We, the undersigned, respectfully urge the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners to oppose any proposal to build and operate a new landfill in Salem Township.

Michigan already has more than twenty years of landfill capacity, including excess space at existing regional facilities, and state policy emphasizes recycling, composting, and waste reduction rather than building new landfills. Committing to a NEW LANDFILL that would operate for 50+ years is a backward-looking decision that locks our region into outdated waste practices just as Michigan is working to move away from landfilling.

Arbor Hills has a serious history of noncompliance, including dozens of environmental violations, more than a million dollars in fines, odors, leachate management issues, and PFOS contamination. EGLE has received over one thousand odor complaints from this facility in recent years, and increasing the landfill's capacity would predictably worsen impacts on surrounding communities.

The current landfill operator has knowingly discharged elevated PFOS into Johnson Creek, withheld critical discharge data, and publicly denied the problem, undermining the trust essential for overseeing a multigenerational landfill. No community should authorize a new landfill operated by an operator that has concealed contamination concerns rather than transparently address them.

Salem Township and Washtenaw County receive substantial annual revenues from Arbor Hills while neighboring Northville and Plymouth Townships bear the burdens of PFOS contamination, odors, traffic, noise, and depressed property values. This pattern shifts environmental and health risks onto nearby communities and is neither fair nor responsible regional decision-making.

For these reasons, we call on the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners to reject any proposal for a new landfill in Salem Township and instead prioritize waste reduction, recycling, composting, and other modern, community-protective strategies for managing solid waste.