Dive Brief:
- A hazardous waste landfill operator in Michigan announced that it will suspend the delivery of radioactive materials arriving from a Pennsylvania fracking company until a review is conducted by the state.
- The Environmental Quality (EQ) Company decided to halt the delivery as Michigan Governor Rick Snyder announced plans to form an expert panel that will scrutinize state standards for the disposal of low-level radioactive waste materials.
- EQ accepted the radioactive waste from various states, including Pennsylvania and Michigan, at the Wayne Disposal landfill in Belleville, MI.
Dive Insight:
The readioactive waste panel will be created through the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). It will review standards and determine where improvements can be made in order to protect the public and the environment.
Mark Schauer, a Democratic gubernatorial candidate, says the state should do more than simply commission a review panel. "Michigan cannot be a repository of hazardous waste that other states will not accept,” he said.
A number of states have been playing "hot potato" with the fracking sludge. In May 2014, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection issued an order for the Meadowfill landfill in West Virginia to cease accepting the waste. The agency said it halted the action until it could determine why a Pennsylvania site previously rejected the sludge.
The waste contains low levels of radioactivity that were later deemed acceptable by the West Virginia DEP -- but it was still diverted to the Meadowfill landfill, where it has now come face-to-face with yet another barrier.