What does it mean to live near a hazardous waste facility? Many residents of Detroit and Hamtramck know the answer all too well. From being nauseated and suffering a loss of appetite due to fumes and odors, to high levels of dust particles aggravating asthma and denying families the ability to open their windows to enjoy fresh air, the impacts are real and severe.
Worse is the unequal distribution of the risks inherent to hazardous waste arriving at facilities in Michigan every year. In its 2007 follow up to the seminal “Race and Toxic Waste,” researchers found Michigan to have the most egregiously disproportionate toxic waste burden in the nation.
Little has changed since. In 2017 316,548 tons of hazardous waste was received by Michigan’s eight hazardous waste facilities accepting offsite hazardous waste. While only 25% of the statewide population, minorities make up 65% of the communities residing within 3 miles of one of the eight facilities. Seven of eight are licensed in a location where the percentage of minorities within a three-mile radius is at or above the statewide average.
In effect, the continued siting of hazardous waste facilities among communities of color has labeled their neighborhoods as sacrificial zones, bearing the burden of society’s collective generation of hazardous waste.
The most recent siting decision highlights the ever-mounting threats to the health and justice of Michigan’s communities of color. The U.S. Ecology North facility is situated in Detroit near the city’s border to southeast Hamtramck. 80% of residents within a 3-mile radius are minorities, the highest of any facility in the state. At the same time, the area encompasses some of the most densely populated immigrant communities in the state.
U.S. Ecology North received over 22,000 tons of hazardous waste in 2017. 98.7% was imported from outside of Wayne County. Yet, after five years of community resistance, the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) granted a license alteration that allows the facility to expand its storage capacity from 76,118 tons to 676,939 tons, a nearly 9-fold increase. Additionally, the license enables U.S. Ecology to convert three 30,000-gallon pits for the treatment of hazardous waste.
On Monday, July 27, the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center submitted a discrimination complaint to EGLE on behalf of community members seeking to finally put an end to the practices that have allowed this discriminatory burden to mount. At its core, this complaint seeks not only to ensure compliance with the federal civil rights law to which it is bound but also to aid EGLE in achieving its mission of assuring environmental justice for all Michiganders.
The complaint includes firsthand testimony of victims, scientific studies, and analysis of dozens of datasets, as well as historical and legal context. In all, the complaint builds an eye-opening case for our state to alter its practices to protect the people, no matter their race or national origin, from predatory corporations perpetuating our nation’s history of racist practices in pursuit of millions of dollars for executives at the expense of Michigan’s people of color.
Through this complaint, we hope to be one step closer to standing side-by-side with EGLE and state leadership in unwaveringly putting into practice a deeply held belief that black and brown lives do matter.
News - Great Lakes Environmental Law Center
News - Great Lakes Environmental Law Center
https://www.glelc.org/our-blog/2020/8/2/community-residents-environmental-justice-advocates-call-on-the-michigan-department-of-environment-great-lakes-and-energy-to-address-discrimination-in-location-of-hazardous-waste-facilities