TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder has ordered a review of Michigan’s standards for disposal of certain types of radioactive wastes to make sure they adequately protect the environment.
Snyder’s announcement Monday follows a recent Detroit Free Press report that a Wayne County landfill was expected to receive radioactive wastes that two other states had rejected. The wastes came from an oil and gas hydraulic fracturing operation in Pennsylvania.
Several state legislators say they’ll introduce bills to prevent such waste from being shipped to Michigan from elsewhere.
Snyder instructed the Department of Environmental Quality to assemble an expert team for the review.
Michigan’s standards for landfill disposal of radioactive wastes were set in 1996. DEQ spokesman Brad Wurfel says they were reviewed extensively then by scientists, public health officials and others.
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