spokesperson of Ultium Cells, told The Detroit News that operations will remain paused until the area has been inspected for damage and deemed safe. The impact of the stoppage is unclear.
Ultium reported the incident to the federal OSHA, which opened an investigation. Scott Allen, spokesperson of OSHA, said that the agency will collect details about what happened, the measures adopted by Ultium to address the issue and whether employees are still at risk. The agency is still investigating the extent of any exposure from the spill.
Per OSHA, the leaked slurry contained n-Methylpyrrolidone (NMP), which is a solvent used to dissolve polymers that combine battery materials such as lithium, aluminum, nickel and manganese for use in batteries. Per the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), NMP presents "an unreasonable risk" to human health.
There is no federal permissible exposure limit for the chemical under OSHA. The solvent is specifically harmful for reproduction because short-term exposure can cause fetal loss and long-term exposure can reduce overall fertility in both men and women.
The EPA says NMP is risky at nearly every stage of use and can also impact the nervous system.
The United Auto Workers union released a scathing white paper in July arguing that the battery plant had "hazardous conditions and low wages" and that companies fostering such conditions should not get generous federal subsidies. Ultium Cell called the characterization of safety concerns at the facility "knowingly false and misleading."
OSHA has six open investigations into Ultium Cell’s Warren facility. It has conducted and closed five other investigations.
Per OSHA’s record, as a result of those investigations, Ultium has paid $31,078 in fines for violations of workplace safety laws.
The Warren plant is the first of three Ultium Cell plants planned by General Motors and LG Energy Solutions. A plant in Spring Hill, TN, will open later this year and a third plant is under construction in Delta Township near Lansing, scheduled to open in 2024.
Zacks Rank & Key Picks
GM currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Some other top-ranked players in the auto space include Oshkosh Corporation OSK, Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. ALSN and Gentex Corporation GNTX, each sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for OSK’s 2023 sales and earnings implies year-over-year growth of 15% and 126.9%, respectively. The EPS estimate for 2023 has moved north by 23 cents in the past seven days. The 2024 EPS estimate has moved up by 12 cents in the past seven days.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ALSN’s 2023 sales and earnings implies a year-over-year increase of 9.4% and 25.3%, respectively. The EPS estimate for 2023 has moved up by 39 cents in the past 30 days. The 2024 EPS estimate has moved north by 43 cents in the past 30 days.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for GNTX’s 2023 sales and earnings implies year-over-year growth of 17.3% and 29.4%, respectively. The EPS estimate for 2023 has moved up by 7 cents in the past 30 days. The 2024 EPS estimate has moved north by 9 cents in the past 30 days.
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