LANSING, Mich. – A Michigan lawmaker is making moves to ban landfills in the state from accepting out-of-state radioactive waste.
It stems from a controversial plan to bring radioactive soil and water from New York to Van Buren Township at the end of the month.
For weeks, residents have expressed their displeasure with the idea and now state Rep. Reggie Miller is hoping to stop Michigan from becoming a radioactive dumping ground.
Background: Residents push bVan Buren Township ack against nuclear waste in Van Buren Township
“These radioactive shipments are coming into our back yard and no one wants this,” Miller said. “The residents have spoken. I heard them and I stand with them.”
It’s a topic that has filled town halls with worried residents.
“It’s from the Manhattan Project in New York, a former nuclear site - it’s the actual dirt and concrete that were around the facility,” Miller said. “New York banned it and the solution was to send it to Michigan and that is unacceptable.”
She said House Bill 5923 would ban the dumping of radioactive waste in Michigan and that the newly proposed legislation is modeled after a New York state law that enacted a similar ban on radioactive waste.
If the bill isn’t passed, transport is scheduled to begin Sept. 25 and be completed sometime in January.
Wayne County Commissioner-elect Allen Wilson announced he is joining Miller in her fight, stating “Michigan has always been a leader in environmental protection and we won’t allow our communities to become the dumping ground for radioactive waste.”