A Michigan lawmaker says he will continue calling for higher fees and tougher regulation of landfills in the state.

Michigan state Senator Darrin Camilleri pressed for the legislation last year as environmental officials weighed whether to renew the license of the Wayne Disposal site in Van Buren Township. Ownership also wanted to increase the size of the landfill by 24%.

The landfill became embroiled in controversy after its owners initially planned to accept toxic material left over from the first atomic bomb project.

Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) recently approved the site’s vertical expansion. But Camilleri says that result is not sitting well with those who live near the site.

The following interview has been edited for clarity.

Michigan state Sen. Darrin Camilleri: Just like my constituents, I am deeply disappointed and frustrated that EGLE decided to expand this toxic waste facility that sits in the middle of our communities. It’s something we’ve been fighting against for many years now. I’m trying my best to regulate it at the state level. But we have not been able to push these regulatory bills through the entire process. Renewing its license is just another slap in the face to my communities. They have said that they do not want to have these types of facilities in their backyard.

The toxic waste that we are getting from all over the country should not be dumped right here in Michigan. That’s been our number one calling point. Michigan is not your dumping ground and we should be doing more to push back against these types of facilities. So of course, when we heard about the permit getting approved, my residents and I were just devastated.

Quinn Klinefelter, WDET News: Michigan regulators said they had to address issues raised by the public. But they added that those issues could not be the basis for denying the landfill a license. Regulators say the facility doesn’t present any hazard to public health or the environment based on their monitoring of air, groundwater, etc. in and near the site. With all that being the case, do you see any other options for those who would be concerned about this expansion? Or is it just a done deal and live with it now?

DC: We have won in court when it came to the nuclear waste that came out of the Manhattan Project in New York and keeping it out of Michigan. Our local community leadership, including our mayors and supervisors, led the charge against those shipments and won in court. So there are options on the table to halt this type of material from coming into Michigan, but we do need to do more.

That’s why I  introduced bills further regulating landfills. We passed them out of the state senate and they’re currently sitting in the state house with no opportunities that we know of, so far, for movement. House Republicans have basically indicated that they are not interested in regulating these facilities. Which is really frustrating, because this is not a Democratic or Republican issue.

When I have town halls on these topics in Van Buren Township or in Wayne County, Republicans as well as Democrats come asking for change. We delivered that promise out of the state senate. And I’m going to keep trying this term and, if not this term, we’re going to try again next term as well.

QK: Some people blame the so-called “tipping” fees that Michigan charges for waste disposal, which are very low compared to other states or countries, for making Michigan a magnet for trash. You have talked about raising those tipping fees. A few months ago, I spoke with Michigan House Speaker Matt Hall about it. He told me that raising the fees would be “a kind of tax on people” for their trash. What’s your reaction to Hall’s argument?

DC: When we look at the reasons why we have so much out-of-state waste coming into Michigan, whether it’s regular trash or toxic trash, it’s because we have had so many low fees for far too long. Michigan has the lowest tipping fees in the nation. And that is a problem for us if you want to rein-in these large corporations that are sending their trash and their waste to Michigan. I believe that it’s time to raise the tipping fees.

And even in the proposal that we passed out of the senate, Michigan would still charge one of the lowest fees of any state in the country. But it would add more revenue back to the environmental cleanup fund and also, critically, put some of that money generated from out-of-state companies trying to send trash here and return the funding back to local communities in Michigan.

So this actually is something that would benefit our local community leadership. And it’s something that I think would be a long-term deterrent to some of these out-of-state companies continuing to use Michigan as a dumping ground.

QK: When someone like Speaker Hall argues that higher tipping fees equal another tax on people for their trash, what’s your response to that?

DC: That’s just not accurate. The fees that we’re talking about are put onto large companies. We need to hold large companies accountable for dumping their trash and their toxic waste in our communities. And then the fees that are generated from that sector go directly back into our communities to help our local governments, as well as EGLE, clean up other toxic and hazardous waste sites all over the state of Michigan. So, it’s a win-win. And there really is no reason for us to not engage in this debate. We can have a back and forth on the number and the price of the potential tipping fee. But to simply say no without a conversation is not serious policymaking.

QK: I’ve gotten different narratives from different state regulators about just how much room Michigan actually has for more landfills. Some say the state won’t have any more space for them after the next decade or two. Others say the state will always be able to build new landfills if it’s necessary. Do you have any view about that situation?

DC: One of the things that we would require in our legislation is a statewide hazardous waste management plan. We’ve not had one done since the 1980’s. And as part of that plan, I would require state regulators to map out and examine this exact question. How much waste can we take in? How much room is there for additional types of facilities? Or have we already met our cap, which is what I hope is the case. And how do we ensure that we can prioritize Michigan waste first before accepting all this out-of-state and out-of-country material? Our regulators have not really done enough to plan-out the future. This is one thing that our legislation would address.

It’s critical that we continue this conversation. Because communities like mine in Downriver and western Wayne County do have a significant amount of hazardous waste and regular landfills across our region. And we want to make sure that we are protecting our environment, taking care of our communities and investing back into them so they are the types of places where people want to move to.

Having one of these facilities in a densely populated area is just not the right move. My goal is to ensure that if they are going to exist, that they are regulated to a higher standard and that it does cost more money to send waste to Michigan. Because right now, we are way too cheap and it’s way too attractive for these out-of-state companies to dump their waste here. We’re saying enough is enough.