FeedsCity criticizes notice of well reopening
State Sen. Ray Basham (D-Taylor) responded Monday night to criticism about the way the City of Romulus was notified about the potential re-opening of the hazardous waste injection wells in the community.
City officials learned of a potential consent agreement between the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the new owners of the wells through a second party source-after organizations such as the Wayne County Democratic Club were notified via email.
“It’s tough enough when you’re getting bad news,” said Council President Leroy Burcroff. “When you’re getting bad news from the street instead of your representative-that’s where the sting is.”
Brian Peters, a spokesperson for Basham, said the senator remained opposed to the re-opening of the wells and that not notifying the city was an oversight from the office.
In a prepared statement, Basham said he has been fighting the issue since he was first elected to office in 1997.
“My office has spent thousands of hours in opposition of this,” he said in the statement.
The community has fought the injection wells for nearly 20 years. Even so, they were opened briefly in 2006 only to be shut down a few months later because of several violations that had taken place there. The former company that operated them EDS, Inc, went bankrupt and essentially abandoned them, but Detroit businessman Jim Pappas attempted to resurrect the wells.
Last year, the permit for the wells was rejected by the EPA and the DNR and city officials thought the battle was over for good. But the State of Michigan did not schedule an administrative hearing—the final step in the process.
“The attorney general’s office failed to ever facilitate that action, although that action had been requested for nearly a year,” wrote Basham. He said that Attorney General Mike Cox would not meet with him nor State Rep. Doug Geiss (D-Dearborn Heights) on the issue.
In March, the state and the EPA was sued in an attempt to get the hazardous waste injection wells open again. Basham said he learned on July 1 that the state has signed a consent agreement with EGT, Inc, a firm created to take over the operation of the wells by RDD, an investment firm set up by the Detroit Police and Fire Retirement System, to pay $60,000 in fines in order halt a lawsuit against the EPA and the DNR and allow the site to re-open.
“It’s an extremely unacceptable outcome, from my perspective,” said Basham.
Basham, now term-limited out of office and seeking election to the Wayne County Commission, notified several organizations about the issue, but did not directly contact anyone in the City of Romulus. He said that was an oversight from his office.
“I certainly did not keep the information from the city intentionally,” he said. “I take great exception to comments about back-room deals.”
Burcroff said he understood that Basham was still opposed to the idea of operating the hazardous waste injection wells in the Romulus.
“He’s been a good advocate for us through the years,” said Burcroff.
Mayor Alan Lambert agreed.
“We’ll continue to fight it, as well,” he said. “We’ll continue to work along with (Basham).”
