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Hazardous waste bills head to governor’s desk

LANSING, MI (MPRN)--   Lawmakers are sending two bills to the governor’s desk that could change Michigan’s rules on disposing of some radioactive waste.

One bill changes rules around how a type of low-level radioactive waste called TENORM can be dumped at a landfill. This type of waste is a common byproduct of fracking for oil and gas.

Under the proposed changes, the creator of the waste would be mandated to share information about the waste with the landfill. Landfill operators could also request to store waste with higher radioactivity—up to ten times more than is currently allowed. That’s if they institute a monitoring program.  

Republican State Senator Tom Casperson is a bill sponsor.

“For me it seems like it stabilized or set the tone for consistency. And that’s what everybody on both sides were asking for. They wanted some things to be consistent, knowing what they can and can’t do.”

Another bill would charge landfills $5 per ton of radioactive waste and require that money to go into a pollution prevention fund.