PROTEST HAZARDOUS RADIOACTIVE WASTE IN DETROIT’S BLACK COMMUNITY
Mt. Elliot neighborhood near US Ecology.
US Ecology 6520 Georgia.
Ban fracking campaign will hold demonstration at US Ecology site in Detroit in protest of frack waste facility’s tenfold expansion plans
Oct. 2, 2015
CHARLEVOIX, MICH. – The Committee to Ban Fracking in Michigan, a grassroots ballot initiative campaign gathering signatures for a ballot proposal to ban horizontal fracking and frack wastes, will join a protest rally on October 3, at 10 a.m. outside the U.S. Ecology hazardous waste processing facility. The address of the site is: 6520 Georgia St, Detroit. Attached is a flyer for the event.
Hazardous waste worker
Fracking and the disposal of frack wastes continue in the state. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality permitted 10 more horizontal wells in Grand Traverse, Manistee and Crawford counties in 2015.
The hazardous waste processing facility in Detroit, which takes 40% of its wastes from out-of-state, including some from oil and gas operations, is likely to be approved by DEQ to expand its operations ten-fold. Reporting on the expansion Friday, the Detroit Free Press cited US Ecology’s admission that liquid waste treated by the facility is going into the Detroit Water and Sewer Department system, which provides water to the entire metro Detroit area.[1] The ballot initiative would prevent such wells and frack waste processing and disposal.
Hamtramck Senior Plaza on Holbrook near US Ecology.
The public is on the Committee’s side in knowing the dangers of fracking and frack wastes. In May, a poll by Public Policy Polling indicated a strong majority of fifty-five percent (55%) of Michigan voters would vote yes to support the Committee’s ballot proposal to ban fracking and frack wastes statewide, change the current law that requires the State to foster the gas and oil industry and put in its place a requirement that human health and the environment be protected during oil and gas development, and give Michigan residents the right to sue if the fracking industry violates the ban. Only 32% oppose the measure, and 12% are not sure.
An overwhelming majority, sixty-four percent (64%) of those polled, support a ban on frack wastes being disposed of in Michigan, including frack wastes produced in other states, after hearing that currently frack wastes, including radioactive drill cuttings, muds and sludges, and millions of gallons of fluids containing toxic chemicals, are disposed of in Michigan landfills, injection wells and at Michigan gas drilling sites.
Committee to Ban Fracking in Michigan is a ballot question committee registered with the State of Michigan Bureau of Elections. The Committee’s website is: www.letsbanfracking.org. To learn more about the poll results, click here.
CONTACT: Committee to Ban Fracking in Michigan, www.LetsBanFracking.org LuAnne Kozma, Campaign Director, 231-944-8750 luanne@letsbanfracking.org
Related from VOD:
I attended the protest on 10/03/15
Please keep me updated on events.
I live with my two kids about mile way from Fracking side. I am wonder how would Michigan Department of Environment allow such a dangers hazardous waste processing facility which very populated area.
I ask all the residents of Hamtramck and Detroit join the protes.
Eftikhar
I’ve been searching for what extent the DetNews and Freep and VOD share news stories.
The Freep reporting citing US Ecology referred to above may be via http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2015/09/10/hazardous-waste-deq-toxic-chemicals/71950318/
Any direct citations from Detroit Free Press and News articles are identified as such in VOD stories. VOD does extensive research on its stories, far beyond what the rest of the media generally does, and reports our stories as accurately as possible, even when that means contradicting information in the rest of the media. I have no idea what the Freep and News do with VOD stories, whether they write their own based on issues we raise or not. The local media did use to follow up on some of the stories I wrote for the Michigan Citizen, and identified their source as that paper.
Where is Idaho storing Michigans solid radioactive wastes?
Michigan’s Department of Environmental Quality is considering a new permit for U.S. Ecology, expansion of operations 10x at a hazardous waste facility in Detroit for hazardous, and radioactive waste. The site, zoned for heavy industrial, has been used to treat and store waste products, including hazardous materials, for nearly 20 years. At U.S. Ecology, liquid radioactive wastes are processed for solidification, the solids are shipped to Idaho, and liquid residue from this processing is dumped into the Detroit waste water treatment plant.