Original Story: freep.com
Disposal of low-level radioactive fracking waste does not harm Michigan's environment under current rules, a panel appointed by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder determined, and a Van Buren Township landfill could even handle higher radioactivity levels without risk.
Those are among the findings in a report issued Friday by a panel appointed by Snyder. The group of regulators, academics, environmentalists and representatives of the oil and gas, medical and landfill industries was convened after public outcry following Free Press reports last summer on the Wayne Disposal landfill importing radioactive fracking waste from other states.
USEcology, owner of the Wayne Disposal facility between I-94 and Willow Run Airport in Van Buren Township, voluntarily suspended accepting low-activity radioactive waste while the panel convened. A spokesman said Friday the landfilling of the waste, called technologically enhanced, naturally occurring radioactive material or TENORM, would now resume.
"Southeast Michigan is the new ground zero for radioactive frack waste now that the state panel is done with its secret meetings," said LuAnne Kozma, a campaign director with the nonprofit Committee to Ban Fracking in Michigan.
TENORM involves materials whose low, naturally occurring radiation levels are increased through human activities that concentrate them. The controversial oil and gas drilling practice known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is a major generator of it.
A Free Press report last August highlighted Wayne Disposal's plans to accept up to 36 tons of radioactive fracking sludge from a Pennsylvania oil and gas drilling company — after it had been turned away by landfills in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Wayne Disposal on its website advertises its ability as one of few landfills in the U.S. capable of accepting TENORM waste.
"With the panel's affirmation of the current disposal limits, we plan to resume normal business operations which may entail disposal of TENORM from a variety of sources, possibly including oil and gas fracking activities," USEcology spokesman David Crumrine said Friday.
He added that the panel found licensed hazardous waste facilities like Wayne Disposal are "especially well equipped to dispose of TENORM," with their special liners and enhanced monitoring.
"I'm shocked and appalled," said Justin Juriga, a Van Buren Township resident who lives less than a mile from the landfill.
"There are higher forces at work here, political higher forces."
Ken Yale, chief of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality's radiological protection section, said the panel, over the course of multiple meetings, determined the state's radiation limit of 50 picocuries per gram, established in 1996, remains an acceptable level.
There is no federal standard for radiation levels related to TENORM and its disposal. The North Dakota Department of Health -- a state where oil and gas drilling is particularly intense -- commissioned a study on TENORM landfilling risks from the Argonne National Laboratory, a U.S. Department of Energy research laboratory at the University of Chicago. The study, released last month, found drill pad workers, those transporting TENORM and the general public all face exposure risks far below the federal and international standard for maximum radioactive doses. But to minimize the exposure risk to landfill workers, the laboratory recommended a number of steps, including restricting annual TENORM volumes at landfills to 25,000 tons per year and the radioactivity levels of the waste to no more than 50 picocuries per gram.
Yale said the findings of the North Dakota study influenced the Michigan panel's recommendations.
Wayne Disposal had requested the DEQ allow it a tenfold increase in allowed radioactivity, up to 500 picocuries per gram, last year, but withdrew the request last October. Yale said the panel's report found "because of the extra controls that are in place at a Type I landfill, the DEQ could consider evaluating that for possibly having a higher level," but no plans are imminent.
Wayne Disposal takes materials at higher radiological levels after an adjacent USEcology facility, Michigan Disposal, mixes them with inert substances to reduce radioactivity to an acceptably low level for the landfill.
The panel recommends that all landfills accepting TENORM restrict its placement to at least 10 feet below the bottom of a landfill cap, and said DEQ Director Dan Wyant should consider requiring landfills to restrict the total volume of TENORM waste placed annually, to limit worker exposure. Radium-226, commonly found in TENORM, decays to radon 222, a potential carcinogen through inhalation.
"You could get into an issue, and you have to look at worker safety," Yale said. "Their exposure may be above what would be allowed for the public, and that would mean you either put them in the classification of radiation workers, which includes a number of requirements for their protection, or you limit the volume that is being brought in to the landfills."
DEQ officials will review the comments and reconvene the governor's panel if necessary to address any issues they raise, Yale said.
Juriga said the panel's findings, and the landfill's expanding activity disposing of radioactive fracking waste, leave few good choices.
