‘Ground-Breaking’ Settlement Reached in Detroit Environmental Justice Case

According to an article in Detroit Metro Times, “Environmental activists reached a ‘groundbreaking settlement’ with Michigan regulators following a civil rights complaint over the state’s disproportionate licensing of hazardous waste facilities in predominantly Black, brown, and lower-income neighborhoods.” The settlement is regarding a complaint filed in 2020 by the Sierra Club, Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition, and residents who live near U.S. Ecology North facility in Detroit when the company decided to renew its license and permit to increase hazardous waste storage capacity, reports article author Steve Neavling. “The Great Lakes Environmental Law Center, which represented the group, argued that it was unfair to permit more hazardous waste storage in a neighborhood that is predominantly composed of lower-income residents and people of color,” Neavling writes.

Under the settlement agreement, residents near hazardous waste facilities will receive stronger protections. The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy will now be required to use a federal mapping tool called EJScreen that identifies areas facing environmental risks and challenges with the goal of preventing hazardous waste and other industrial facilities from disproportionately polluting lower-income communities or communities of color. The agreement also requires EGLE to work with communities to identify the most effective metaphors for gathering input, provide translation and interpretation services for communities with limited English proficiency, and install air monitors around U.S. Ecology North to gather and publish public air quality data.

This is a big win for lower-income, predominantly Black and Brown communities in Detroit that have been disproportionately impacted by the siting of polluting factories and waste storage facilities, the article says. “For decades, Michigan’s communities of color have been the dumping ground for hazardous waste from across the country … This settlement agreement commits Michigan to putting an end to this legacy of environmental racism by centering the community in the hazardous waste licensing process through the use of Michigan’s environmental justice screening tool to conduct environmental justice and cumulative impact analyses,” Nick Leonard, executive director of the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center, told the Metro Times.