‘Zero Tolerance’ Township fighting landfill plan to discharge into Johnson Creek
By Lonnie Huhman and Kurt Kuban | Photos by Bryan Mitchell Dave Horan of The Conservancy Initiative
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group of Northville residents have long been concerned the Arbor Hills Landfill has had a detrimental impact on local air quality. Now they are raising the alarm that the landfill could also soon be impacting local waterways, including one of Wayne County’s last remaining trout streams. The Conservancy Initiative (TCI), founded five years ago by a group of concerned Northville residents, has discovered through a freedom of information request that the landfill’s owner, Advanced Disposal Services (ADS), has applied for state permits to treat leachate on site and then discharge it into nearby Johnson Creek. Leachate is the contaminated water that has percolated through the landfill or compost material. According to TCI, the landfill currently sends the leachate off-site to be treated and disposed at either commercial facilities or through the Great Lakes Water Authority. TCI is opposing the change, and has contacted state and local governmental officials. “This is all about ADS saving money with no regard for local natural resources,” said Dave Horan, a TCI board member, who lives in Steeple Chase, a subdivision of nearly 275 homes near Six Mile and Ridge. Northville Township officials are also opposing the permit request, according to Northville Township Supervisor Bob Nix, who said they are taking a “zero tolerance” stance on the issue.
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“Under no set of circumstances are we going to let this happen,” Nix said. “Johnson Creek is one of the only cold water streams in our area. We have no confidence they (ADS) would operate under the permit correctly. This is an irreplaceable natural resource.” Nix said he has been in regular contact with the township’s state representatives regarding issues with the landfill. Last fall, the township hired the lobbying firm Midwest Strategy at a cost of $3,000 per month to influence legislation that will impact landfills in the state. It is the township’s intention to prevent ADS from building a second landfill on the north side of Six Mile. Because the landfill is located in Salem Township (and Washtenaw County), Northville doesn’t really have a place at the table when it comes to decision making about Arbor Hills. A series of bills were introduced in the Michigan House of Representatives at the end of May (HB 5812 through HB5817) that will rewrite the way the state regulates solid waste, landfills, recycling and waste management. As of press time, the bills were being debated in the Natural Resources and Outdoor Recreation Committee. Nix was scheduled to address the committee in Lansing on June 9. “Our hope is to have a bordering community consent provision included in the legislation that would give us some say when it comes to preventing the expansion
of the landfill,” Nix said. “We wanted to get in front of this and make sure our voice is being heard.” ‘ECOLOGICALLY UNIQUE’ According to the documents obtained by TCI, Arbor Hills wants to discharge up to 15,000 gallons a day of leachate to Johnson Creek from a lined pond at the compost facility located north of Six Mile Road. The second permit would allow ADS to treat up to 80,000 gallons a day of leachate from the East Arbor Hills Landfill on-site and discharge the treated leachate to Johnson Creek. According to TCI, leachate from the closed East Arbor Hills Landfill has historically contained PCBs and therefore is collected separately from the adjacent and active West Arbor Hills Landfill leachate. TCI isn’t the only organization that thinks treated landfill leachate shouldn’t be discharged into Johnson Creek, which is located in the Rouge River watershed. According to the Friends of the Rouge, Johnson Creek is a delicate stream with healthy trout and aquatic insect populations – both indicators of high quality stream conditions. The group wants to make sure the permitting process is scrutinized and all pertinent factors are taken into account. “Considering the delicate and ecologically unique nature of Johnson Creek as a cold water tributary, the