"As a community, do we band together, pool our resources and look at some legal recourse? Is that a thoughtful option? Or do I just move away from the township I grew up in, the community I love and adore, the watershed I've been a part of and tried to protect my whole life? This is what I have to weigh."
Showing posts with label Governor Snyder. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Governor Snyder. Show all posts
19 February 2015
08 April 2014
SNYDER CHALLENGED ON COUSIN'S OFFICE FURNITURE DEALINGS WITH STATE
Original Story: Detroit News.com
Detroit — Gov. Rick Snyder was called out by a Democratic official Monday at a breakfast forum over allegations of nepotism involving the governor’s cousin’s office furniture company.
“How can you justify cutting education and raising (taxes on the) senior and middle class, but at the same time doubling office furniture spending with a company owned by your cousin?” Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Lon Johnson asked at the Michigan Chronicle’s Pancakes and Politics breakfast gathering.
The question — surrounding the Republican governor’s cousin, George Snyder, and his company DBI Business Interiors — drew oohs from the crowd of nearly 400 people.
Snyder rebuffed Johnson by saying he wouldn’t be baited by “old-school politics” and “people looking to fight.”
“His company has been doing office furniture with state of Michigan business for decades,” Snyder said. “He has a contract ... with the state of Michigan. Do you know when that deal was done? Before I took office. So there’s nothing to this at all. It’s basically people trying to occupy time and space and make this a story, so we’ll spend so less time working on jobs. And I won’t play that game.”
The crowd applauded at Snyder’s response.
Bobby Schostak, chairman of the Michigan Republican Party, followed Johnson’s question by sniping: “How about we get to something a bit more substantive” before asking Snyder about job creation.
Johnson is claiming that George Snyder’s contract with the state was doubled from $19 million to $41 million on Rick Snyder’s watch. The contract actually is with Holland-based Haworth Inc., which hires George Snyder’s DBI to install furniture. The amount of money from the Haworth contracts paid to DBI is not known.
Last month, the Michigan Democratic Party — citing a batch of newly unearthed emails from 2011 — also raised new questions about the governor’s secretive nonprofit group, the New Energy to Reinvent and Diversify (NERD) Fund.
“Republican Gov. Snyder is still dodging the $41 million question — why he doubled his cousin's new furniture contract, all while cutting education and placing unfair new taxes on our seniors and middle-class families,” said Johnson said in a statement after the forum. “This governor's use of the secret NERD Fund to ensure special treatment for his cousin and for campaign donors gives new meaning to the phrase 'friends and family first.' That's why this governor and his NERD Fund need to be investigated immediately.”
The state Department of Technology, Management and Budget has said the state is spending more on new furniture because it is consolidating state office space and getting out of leased buildings and trying to fill in state-owned buildings. The department is opting for new furniture, rather than moving around and refurbishing the old — something DBI does, too.
The DTMB also notes it did not spend the full $19 million or $41 million, which are spending caps in the contract.
Earlier, Snyder on Monday discussed a post-bankruptcy Detroit and his expectations for the city after emergency manager oversight ends, comparing it to New York City after its financial crisis in the 1980s.
Snyder said he envisions the bankruptcy will be “largely closed” upon Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr’s targeted exit in October with some “post-transition agreement” and a board to oversee the city’s finances.
“The illustration I would give you is New York City,” Snyder said. “New York City didn’t go bankrupt, but they had a huge financial crisis and in order to make sure they were able to borrow and able to continue on a path they actually set up a board to provide some good oversight financial matters to make sure good financial practices were being done.
“But I don’t think anyone in the city knew they were there because the main thing is as long as the city was running well, the board didn’t have much to do.”
Snyder called the collaboration between Mayor Mike Duggan and Orr one of the “great success stories” around the country, noting it hasn’t been a “normal environment” for a mayor.
When addressing education, Snyder downplayed a rumor that if re-elected, he would appoint Duggan as CEO of Detroit Public Schools.
“I’m not going to speculate on something,” Snyder said. “That’s a hypothetical that’s out there.”
Snyder also declined to give Orr a grade when asked to do so during the question-and-answer portion of the discussion, but said he thought Orr was doing a “very good job” on settling the anxiety over the city’s historic bankruptcy.
