What happens if we do nothing?

Negative Health Impacts

Wayne County has high rates of lung cancer - and it’s directly correlated to industries that produce diesel emissions and particulate matter.

With hundreds of additional trains and semi-trucks at a site like McLouth Steel or the Riverview landfill, not only are we putting our long term health at risk - we’re increasing delays for our community to access critical emergency care at our hospitals in situations where a few seconds can make the difference.

Negative Economic Impacts

According to McKinsey & Company, one of the world’s leading corporate management consulting firms, transportation and warehousing (intermodal shipping) has the third highest automation potential of any sector. What this means for Trenton and Downriver is clear - in the long term, this type of development won’t create jobs. It’ll create rows of robots, and opportunities for overseas manufacturers to import goods from foreign countries.

Automation, combined with no tax revenue from ports being quasi-government entities, leaves residents and municipal governments holding the bag on infrastructure repairs - while huge businesses generate record-breaking profits without having to contribute to city services like parks, ice rinks, and the school system.

Comparison of Taxable Value per acre of industrial development and mixed-use development

What happens if we

Show Up?

Positive Health Impacts

Higher use standards create better cleanup standards. When we show up at meetings, we send the message to our government and elected officials that we’re paying attention, and that we want our taxes to contribute to what benefits us as residents.

The McLouth Steel site is on the National Priorities List as a Superfund Site - and according to the EPA, public comment and input changes the trajectory and standards of this cleanup.

The Riverview Landfill is owned by the City of Riverview - it’s not a private business, which means public input, comment, and elections all have the ability to shape the development of this project.

DTE is a regulated utility, which means that public input shapes policy and decision making in a way that gives our communities input and say.

Positive Economic Impacts

While logistics and shipping are some of the jobs most likely to be automated, according to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, skilled trade and some labor jobs in emerging sectors are projected to be the fastest growing through 2030:

And creating public waterfront access a mile down the river from the only International Wildlife Refuge in North America has economic benefits too (like Detroit’s Riverwalk transforming a heavy industrial waterfront into the best Riverwalk in the United States):