LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Many Wayne County residents are fired up after finding out that radioactive waste will be shipped from New York later this month and dumped in a Van Buren Township landfill. That’s why Michigan State Senator Darrin Camilleri (D-Trenton) introduced a bill he hopes gets signed into law in order stop dumping.
“Here in Wayne County, our backyards are quite literally the nation’s dumping grounds for hazardous waste and more,” Camilleri said in a statement. “The latest development in Van Buren Township regarding radioactive waste being shipped in and disposed of there is just the most recent example of the harm being caused by scant regulation and some of the lowest disposal fees in the United States.”
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Camilleri said he took action in June when he introduced the bill. It is now sitting in the Committee on Energy and Environment.
Why is radioactive waste being shipped to Michigan?
Radioactive waste from the 1940s Manhattan project will be shipped to Michigan from New York through January 2025. That particular landfill is one of only five in the nation that can accept radioactive waste. Van Buren Township residents turned out at a town hall last week saying they are outraged this will be happening near their homes, and that they were the last to know.
Currently it is legal and cheap to dump waste in Michigan, and it’s not a practice that’s new. International trash has been flowing into the state for years. A U.S. and Canada free trade agreement lists trash as a commodity. In addition, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1992 that garbage is a commodity that can’t be restricted under the U.S. Commerce Clause.
Can Michigan change this?
Earlier this year, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer called for an increase in per ton landfill fees from $.36 to $5 to help curb out of state dumping. Other Michigan legislatures have tried over the past several decades to outright ban the practice or increase the fees to make dumping in Michigan less appealing.
In the meantime, Sen. Camilleri said now is the time to act. “[We must] guarantee future generations can live in communities like Romulus and Van Buren Township without fearing the health repercussions they and their loved ones may experience because a dumping ground for out-of-state hazardous waste was built near their home — something that never should have happened,” he said.
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