A federal agency has announced the resumption of sending hazardous waste from Ohio to a landfill in Michigan, despite ongoing legal battles in suburban Detroit to prevent waste from a historic site in New York. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been transporting materials from Luckey, Ohio, where beryllium, a toxic metal, was manufactured for military purposes following World War II. This initiative hit a pause last week when a judge in the Detroit area issued a temporary order halting plans for the landfill to receive low-level radioactive waste from Lewiston, New York.

Wayne County Judge Kevin Cox recently adjusted his order to specifically apply to Lewiston, aiming to eliminate any uncertainties in the decision. Further court hearings are set for early October to delve into the matter. Situated in Van Buren Township, 25 miles west of Detroit, Wayne Disposal is among the limited number of landfills in the United States equipped to handle certain types of hazardous waste.

A spokesperson for the Army Corps, Avery Schneider, confirmed, “We have resumed safely shipping material” from Ohio to Michigan. The landfill in Michigan is managed by Republic Services, which asserts that it adheres strictly to regulations governing the safe handling of hazardous materials. No waste from New York has been transported to Michigan yet. The contaminated soil in Lewiston is a remnant of the Manhattan Project, the clandestine government endeavor to create atomic bombs during World War II.