A Wayne County judge on Wednesday granted a temporary restraining order to halt shipments of radioactive waste Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration approved for a Wayne County landfill.
About 25 semi-truck loads a day of contaminated soil and debris left over from the development of atomic bombs during World War II are scheduled to come in to Van Buren Township’s Wayne Disposal site this month.
The roughly 6,000 cubic yards of toxic waste from the Manhattan Project’s disposal site in Upstate New York came as a surprise to local officials and residents who have pushed back on the plans from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over environmental and health concerns.
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On Monday, several western Wayne County communities filed a lawsuit to halt the shipments, and Wayne County Judge Kevin Cox on Wednesday issued a temporary restraining order while the case proceeds, WEMU reports.
“The people in New York got details about what was happening, even the roads (they) were going to use leaving town,” Canton Township Supervisor Anne Marie Graham-Hudak told the news site. “We got nothing, and they basically said, ‘We aren’t required to tell you anything.’ That’s sad in so many ways.”
“We are very pleased that this happened,” Graham-Hudak told The Detroit News, referring to the restraining order.
Plaintiffs in the lawsuit against Wayne Disposal include Canton Township, Van Buren Charter Township, the City of Romulus, the City of Bellville, and the Van Buren Township fire chief.
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Cox ordered Wayne Disposal to respond in writing by Tuesday for a show cause hearing on Thursday.
“The Michigan public will no longer tolerate Wayne County being the nation’s dumping ground of choice for a wide range of hazardous materials,” according to the lawsuit, cited by WKTV.
The lawsuit argues the radioactive waste is unfit for storage in close proximity to area residents, and complains local officials were “kept in the dark until the last moment” about the shipments. The suit alleges the radioactive waste is a fire and safety hazard local officials are unprepared for, and it obstructs government obligations to protect residents.
“(Residents) have a right to be secure, to be safe,” plaintiffs’ attorney, Brandon Grysko, told The News. “Fire departments have an obligation to provide that. The manner in which this has all come about has essentially jeopardized the right of the people to be safe and the right of the communities to provide that level of safety.”
The debacle marks the second time toxic shipments to the facility have sparked public outrage, following outcry over waste from the East Palestine, Ohio train derailment that ultimately convinced the EPA to divert it elsewhere in 2023.
Officials with Whitmer’s Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy analyzed samples of the New York atomic waste before approving the shipments to Wayne Disposal. T.R. Wentworth II, manager of EGLE’s Radiological Protection Section told the Detroit Free Press “the state doesn’t have any concerns for this material from a health and safety standpoint.”
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Deputy Chief of Public Affairs told the news site “The first thing we look at in all of these projects is how we can do it safely – from the employees on-site who are working around the material, excavating it and preparing it for removal, to the communities around the site, to the folks who are going to transport it out to Bellville, Michigan, to where it can be safely stored.”
Wayne Disposal is one of the largest hazardous waste landfills in the country, and it’s next door to Michigan Disposal, the largest hazardous waste processing facility in North America, according to USA TODAY.
Wayne Disposal, which is owned by Arizona-based Republic Services, confirmed to The News it has received a copy of the lawsuit filed Monday, and attorneys are crafting a response.
Wayne Disposal “remains in compliance with the terms and conditions of the permit regarding the design, operation and monitoring of the facility, and obtained concurrence from EGLE for the acceptance of this material from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,” spokeswoman Melissa Quillard wrote to the news site.
The lawsuit is playing out amid Wayne Disposal’s years-long permit renewal process at EGLE that’s not expected to include public hearings until the spring, after the shipments from New York will conclude in January. Republic Services applied to renew its license for Wayne Disposal in November 2021, six months before it expired in May 2022, according to The News.
Quillard said Wayne Disposal’s permit remains valid during the renewal process.