The wealthy Moroun family of Michigan is planning to expand its controversial concrete empire across the border to Canada, records show.
The Morouns, who own the Ambassador Bridge and a constellation of other enterprises, have in recent years expanded their Hercules Concrete business across the Detroit area and beyond, with each location named after characters in Greek mythology.
But some locations have been the subject of intense criticism for allegedly causing community blight and health issues, as well as flouting local regulations, among other things.
Now, a Moroun-backed concrete business has popped in Windsor, Ont., at the south end of the Sandwich area — a neighbourhood where the Morouns have a long history of conflict with the city over derelict homes and where air quality is already a concern among residents.
Near the base of competing Gordie Howe bridge, a banner affixed to a fence announces that a company called CTC Concrete is “coming soon.”
Behind it sit rows of concrete trucks with Canadian flags painted on their mixers. The logo on the sign uses the same image of a muscular man as Hercules Concrete in Michigan.
There’s little information about CTC Concrete online, other than two environmental approvals the province issued to the company last year.
But addresses listed on those documents connect the business to the Moroun realm. One of them, 707 Patricia Road in Windsor, is the building at the base of the Canadian side of the Ambassador Bridge that houses the duty free shop. The Canadian arm of the bridge company, the Canadian Transit Company, also shares an acronym with the new concrete operation.
The other address, 12225 Stephens Road in Warren, Mich., is the location listed for many of the family’s corporate entities, including trucking company Central Transport and real estate firm Crown Enterprises, LLC.
Ontario business records for CTC Concrete further connect it to the Morouns: Matthew J. Moroun, son of Matthew T. Moroun, is listed as the company’s sole director, while “Dannie” Stamper is listed as president and secretary. Dan Stamper is the president of the Ambassador Bridge, per its website.
Stamper, the elder Moroun, and other representatives did not respond to a list of questions about CTC Concrete or the family’s broader operations.
City councillor ‘absolutely’ concerned
The Windsor city councillor who represents the Sandwich area says he’s “absolutely” concerned about CTC Concrete because of the Morouns’ track record in both countries.
“Now, we are fortunate this property is located at the far end of the ward, sort of in an industrial area right near the Port of Windsor,” Ward 2 Coun. Frazier Fathers said.
CTC Concrete appears to occupy two addresses: 4020 Sandwich St., which is listed in the provincial approvals, and 4000 Sandwich Street, which is where the sign and trucks are located.
Across the street is a Tim Hortons and behind that are roughly two blocks of residential homes.
“There are some tentative plans for some residential along Sandwich Street there and sort of moving forward the closer you get to Sandwich town,” Father said.
“So obviously, yeah, if you’re downwind from this plant, there are concerns.”
The Kronos controversy
In Detroit’s north end, a steady stream of hefty concrete trucks with American flags painted on their mixers roll in and out of Kronos Concrete, one of the seven Hercules locations.
Plumes of dust roll over nearby residential streets marked by boarded up houses and vacant lots — and a handful of remaining homes. Piles of trash and dirt cover parts of the streets bordering the facility.
Andrew Bashi, a staff attorney with the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center, says local residents first reached out to his firm roughly four to five years ago.
“They were worried about them breathing in … hazardous air and the dust potentially polluting their gardens and vegetable gardens and things like that,” he said.
“So I came out to do a site visit, and what I saw was way worse than what I expected,” he recounted.
“I’ve seen batching plants all over the place, but this was really a different animal in that the entire neighborhood just next to the facility was basically emptied out except for a handful of homes.”
The plant had been built without proper permits, leading the city of Detroit to shut the site down until the permits were secured.
Bashi and some residents accused the Morouns — through Crown Enterprises — of pressuring locals to sell them their homes, while also buying up much of the surrounding land.
A representative for Crown previously told Deadline Detroit that the firm planned to “continue to clean up the property, making the neighbourhood safer and more secure.”
The city, meanwhile, says the current permit includes a “fugitive dust plan” and that the city has installed air quality monitors nearby.
CTC Concrete’s plans in Windsor
Across the border, CTC Concrete will be able to produce “up to 100,000 cubic metres of concrete per year,” according to one of the provincial approvals, which is valid for 10 years.
The approval says emissions to the air from the facility include calcium carbonate, particulate matter, nickel, hexavalent chromium, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, and crystalline silica.
The other permit, also valid for a decade, allows CTC Concrete to take up to 946,352 litres of water from the Detroit River per day, for up to 250 days each year, for manufacturing purposes.
“Fortunately, Canada has some tougher environmental and air quality regulations that Michigan doesn’t have,” said Fathers, the Windsor city councillor, adding that the Ontario government, which approved some of CTC Concrete’s environmental permits, will need to ensure the company is “living up to those air quality standards on the Canadian side.”
But Fathers says he wants to know more about what the company is up to, and plans to talk with city staff and contact the province.
“I have a great set of residents in West Windsor who often will shoot me an e-mail or ping me saying, hey, something’s going on at this bridge property, you should look into it,” he said. “And I fully expect them to be engaged on this issue as well.”
