Overview:

  • Wayne Disposal is appealing a May court order blocking shipments of radioactive waste from Manhattan Project-era sites to the landfill.
  • The Van Buren Township landfill's attorneys argue the judge's decision is based on potential future risk rather than imminent harm, and call health risks "functionally zero."
  • A University of Michigan radiation expert testified that gas levels have increased yearly at the landfill's perimeter since 2017, raising cancer risk for surrounding communities.

Wayne Disposal is challenging an injunction barring shipments of elevated radiation waste from sites managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to the Van Buren Township landfill.

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Why it matters

A Wayne County judge's order halting shipments of elevated radiation waste to Wayne Disposal is being appealed by the Van Buren Township landfill.

Who's making public decisions

The Michigan Court of Appeals will decide on the appeal of Wayne County Circuit Judge Kevin Cox's permanent injunction blocking radioactive waste shipments to Wayne Disposal. The landfill is regulated by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy.

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What to watch for next

Wayne Disposal is requesting oral arguments before the Michigan Court of Appeals on its challenge to a permanent injunction that blocks radioactive waste shipments to the landfill.

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Wayne Disposal’s attorneys argue that a Wayne County judge erred in a May decision blocking the waste because his findings were based on potential future risk, not present or imminent injury.

“At bottom, this is a case of judicial overreach in response to NIMBY politics rather than any imminent public harm,” Wayne Disposal’s attorneys said, using an acronym that means “Not In My Backyard” in a brief filed Monday with the Michigan Court of Appeals. 

The landfill’s lawyers are requesting oral arguments before the Court of Appeals.

Wayne Disposal, owned by Republic Services, brought on lawyers from Jones Day for the appeal. Jones Day served as lead counsel in Detroit’s municipal bankruptcy case and ultimately collected $53.7 million in fees, The Detroit Free Press reported in 2015.

Wayne County Circuit Judge Kevin Cox said in a May 27 order barring the shipments that harms from the radioactive waste are long-lasting or permanent, and cannot be offset with monetary damages. The landfill’s monitoring and engineering controls are insufficient, he said. 

Wayne Disposal filed a claim of appeal June 4. 

Belleville, Canton Township, Romulus, Van Buren Township and the Van Buren Township fire chief sued Wayne Disposal in September 2024 to block shipments after it was reported the Army Corps planned to transport radioactive waste from the Niagara Falls Storage Site in Lewiston, New York to the landfill. Wayne County intervened in the case. 

After a February bench trial, Cox ruled in the communities’ favor, making permanent an Aug. 6, 2025 preliminary injunction against the landfill. 

The injunction bars Wayne Disposal from accepting elevated radiation waste, known as technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive material, or TENORM, from all Manhattan Project-era sites the Army Corps manages as part of the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program.

Wayne Disposal has accepted more than 650,000 tons of TENORM, according to Monday’s court filing. 

Landfill attorneys: Health risk ‘functionally zero’

The court decided a public nuisance exists without making findings on the level of radiation exposure and alleged contamination in communities, according to Wayne Disposal’s brief. 

“Undisputed evidence showed that the health risk from any potential exposure was functionally zero,” the landfill’s lawyers said. 

The court erred by prohibiting activity allowed under Wayne Disposal’s license that’s subject to the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy’s (EGLE) primary jurisdiction, according to the court filing. 

EGLE approved a 23%, 5.2-million-cubic-yard expansion of the facility Jan. 29, despite vocal pushback from residents and lawmakers, and renewed its hazardous waste operating license for 10 years. 

Cox cited “substantial and credible testimony” from Kimberlee Kearfott, a University of Michigan professor and radiation protection expert, who he said established that radiation gas levels have increased each year at Wayne Disposal’s perimeter monitoring locations since it began accepting elevated radiation waste from Manhattan Project-era sites in 2017.

“It’s increasing the risk of cancers, life-shortening, and other effects associated with radiation,” Kearfott said in court Feb. 5 when asked about the impact of radiation from the site.

Cox’s order said Wayne County’s population “vastly exceeds” the populations of counties in other states that host alternative landfills.

Wayne Disposal calls case ‘troubling precedent,’ communities stress vulnerability

Republic Services spokesperson Roman Blahoski told Planet Detroit in May the company disagrees with Cox’s ruling blocking the shipments. Wayne Disposal is a safe, well-managed facility designed to handle TENORM from Army Corps sites and other complex waste streams, he said. 

“This ruling sets a troubling precedent that undermines protections afforded to interstate commerce and impedes site remediation, as well as the safe and effective long‑term management of these materials for customers in Michigan and throughout the country,” Blahoski said at the time. 

Stephen Brown, an attorney for the Wayne County communities, said during the trial’s closing arguments that the lawsuit is primarily a nuisance case. 

It’s unreasonable to dispose of so much elevated radiation waste in a highly populated area less than 1 mile from downtown Belleville, where vulnerable residents are already burdened by other environmental problems, Brown said.

According to MiEJScreen, EGLE’s environmental justice screening tool, the census tract where Wayne Disposal is located is in the 83rd percentile, while the tract to the south of the facility is in the 72nd percentile. These scores indicate above average pollution exposure and high levels of underlying health issues in the community.

WAYNE DISPOSAL COVERAGE

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