ROMULUS, Mich. — Republican leaders and residents are demanding answers on why hazardous materials were set to be transported from East Palestine, Ohio, to Michigan without public input or warning.
About 50 people gathered at a Republic Services' site in Romulus Sunday afternoon, questioning plans to send substantial amounts of waste to privately-owned facilities in Van Buren Township and Romulus.
Michigan Republican Party Chairwoman Kristina Karamo was at the protest, along with residents, holding flags and sharing concerns.
"The Michigan Republican Party is demanding, just like every other resident in Michigan irrespective of political affiliation, that we have clean air and clean water. This is not a partisan issue, this is a human rights issue," Karamo said.
"We have questions. How much of this contaminated water and soil has been brought to Michigan? How has it been disposed? What has been disposed? What can residents do to protect themselves?" Karamo said.
Sunday's protest came after the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes & Energy said Friday night that planned additional shipments of hazardous materials from the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment to Wayne County were halted after objections from local elected officials.
Jaquline Blake, a resident of Romulus, said Sunday she was "stunned" to see an article that said Romulus would be the dumping site for the toxic waste coming from Ohio.
"I have to be here because I care about myself, I care about my neighbors, and I care about the other communities that will be impacted," Blake said.
Blake held a sign at the entrance of Republic Services' site along with several other protesters that said, "Don't Dump Poison Where People Live."
This is not her first time protesting for environmental rights in Romulus. "A company wanted to put an injection well in Romulus, maybe 30 years ago, and I protested against them.
"I have to come here to make my voice heard and also to find out what's happening," Blake, an educator, said. She believes the Trump administration is to blame because it "lessened the regulations which would've made it so that this derailment may not have happened."
Other sign holders were the family of Michele Enderle, of Waterford. She brought her three children to the rally and they all held signs that read "Save the World" and "Save the Children."
"What's happening to our whole word is crazy right now. I think we're being controlled and manipulated by our government. ... What happened in Ohio ... was an act of war," Enderle, 31, said.
"They're (the government) trying to cover it up, they're sneaking it around to dump around the country without telling anyone about it. They don't ever tell Americans about it."
The Call to Action HAZARD rally was organized by the Michigan Conservative Coalition and Wayne 12th Republicans Committee, which issued a statement saying Democratic leaders "think Michigan should become the dumping ground for East Palestine's hazardous waste!"
At Sunday's rally, state Rep. James DeSana, a Republican from Carleton, said the waste should remain in Ohio. "The accident was in Ohio, let's dispose of it in Ohio," DeSana said.
U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, an Ann Arbor Democrat, issued a statement in response to the rally calling on the Michigan Republican Party to work to find "real solutions" to protect residents from toxic waste.
"We need more than just PR stunts by members of our state GOP, we need them to join us in the fight for safe storage of hazardous waste. ... Let's work together to keep our communities safe," Dingell said.
State Sen. Darrin Camilleri, a Trenton Democrat, also released a statement Saturday questioning why the waste was being transported four hours away to Michigan instead of staying in Ohio and urged Republic Services to reject the waste for safety purposes.
"Residents of Romulus and Van Buren Township deserve to know what is happening in their communities, especially when it comes to hazardous materials coming in from out of state. The communities that have to take this toxic waste were just notified late this afternoon and told there is nothing they can do to stop it because Republic is a private company and can choose whether or not to take it — this is inexcusable.
"My office has been in conversation with EGLE and local officials and will be monitoring this issue closely, and I am calling for transparency and oversight in this process to ensure that the health and safety of our community are protected."
Dingell said during a Friday night news conference that EPA officials reported five trucks traveled to Michigan on Friday carrying material containing an estimated 1% vinyl chloride. "We were not given a heads up on this reported action," she said in a statement.
At the same news conference, Wayne County Executive Warren Evans said some of the contaminated material from Ohio already was in Michigan, but he didn't know the amount of the volume or "how it actually got here." Evans and other officials said they did not know the potential health hazards on a county with nearly 1.8 million residents. "We don't know the long-term impact of these chemicals," Evans said.
