DETROIT — A judge has stopped government contractors in five states from sending hazardous waste to a Michigan landfill after a year of legal challenges by Detroit-area communities concerned about possible environmental impacts.
Wayne County Judge Kevin Cox said the risk was “substantial and compelling” and outweighed the financial harm to Wayne Disposal, a suburban Detroit landfill operated by trash giant Republic Services.
Cox’s injunction, signed Tuesday, bars Wayne Disposal from accepting waste from Luckey, Ohio; Middletown, Iowa; Deepwater, New Jersey; Lewiston, New York; and St. Louis.
Those cleanup sites are managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and its contractors. The waste includes materials that were produced for weapons, early atomic energy and other uses before and after World War II.
Shipments “have been halted and we are working closely with our contractors to determine the next steps,” Jenn Miller, a spokesperson in the Army Corps environmental division, said Thursday.
Tainted soil in Lewiston is a legacy of the Manhattan Project, the secret government effort to develop atomic bombs during World War II.
While the lawsuit in Michigan was pending, officials recently decided to send Lewiston soil to a Texas landfill to keep the project moving, Miller said.
Wayne Disposal in Van Buren Township, 25 miles (40.2 kilometers) west of Detroit, is one of the few landfills in the U.S. that can handle certain hazardous waste.
Republic Services has repeatedly said the landfill meets or exceeds rules to safely manage hazardous materials. The company said the court order was “overly broad.”
“Responsible management and disposal of these waste streams is an essential need, and Wayne Disposal, Inc. is designed and permitted to safely manage this material,” the company said.
But critics say there are too many homes, schools and waterways near the landfill, making any leak at the site possibly dangerous.
“We stood strong with our community allies speaking collectively with one voice that we do not want this type of waste in our community,” said Kevin McNamara, the elected supervisor in Van Buren Township.