Public Comments Against Expansion of US Ecology
On July 31, 2019
THE COALITION TO OPPOSE THE EXPANSION OF US
ECOLOGY-NORTH contacted all 9 Hamtramck City Council Candidates.
The election is August 6,2019. The responses are listed below. \
Candidates Hassan, Musa, Jessop and Alsomiri did not respond.
ANAM MIAH
“I stand opposed to this before and I stand opposed to it now. Our community our people our children deserve to live in a healthy clean environment, again my stand is NO to expansion.”
NAYEEM CHOUDHURY
I am with you and majority group, no dumping bio hazardous in Detroit or near Hamtramck, i stand with no expansion of us ecology in Detroit or Hamtramck. Thank you.
SAAD ALMASMARI
Thanks Sharon, email sent. The picture as I remember is from 2015. I’m not opposing this because of votes. I’ve been against it for a long time.
Dear Coalition to appose the expansion of US ECOLOGY committee, thanks for working hard to stop that terrifying expansion. It is everyone's responsibility to do what they can to keep our air, water and environment clean and healthy. I've been against that expansion since 2015. And still ready to do anything can stop that. We can take any action in a personal or governmental level. These corporations don't care about us; All they care about is making money.
Best Regards
Councilman Saad Almasmari
ROBERT ZWOLAK
I am definitely opposed to the expansion of US ECOLOGY as I am disappointed also that the City of Hamtramck has a new rubbish center, weight station, transfer station at Vincent and Christopher street location. Development without public awareness or public hearing and how trash will be monitored there.
DR. CARRIE BETH LASLEY
I oppose US Ecology expansion. In addition to it being an environmental I justice to Hamtramck and Detroit residents it is counterintuitive to the direction of the area, which is moving away from dirt industry.
THE COALITION TO OPPOSE THE EXPANSION OF US
ECOLOGY-NORTH contacted all 9 Hamtramck City Council Candidates.
The election is August 6,2019. The responses are listed below. \
Candidates Hassan, Musa, Jessop and Alsomiri did not respond.
ANAM MIAH
“I stand opposed to this before and I stand opposed to it now. Our community our people our children deserve to live in a healthy clean environment, again my stand is NO to expansion.”
NAYEEM CHOUDHURY
I am with you and majority group, no dumping bio hazardous in Detroit or near Hamtramck, i stand with no expansion of us ecology in Detroit or Hamtramck. Thank you.
SAAD ALMASMARI
Thanks Sharon, email sent. The picture as I remember is from 2015. I’m not opposing this because of votes. I’ve been against it for a long time.
Dear Coalition to appose the expansion of US ECOLOGY committee, thanks for working hard to stop that terrifying expansion. It is everyone's responsibility to do what they can to keep our air, water and environment clean and healthy. I've been against that expansion since 2015. And still ready to do anything can stop that. We can take any action in a personal or governmental level. These corporations don't care about us; All they care about is making money.
Best Regards
Councilman Saad Almasmari
ROBERT ZWOLAK
I am definitely opposed to the expansion of US ECOLOGY as I am disappointed also that the City of Hamtramck has a new rubbish center, weight station, transfer station at Vincent and Christopher street location. Development without public awareness or public hearing and how trash will be monitored there.
DR. CARRIE BETH LASLEY
I oppose US Ecology expansion. In addition to it being an environmental I justice to Hamtramck and Detroit residents it is counterintuitive to the direction of the area, which is moving away from dirt industry.
At a 2018 meeting of the Coalition to Oppose the Expansion of US Ecology in which representatives of MDEQ were invited to come and answer our concerns, Richard Conforti said that he received more comments against this expansion during the public comment period than any other proposed permit in the history of the agency.
Of course "public comments" doesn't mean the public can actually see or learn from the comments. Only the MDEQ is able to view them. But by filing a request through the Freedom of Information Act, to make public all comments, we have now received some of the heartfelt, reasoned and scientific statements from residents, public figures, community organizations, environmentalists and scientists that were sent to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality in loud opposition to the ten-fold expansion of US Ecology. MDEQ deleted names and addresses of private citizens and left only the names of organizations and public individuals. There is not a single statement in favor of the expansion.
There are hundreds of statements from Detroit and Hamtramck mothers and grandmothers concerned about protecting the health of the children and the elderly who have lived in the area for decades, to a wounded veteran from Operation Iraqi Freedom demanding to know why no health impact study has been done, to many others asking why this factory was built in the neighborhood to begin with and demanding it be shut down altogether.
Towards the end are the attachments and the longer scientific letters by Terry Lodge, an environmental attorney, on behalf of Ban Michigan Fracking, a letter by Diane D'Arrigo, the Radioactive Waste Director at the Nuclear Information and Resources Service and an amazing letter from Kevin Kamps, Radioactive Waste Watchdog from Beyond Nuclear and a board member of Don't Waste Michigan, reminding us that Rachel Carson warned of the danger of the synergistic effects of chemical toxins and radioactivity. He also reminds us of the struggle environmental activists waged to prevent Michigan from being the dumping ground for nuclear waste.