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By Dylan Siwicki
Patch News
WAYNE COUNTY, MI — Multiple Wayne County communities asked a court to keep a temporary restraining order in place against a local landfill looking to dispose waste from a Manhattan Project cleanup site.
Wayne Disposal, Inc., agreed to accept 6,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil and rubble from a World War II-era atomic bomb development site in Lewiston, New York. Federal officials are planning to clean up the site to prepare it for future industrial use.
The shipments were supposed to start in September and continue through next January, but they were halted by Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Kevin Cox after Canton Township, Van Buren Township, Belleville and Romulus sued the landfill, which is located along Interstate 94 in Belleville.
Wayne Disposal, Inc. argues in a new court filing that a constitutional clause prevents state and local governments shipments of out-of-state waste. Moreover, the company argues stopping the shipments of waste will interfere with the federal hazardous waste program and create a problem for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The communities responded by asking the judge to keep the temporary restraining order in place until Wayne Disposal, Inc. has been re-licensed, which will not happen until there is first a public hearing with public input.
Residents raised health and environmental concerns about the radioactive waste at a town hall that was organized by U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Ann Arbor in September. The communities also stressed that local fire departments are not equipped to handle a possible radioactive fire and any other hazardous events that may occur.
"You couldn't pick a worse location for a hazardous waste dump if you tried, let alone one that contains radioactive waste," Belleville Mayor Ken Voigt said. "In my opinion, this facility is a long-term existential threat to the entire State of Michigan."
Some community leaders question why the radioactive waste is being moved to Michigan in the first place.
"The Wayne Disposal site is near a very populated area in Wayne County, in the Huron River Watershed, with lakes, rivers and streams that all lead to the Great Lakes," Canton Supervisor Anne Marie Graham-Hudak said. "The Great Lakes contain 21% of the world’s freshwater. Why would Michigan want to accept radioactive waste and expose our people and waterways to such dangerous pollution?"