Evans said he learned materials were headed to two sites affiliated with Republic Services in southeast Michigan: liquid waste for deep-well injections in Romulus and solid substances going to Van Buren Township. Republic Services has acquired US Ecology, which has what its website describes as the only commercial hazardous waste landfill in Michigan.
Republic Industrial and Energy Solutions LLC in Romulus is a hazardous waste storage and treatment facility licensed to store hazardous waste in containers and tanks as well as treat hazardous waste in tanks, according to the state.
Evans said his team did not receive advance notice, and state officials "also got last minute bits and pieces of information." Though he learned government officials were making alternative arrangements for the materials, Evans said the situation was alarming.
"I'm not here to say anybody was attempting to do anything nefarious," he told reporters Friday night. "But I can say that the outward effect of it looks like we're being sandbagged."
In a statement, EGLE said it became aware of the shipments early Friday and the decision to pause them came from the Environmental Protection Agency.
The department "is working to monitor the disposal of hazardous soil and liquids from the Ohio train derailment at licensed hazardous waste facilities in Michigan to ensure that all health and environmental protection laws and procedures are rigorously adhered to," according to the statement.
"We expect any shipment of Ohio soils and liquids to be handled in accordance with all laws and regulations as any other contaminated site material that is disposed of at the facilities, which are subject to extensive monitoring to ensure that hazardous waste does not present a threat to the environment or human health."
The EPA has taken charge of the federal response this past week to the Feb. 3 toxic train derailment and ordered Norfolk Southern railway to pay for the cleanup and chemical release. President Joe Biden on Friday directed federal agencies to go door-to-door in East Palestine, Ohio, to check on families affected.
The freight cars that derailed on the East Palestine outskirts, near the Pennsylvania state line, included 11 carrying hazardous materials. Residents evacuated as fears grew about a potential explosion of smoldering wreckage. Worried about an uncontrolled blast, officials released and burned toxic vinyl chloride from five rail cars, sending flames and black smoke into the sky. That left people questioning potential health effects, though authorities maintained they were doing their best to protect people.
On Thursday, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said in a statement that under the direction of the state's EPA, "Norfolk Southern brought in large dump trucks to move contaminated soil to U.S. Ecology Wayne Disposal, a licensed hazardous waste disposal facility in Michigan."
At that point, 4,832 cubic yards of soil had been excavated and more might be removed, accoding to DeWine's office. "When the process begins to dig up the tracks and remove the soil underneath, that soil will be hauled away immediately and taken to a proper disposal facility," according to the Ohio governor's office.
DeWine's office said more than 1.7 million gallons of contaminated liquid has been removed from the immediate site of the derailment. More than 1.1 million gallons was hauled off-site, with most going to Texas Molecular, a hazardous waste disposal facility in Texas. A smaller amount was directed to Vickery Environmental in Vickery, Ohio, according to the release.
Roman Blahoski, director of external communications for Republic Services, said late Friday that his firm "was not in a position to confirm any decisions the EPA or state lawmakers may have made" about the shipments.
A representative for Norfolk Southern told The Detroit News only: "The material will be transported to landfills and disposal facilities that are designed to accept it safely in accordance with state and federal regulations. We are unable to disclose the locations."
EGLE said the department was informed about liquid waste from the Ohio wreck being disposed of in the Romulus site.
"This facility is also licensed federally and by the state, has rigorous monitoring and reporting requirements and is subject to unannounced inspections to ensure compliance," EGLE said Friday.
"While EGLE licenses, inspects, and oversees hazardous waste disposal facilities in conjunction with federal regulators, the state has no authority to either require approval for individual shipments of hazardous material, or to prohibit hazardous waste from being transported across state lines for disposal. Norfolk Southern Railroad chose the sites where wastes will be disposed."
