VAN BUREN TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WXYZ) — Over the last several days, state and local leaders sounded off on toxic waste coming to Michigan from the East Palestine, Ohio train derailment.
The Environmental Protection Agency halted the shipments Friday.
Sunday, a protest took place outside Republic Services in Romulus. That's one of two metro Detroit locations scheduled to receive toxic waste from the Ohio derailment. Officials said some waste from the accident has already been dumped there.
On Sunday, Romulus City Council President Virginia Williams told 7 Action News that the community has been fighting the injection site for years.
"Knowing that the city does not supersede the federal government where they receive their permits from, we're definitely against and we're definitely trying to call in all the help we can get to stop this," she said.
It sits 10 miles away from the other marked dump site, U.S. Ecology in Van Buren Township, which is also owned by Republic Services.
Van Buren Township Supervisor Kevin McNamara told 7 Action News, “The site was built for that. We are thankful though. We don’t want it here, and we do care. We just as soon ship it somewhere else. We’re thankful also, for Debbie Dingell’s, Warren Evans and the governor’s office from stopping the shipment.”
McNamara said the landfill has been operating since World War II and has several protective layers to prevent damage to the environment.
“This is old news for them. We check them every single year. We talk to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, who double checks them every year. We are sure that if it's not the best facility in the country, it may be the best in the world," he explained.
Mark Cianteo, a Van Buren Township resident of 22 years, told 7 Action News that hearing of cross-state shipments wasn't a surprise.
"I've been here long enough to know they're bringing materials into the dump here from other places, from Canada, from other places in the country," he said.
Cianteo said he’s more concerned about why train derailments are taking place.
“We’re shipping oil by rail. We’re shipping all sorts of material by rail. So, the real question to me is you either stop all that or you figure out why you’re having the derailments," he said.
