State Senator Darrin Camilleri (D-Trenton) introduced a bill last week that would tighten restrictions for hazardous waste facilities, including those licensed to take radioactive waste.
SB 1052 would better protect the environment and address historic injustice, Camilleri said.
“It's important, when we're talking about environmental justice, to ensure that we are disproportionately supporting communities that have been the greatest recipients of some of this,” he said. Hazardous waste facilities are more likely to be located near communities of color and low-income neighborhoods, according to recent studies.
Siting requirements in the bill would ban new facilities near densely populated areas, low-income neighborhoods and areas where the state’s environmental justice score is high enough.
It would also set a five-year moratorium that would prevent already operating facilities from expanding. There are 14 hazardous waste facilities in Michigan, eight of which are in Wayne County.
One facility came under scrutiny in September when The Detroit Free Press reported that Wayne Disposal was scheduled to receive very low level radioactive waste from New York.
Public outcry led to a temporary injunction on the shipments— and this legislation.
“This will help us create a long-term runway for the management of disposal of hazardous waste in the state of Michigan, which is something that's been lacking in this conversation,” Camilleri said. The bill would require Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy to create a plan for managing the hazardous waste that the state generates and imports.
That includes setting a maximum statewide capacity for hazardous and radioactive waste.
Camilleri hopes the bill will receive bipartisan support.
“I think that this is a broadly popular issue,” he said.