“We gave a timetable when we said we would like to get that resolved,” Snyder said. “We are probably within a couple weeks of that original timetable. ... Stuff is getting done, folks. We are cleaning up 50 years of mess.”
Detroit — Gov. Rick Snyder was called out by a Democratic official Monday at a breakfast forum over allegations of nepotism involving the governor’s cousin’s office furniture company.
“How can you justify cutting education and raising (taxes on the) senior and middle class, but at the same time doubling office furniture spending with a company owned by your cousin?” Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Lon Johnson asked at the Michigan Chronicle’s Pancakes and Politics breakfast gathering.
The question — surrounding the Republican governor’s cousin, George Snyder, and his company DBI Business Interiors — drew oohs from the crowd of nearly 400 people.
Snyder rebuffed Johnson by saying he wouldn’t be baited by “old-school politics” and “people looking to fight.”
“His company has been doing office furniture with state of Michigan business for decades,” Snyder said. “He has a contract ... with the state of Michigan. Do you know when that deal was done? Before I took office. So there’s nothing to this at all. It’s basically people trying to occupy time and space and make this a story, so we’ll spend so less time working on jobs. And I won’t play that game.”
The crowd applauded at Snyder’s response.
Bobby Schostak, chairman of the Michigan Republican Party, followed Johnson’s question by sniping: “How about we get to something a bit more substantive” before asking Snyder about job creation.
Johnson is claiming that George Snyder’s contract with the state was doubled from $19 million to $41 million on Rick Snyder’s watch. The contract actually is with Holland-based Haworth Inc., which hires George Snyder’s DBI to install furniture. The amount of money from the Haworth contracts paid to DBI is not known.
Last month, the Michigan Democratic Party — citing a batch of newly unearthed emails from 2011 — also raised new questions about the governor’s secretive nonprofit group, the New Energy to Reinvent and Diversify (NERD) Fund.
“Republican Gov. Snyder is still dodging the $41 million question — why he doubled his cousin's new furniture contract, all while cutting education and placing unfair new taxes on our seniors and middle-class families,” said Johnson said in a statement after the forum. “This governor's use of the secret NERD Fund to ensure special treatment for his cousin and for campaign donors gives new meaning to the phrase 'friends and family first.' That's why this governor and his NERD Fund need to be investigated immediately.”
The state Department of Technology, Management and Budget has said the state is spending more on new furniture because it is consolidating state office space and getting out of leased buildings and trying to fill in state-owned buildings. The department is opting for new furniture, rather than moving around and refurbishing the old — something DBI does, too.
The DTMB also notes it did not spend the full $19 million or $41 million, which are spending caps in the contract.
Earlier, Snyder on Monday discussed a post-bankruptcy Detroit and his expectations for the city after emergency manager oversight ends, comparing it to New York City after its financial crisis in the 1980s.
Snyder said he envisions the bankruptcy will be “largely closed” upon Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr’s targeted exit in October with some “post-transition agreement” and a board to oversee the city’s finances.
“The illustration I would give you is New York City,” Snyder said. “New York City didn’t go bankrupt, but they had a huge financial crisis and in order to make sure they were able to borrow and able to continue on a path they actually set up a board to provide some good oversight financial matters to make sure good financial practices were being done.
“But I don’t think anyone in the city knew they were there because the main thing is as long as the city was running well, the board didn’t have much to do.”
Snyder called the collaboration between Mayor Mike Duggan and Orr one of the “great success stories” around the country, noting it hasn’t been a “normal environment” for a mayor.
When addressing education, Snyder downplayed a rumor that if re-elected, he would appoint Duggan as CEO of Detroit Public Schools.
“I’m not going to speculate on something,” Snyder said. “That’s a hypothetical that’s out there.”
Snyder also declined to give Orr a grade when asked to do so during the question-and-answer portion of the discussion, but said he thought Orr was doing a “very good job” on settling the anxiety over the city’s historic bankruptcy.
“We gave a timetable when we said we would like to get that resolved,” Snyder said. “We are probably within a couple weeks of that original timetable. ... Stuff is getting done, folks. We are cleaning up 50 years of mess.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
