Wayne County officials expressed dismay at their lack of prior knowledge of the planned transfer of hazardous and radioactive waste to a landfill in Van Buren Township.
Several Wayne County Commission officials called for more transparency in future hazardous waste removals at a meeting Tuesday to discuss the shipments. Dozens attended the public meeting, including U.S. Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Debbie Dingell. Patrick Cullen of Wayne County Environmental Services expressed concern about the county’s portrayal after the Detroit Free Press reported that Republic Services’ Wayne Disposal will dispose of radioactive waste from a New York site where the Manhattan Project developed the atomic bomb during and after World War II.
“We have one of the largest licensed processing and storage facilities here in Wayne County, in Van Buren Township,” Cullen said, adding that the Army Corps of Engineers has identified the landfill as one of five in the country that can handle these materials.
Commissioner Joseph Palamera asked Cullen if the Van Buren Township landfill was a top repository in the country.
“I guess the majority of the material would go there. To be clear, they can only accept material that is licensed and approved for acceptance. There are materials … that are at a higher level and cannot come.”
Commissioner Al Haidous urged a more permanent solution, particularly at the federal level, to provide security to officials and citizens.
States cannot block the shipment of hazardous waste
“It’s not Wayne County or the local community, it’s the federal government that issued the license and didn’t put enough restrictions in place to eliminate the situation. We need to address this issue at the federal level, at the state level and also at the local level to inform people when something like this happens,” Haidous said.
A 1992 U.S. Supreme Court ruling on imported garbage declared out-of-state garbage to be “articles of commerce” — essentially goods or commodities — that could not be restricted under the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. That case arose when St. Clair County officials tried to prevent a local landfill from accepting out-of-state garbage.
Chairwoman Alisha Bell said commissioners would propose a resolution to the state to prevent toxic waste dumping in Wayne County and to provide better communication about the incoming waste.
“If it’s not dangerous, why don’t they do it somewhere in New York? Those are the main concerns that we want to send a message to our federal legislature, to our state legislature and, of course, to the local legislature,” Bell said, adding that authorities may push for a local ordinance.
The lack of communication is on the part of the state, she added.
Why don’t you just send it “to nowhere”?
“Unfortunately, it goes from the federal government to the states to the local authorities and stops at the state level. I’m sure they must know, but we at the local level, the managers, the supervisors, the commissioners, don’t know. We don’t know until we read about it later,” Bell said.
Tlaib said that just because a company has a license does not mean it is compliant.
“When was the last time they (the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy) denied a permit? Because every permit I’ve submitted to a state seems to get approved. They get approved, but they still violate their permit,” Tlaib said.
Commissioner Sam Baydoun asked Dingell why the federal government couldn’t find a site “in the middle of nowhere” after he raised concerns about the potential for materials to leak into the water and impact the environment. Dingell pointed out that the state has much of the permitting authority.
“We should make it very, very expensive for these companies to dump garbage in our backyard,” Baydoun said to applause from the public. “We need stronger state and federal regulations to prevent Wayne County from becoming a dumping ground. The companies must be held accountable for their actions.”
More: How Southeast Michigan became a dumping ground for America’s most dangerous chemicals
“Most of these things you’re talking about are at the state level,” Dingell told the commissioners.
Several officials previously expressed concern about the plan after the Free Press reported that Wayne Disposal would remove 5,500 cubic yards of dirt and concrete and 1,600 liters of radioactive groundwater from the New York site.
Landfill operator: We have notified the state
Dingell sent a letter to Republic Services on Aug. 19 with several questions. Regarding the lack of notification to local authorities and the public, the company said Wayne Disposal had notified local authorities and the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy of “its intent to accept waste from the Niagara Falls Storage Site.”
“EGLE has reviewed the project information and agreed that the waste can be properly disposed of at (Wayne Disposal Inc.). WDI is open to discussions regarding further future notifications,” Dingell’s office said in a response.
Regarding ongoing environmental monitoring to avoid adverse impacts, Republic stated that the site is responsible for “implementing a radiological monitoring program that analyzes 40 monitoring points for radionuclides.”
“Environmental media routinely sampled include groundwater, surface water, ambient air, leak detection systems, sediment and soil. All environmental monitoring data is reported to EGLE. At least once a year, subsamples of various media are collected and analyzed by EGLE and compared with WDI results to verify consistency,” the statement said.
In addition, WDI collects all precipitation that hits the active areas of the plant and performs initial treatment.
Free Press reporter Keith Matheny contributed to this story.
Dana Afana is the Free Press’ Detroit City Hall reporter. Contact: [email protected]. Follow her: @DanaAfana.
