Activists hail settlement of complaint about Detroit hazardous waste facility

Michigan environmental advocates are hailing a “groundbreaking” settlement to a civil rights complaint filed with state regulators over the expansion of a hazardous waste facility in Detroit.

The settlement requires EGLE to deny a license to a hazardous waste facility, including the renewal of a license, if it will have an “unlawful impact on human health and the environment.” 

But Nick Leonard, executive director of the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center, which helped represent plaintiffs in the case, told Planet Detroit that what constitutes an “unlawful impact” is not well defined in the agreement, which could give the state leeway to avoid taking action against polluters. Advocates will need to remain vigilant to ensure the state is interpreting this requirement in a way that’s protective of communities, he said.

“We have the foundation for something really strong here,” Leonard said. “But it’s just a foundation. If we want to create a more environmentally just future, we’re going to have to continue our work.”

The complaint, filed by the Sierra Club, Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition and residents in 2020, alleged that the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy’s licensing of US Ecology North in a predominantly Black and Brown community just east of Hamtramck was having a discriminatory impact.

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According to a Sierra Club statement, 65% of those living within a three-mile radius of Michigan’s commercial hazardous waste facilities are people of color. However, they only make up 25% of the state’s population. Six of the state’s eight hazardous waste facilities that take off-site material are in Wayne County.

With the settlement, EGLE agreed to changes to its permitting and public outreach processes for hazardous waste facilities to help address the disproportionate impacts of these sites on communities of color. 

Leonard said this is the first time state regulators have agreed to address cumulative impacts from different pollution sources in permitting. This could help address the combined stress from multiple pollution sources in communities where large numbers of facilities are located.

EGLE Director Phil Roos said in a press release that the agreement represented the culmination of good-faith discussions between residents and agency staff.

“We look forward to continuing to work with residents across the state to ensure all Michiganders, regardless of where they live, have safe air to breathe, clean water to drink, and healthy communities to thrive in,” he said. 

Settlement compels Michigan to consider cumulative impacts of hazardous waste

EGLE’s agreement to perform an environmental justice analysis and cumulative impact review when issuing or renewing a hazardous waste facility license addresses a longstanding concern among environmental justice advocates. These advocates argue that regulating facilities on a case-by-case basis allows for a heavy overall pollution burden.

With this permitting framework, individual polluters may be within their legal emissions limits, but residents still experience high pollution levels overall from multiple facilities and mobile sources. However, a permit may be denied if it would increase local or regional levels of one of six pollutants covered by the National Ambient Air Quality Standards. 

States like New York, New Jersey and California have adopted cumulative impact legislation, but Michigan has not.

Detroit has recent experience with what such impacts can look like. US Ecology South received $1 million in fines last year for violations that included mishandling hazardous waste, a fire and a leak that threatened groundwater. It also received several odor violations. The facility in East Poletown is roughly two miles from US Ecology North and is owned by the same company.

To perform the cumulative impact and environmental justice analyses, EGLE will use the Environmental Protection Agency’s EJ Screen and, once complete, the state’s MiEJScreen, tools that analyze socioeconomic and environmental data to show which communities may be at greatest risk of being overburdened by pollution. Leonard said this would be the first time EGLE had incorporated these tools into its decision-making process.

The settlement requires regulators to install three air monitors around the US Ecology North facility and make the data public. The deal also calls for community health improvement strategies for northeast Detroit in partnership with residents and efforts to boost public involvement during the licensing process. The state must also identify communities with limited English proficiency and provide translation services during the permitting process.

Advocates note that language barriers were a concern when the US Ecology expansion was considered. Many Yemeni and Bangladeshi Americans live near the facility, but EGLE only provided translation for one meeting, where State Rep. Abraham Aiyash (D-Hamtramck) said translators were “not able to effectively get the message across. A lot of folks were left confused.” 

Michiganders may not have to wait very long to see how this new permitting process plays out. EGLE spokesperson Hugh McDiarmid said hazardous waste facilities are required to renew their licenses every ten years.

And while the current settlement only applies to hazardous waste permitting, Leonard said he’s hopeful that it could be used to inform air and water permitting as well.

“We just want to get the state…ingraining these concepts of environmental justice and cumulative impacts into their decision-making,” he said. “This is our first step in doing so.”

This article first appeared on Planet Detroit and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.