The State’s callous disregard for local public opinion as to the method of disposal insisting on burial rather than incineration, resulted in a great popular outcry and disturbance that was heard around the world.
In retrospect, nearly 30 years later, the PBB Protest might be considered a very costly exercise in Bureaucracy versus the People. There were no clear winners, but bureaucracy was stopped in its tracks by a handful of irate and concerned citizens who valued protecting the environment over their immediate safety and livelihood. 1978 is the year those individuals remember spending all summer on the PBB Picket Line along M33 and Mt Tom Roads between Fairview and Mio. It was a desperate effort to keep Oscoda County clean and free from hazardous wastes. That effort was not in vain. The circuit court found that incineration of the cattle was a feasible and prudent alternative to burial, although one pit with a 20 foot clay liner was already under construction and was used for tht purpose.
For more information, call the Michigan Magazine Museum, 989.848.2246
Kind Regards, Nelson Yoder, Museum Curator
