At first glance, the recently-erected mechanism that sits just east of Northville Township s Ridge Wood Elementary School looks like something that just escaped from a futuristic science lab.
The device decked out with appendages you might find on the Mars rover is actually a hydrogen sulfide air-monitoring station that was placed near the school by Green For Life (GFL), the new owner of the Arbor Hills Landfill located in Salem Townsihp, less than a mile west of Ridge Wood.
The placement of the station is part of an agreement between Advanced Disposal Services (the former owner of the landfill) and the United States Environmental Protection Agency and in accordance with an access agreement with Northville Public Schools to help settle compliance violations the landfill s owners have committed over the past several years.