Overview:

- Around 80 residents met in Belleville to discuss ways to prevent radioactive waste from entering the Wayne Disposal landfill in Van Buren Township.
- An injunction has stopped the landfill from receiving waste from the Niagara Falls Storage Site. However, tens of thousands of cubic yards of radioactive material is still scheduled to come in from other sites.
- An upcoming permit renewal for Wayne Disposal could allow residents to weigh in on the kinds of materials the facility takes in.

Around 80 Belleville residents gathered Tuesday to discuss ways to block radioactive waste from entering their community, focusing the discussion on an upcoming permit renewal for the facility receiving the hazardous material.

In August, the Detroit Free Press reported that radioactive waste shipments from the Manhattan Project would be sent from the Niagara Falls Storage Site in New York State to the Wayne Disposal Inc. landfill in Van Buren Township, sparking a public outcry. 

Subsequent reporting by The Detroit News, Planet Detroit and others found that Wayne Disposal has been receiving large quantities of radioactive waste from several other sites managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in addition to waste from a site in Luckey, Ohio, which was reported in 2017.

Ypsilanti resident LaShawn Boykin told Planet Detroit she came to the meeting because she was concerned about the potential health impacts radioactive waste could have on her two adult daughters living in Belleville and a teenage daughter attending school there.

“We just don’t want it in the environment affecting them in the long run,” she said. “I wish they had somewhere else to store it. I wish they just weren’t storing it near us at all.”

The group Michigan Against Atomic Waste held the meeting to discuss measures to stop radioactive waste from being dumped in Michigan, including an active lawsuit, legislation and Wayne Disposal’s upcoming permit renewal, which they said could give them an opportunity to influence how the facility operates. 

Van Buren Township resident Jeneen Rippey called on attendees to contact Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Kevin J. Cox, who is considering a lawsuit filed by four communities around Wayne Disposal and the Van Buren Township Fire Chief to halt the import of radioactive waste. 

Learn more

Cox issued an injunction blocking waste from the Niagara site, but landfill owner Republic Services secured an order to continue importing radioactive waste from several other sites.

Jenn Miller, public affairs specialist for the USACE environmental division, told Planet Detroit that 10 sites have sent material to Wayne Disposal in the past or plan to do so in the future. These sites are part of the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program, which cleans up contaminated sites from the nation’s early atomic energy program.

At least 246,775 cubic yards of radioactive material have already been shipped to the facility, with plans to send 79,810 more, according to USACE. The Dupont Chamber Works site in Deepwater, New Jersey, has sent 33,000 tons of materials and will send 26,000 more. However, these numbers only account for seven of the ten sites that have sent waste to Michigan.

At the Belleville meeting, Van Buren Township resident Chris Donley pointed out that Wayne Disposal is surrounded by a much higher population density than the other four sites approved to accept elevated radiation waste from former atomic weapon and energy sites, which are located in sparsely populated areas like Grand View, Texas, and Clive, Utah.

A Free Press review of those sites found that fewer than 100 people live within a one-mile radius of the four sites outside Michigan, while 2,600 residents live within a one-mile radius of Wayne Disposal. 

Residents and officials raise concerns about radioactive waste impacts

Canton resident Jessica Peterson addressed the meeting in Belleville, discussing the potential for radioactive waste to impact resident health, Great Lakes water quality and area property values.

“We’re not just protecting our health; we’re protecting our wealth as well,” she said, referring to the investments many had made in their homes.

Peterson drew particular attention to radium-226, a common isotope in materials shipped to Michigan. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, radium exposure may lead to bone cancer, lymphoma, leukemia and aplastic anemia if the material is inhaled or ingested over long periods.

USACE has said that wastes coming to Michigan won’t exceed 50 picocuries of radioactivity. Background radiation levels in the environment are generally present at about one picocurie. 

Denise Trabbic-Pointer, a toxics and remediation specialist with the Sierra Club Michigan Chapter, told Planet Detroit that radium-226 is moderately “miscible” or capable of mixing with water. This could pose a risk because of the landfill’s potential to produce leachate, the wastewater slurry created when rainwater mixes with contaminated soil.

