DETROIT — A judge has stopped government contractors in five states from sending hazardous waste to a Michigan landfill after a year of legal challenges by Detroit-area communities concerned about possible environmental impacts.

Wayne County Judge Kevin Cox said the risk was "substantial and compelling" and outweighed the financial harm to Wayne Disposal, a suburban Detroit landfill operated by trash giant Republic Services.

Cox's injunction, signed Tuesday, bars Wayne Disposal from accepting waste from Luckey, Ohio; Middletown, Iowa; Deepwater, New Jersey; Lewiston, New York; and St. Louis.

Those cleanup sites are managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and its contractors. The waste includes materials that were produced for weapons, early atomic energy and other uses before and af

See Full Page