LANSING — As the FBI investigates Mike Duggan’s growing dirty dirt scandal, Duggan’s spokesperson has resorted to calling the scandal “fake” and “not gaining any traction” — even as several hundred more contaminated sites have been discovered and children are living near cancer-causing arsenic and lead.
The Detroit News reported today that the “effort to identify how many Detroit home demolition sites may contain toxic dirt has grown in size and cost,” with the number of contaminated sites having grown to 650 locations. The Detroit Metro Times reported last month that officials have requested a 350% budget increase for testing, from $1 million to $4.5 million.
The FBI has taken over the investigation of Duggan’s dirty dirt scandal, which the Detroit Free Press recently noted that “the FBI’s involvement is an additional complication for Duggan.”
“Children in Detroit are living next to toxic waste pits because of Mike Duggan, and yet his campaign’s only response is to belittle the problem, call it ‘fake,’ and say it’s ‘not gaining any traction,’” said Michigan Democratic Party spokesperson Derrick Honeyman. “It’s clear that Mike Duggan can’t be trusted to lead Michigan, and he owes the people of Detroit answers and an apology for this toxic and cancerous mess that he’s left behind.”
BACKGROUND ON DIRTY DIRT DUGGAN:
- In 2015, Duggan promised that he was making it “very difficult” to bring in soil “unless we were confident where it came from.” But Duggan failed, and by the end of 2025, several investigations have been launched and experts have questioned his management of the situation.
- Taxpayers are now on the hook for a multi-million dollar clean-up at hundreds of sites across Detroit, and journalist Tom Perkins noted that Duggan was now “skating out of town, leaving these pits full of toxic waste next to people.” After Duggan left office, the new city administration installed stricter safeguards and strengthened contract language for dirt contractors, something Duggan never did.
- Two weeks ago, the Michigan Democratic Party launched billboards across Detroit and a digital ad campaign calling out Duggan for leaving “toxic waste pits” filled with cancer-causing chemicals across the city.
- In an interview with WDET this week, Duggan complained about being called out over his dirty dirt scandal, saying that “they say he’s corrupt, he’s MAGA, he’s poison dirt, he’s whatever.”
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