In an affidavit filed as part of the lawsuit, Daniel Hansley Alford, the South Huron Valley Utility Authority’s system manager, said Wayne Disposal has a permit to discharge its wastewater into the SHVUA system. 

But he said the landfill’s permit doesn’t set limits or require testing for radioactive material or technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive material, also known as “TENORM.” TENORM refers to material where radioactivity has been increased or concentrated through industrial processes like mining or water treatment.

SHVUA, which discharges into the Detroit River and Lake Erie, also doesn’t test or treat its wastewater for TENORM or other radiological material, Alford said.

Republic spokesperson Melissa Quillard didn’t answer Planet Detroit’s question on whether the facility was testing its wastewater for radioactive material. In a statement, Quillard said that Wayne Disposal has a treatment process for leachate and stormwater that is “an industry standard and well-documented to remove radionuclides.”         

Wayne Disposal permit renewal coincides with new requirements to consider cumulative pollution impacts

The U.S. Supreme Court ruling bars communities from blocking waste from entering their states. But lawmakers at a town hall in September said that legislation could stem the flow of hazardous waste into the state.

State Sen. Darrin Camilleri (D-Trenton) introduced legislation in June to raise tipping fees for liquid hazardous waste going to deep injection wells like the Detroit Industrial Well in Romulus. He said lawmakers could also “ban these facilities outright.” So far, the legislation has not advanced out of committee.

Meanwhile, State Rep. Reggie Miller (D-Van Buren Township) introduced HB 5923 in September, which would ban the dumping of elevated radiation waste from both in-state and out-of-state in Michigan.

Miller also said in September that she would introduce legislation to raise Michigan’s “tipping fees” for landfill waste, which are far lower than those in some neighboring states. Michigan charges 36 cents per ton for landfill waste, compared to Ohio’s $4.75 and Wisconsin’s $13.

Rippey said at the Tuesday meeting that in addition to the lawsuit to block radioactive waste, residents should focus on opposing Wayne Disposal’s upcoming permit renewal. However, she said the lawsuit’s outcome might not resolve the community’s issues with the facility.

Josef Greenberg, a spokesperson for the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, said the agency had made a commitment to EPA to renew the permit within fiscal year 2025.  

A recent settlement between environmental groups and EGLE requires the agency to deny a license to a hazardous waste facility, including renewing a license if it will have an “unlawful impact on human health and the environment.”

As part of the settlement, regulators agreed to consider cumulative impacts from different pollution sources when permitting, using the state’s MiEJScreen tool. This tool uses socioeconomic and environmental data to show which communities may be at the greatest risk of being overburdened by pollution.

The MiEJScreen shows that the area around the Wayne Disposal site is in the 83rd percentile of census tracts for the overall EJ score and the 98th percentile for environmental effects. This means residents have above-average exposure to pollution, and the area contains a high proportion of vulnerable individuals.

Michigan EJ screen showing the area surrounding the Wayne Disposal landfill. Screenshot 10/10/24.

Greenberg said that while the hazardous waste settlement is in effect, it “should not affect permitting for WDI.” They said the agreement calls for EGLE to offer more public meetings, translate key documents, and provide oral translations at meetings if needed. EGLE will also need to evaluate whether cumulative impact concerns exist.

Rippey emphasized that residents will have to fight hard to influence how Republic Services conducts business in southeast Michigan.

“We’re up against a big company with deep pockets. The one thing they are afraid of is a lot of people being upset,” she said, adding that Republic was likely counting on public interest straying from the radioactive waste issue in the coming months.

“I just want to remind everyone, this is going to be a marathon; it’s not going to be a sprint,” she said.

This story originated with a reader suggestion submitted via Planet Detroit’s Climate Voters Ask tool.

Sign me up for Planet Detroit’s free weekly email newsletter

Give us your email, and we’ll give you our award-winning free weekly email newsletter on Fridays

Brian Allnutt is a senior reporter and contributing editor at Planet Detroit. He covers the climate crisis, environmental justice, politics and open space.