State let the city down in toxic waste matter

Apparently, the state doesn’t care about the health and well-being of our residents.
Words can’t express the outrage felt in the community about the state’s recent decision to allow radioactive waste to be stored at a recycling plant about a mile east of Hamtramck.
The state Department of Environmental Quality certainly didn’t live up to its agency name in giving the green light to U.S. Ecology to process 4,500 tons of nasty toxic waste each day.
Some of it is radioactive waste from fracking – a practice that ought to be outlawed.
Despite protests from residents both here and in Detroit, the state caved in to the wishes of the company.
Where was Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in this decision?
We thought we had an ally in the new Democratic governor, but instead there has only been silence from her office.
The decision actually isn’t much of a surprise. Polluters, it seems, are too often given permission to do their business in inner cities, because, heck, politicians don’t give a crap about the lives of those folks, most of whom are living in poverty.
There was one politician, however, who deserves praise for standing up for us little folks. State Rep. Isaac Robinson (D-Detroit), whose district includes Hamtramck, led the charge against allowing toxic waste to come into our community.
Despite his attempts to get two bills heard that would have barred the waste, the party hacks in the state legislature never let those bills see the light of day.
We hate to repeat this cliché, but folks: elections indeed have consequences.
Feb. 7, 2020