Judge suspends delivery of radioactive soil from New York to Michigan

DETROIT (AP) — A judge stopped on Wednesday the delivery of World War II-era radioactive soil from New York to a Michigan landfill, a temporary victory for suburban Detroit communities that don’t want the waste.

Wayne County Judge Kevin Cox signed a restraining order two days after a lawsuit was filed by opponents seeking to stop the shipments. He set a hearing for Sept. 26.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is managing the removal of low-level radioactive soil from Lewiston, New York, a legacy of the Manhattan Project, the secret government project to develop atomic bombs during World War II featured in the 2023 movie “Oppenheimer.”

Wayne Disposal in Van Buren Township, 25 miles (40 kilometers) west of Detroit, is considered to be the closest licensed facility that can take the hazardous material, according to the Army Corps.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Belleville, Romulus, Canton Township and Van Buren Township, came after a tense town hall meeting and claims by elected officials that they were in the dark about the plan.

Anne Marie Graham-Hudak, the elected supervisor in Canton, said there’s a school just 500 feet (152 meters) from the landfill. She’s pleased with the judge’s order.

<bsp-list-loadmore data-module="" class=«PageListStandardB» data-gtm-region=«RELATED COVERAGE» data-gtm-topic=«No Value» data-show-loadmore=«true» data-parsely-url=«https%3A%2F%2Fapi.parsely.com%2Fv2%2Frelated%3Fapikey%3Dapnews.com%26url%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Fapnews.com%2Farticle%2Fmichigan-manhattan-project-radioactive-waste-f494d36ede692c8ac0b15629c72dfb6c%26limit%3D9%26respect_empty_results%3D1%26sort%3D_score%26pub_date_start%3D2024-08-04%26exclude%3Dsection%3APress%20Releases%26exclude%3Dtags%3ACelebrity%20Birthdays»