Coal Ash. The Evansville Courier-Press has a lengthy editorial today on coal ash that covers the history of the issue as it pertains to disposal on mine property. It begins:
Since 1988, and probably much longer ago than that, Indiana environmentalists, government officials and the coal/power industry have been debating the disposal of coal combustion waste. And they are still at it today, with no resolution in sight. In fact, it looks as if not much will happen until after the National Academy of Sciences completes a study of whether coal ash is an environmental threat when disposed of on mine property. With the study expected to begin this summer and take 18 months, it could be two years or more before the controversy has any scientific guidance.The editorial refers to a Courier-Press story last weekend. That story, and others, are included in this Indiana Law Blog entry from April 25, 2004.
500 barrels of hazardous waste found. That is the headline to this story today in the Munster Times. The gist:
Five hundred barrels of hazardous waste were dumped at the old Feddeler landfill west of Lowell, according to a memo by an Indiana Department of Environmental Management official. * * * Even so, the state did not bother to test the leachate flowing out of the now-closed landfill and into a stream that eventually feeds the Kankakee River, according to the memo, which The Times obtained this week.Indeed, IDEM records show that IDEM entered into a Commissioner's Order (9610) with "R&M Enterprises d.b.a. Feddeler Landfill" on June 27, 2001. The Order does not make reference to the 500 barrels of hazardous waste. It requires that the respondent proceed with closure of the site as a solid waste facility and that it pay a $54,750 civil penalty to IDEM.Several homes and businesses located within a few hundred feet of the dump rely on well water pumped from an underlying aquifer.
[Bruce Palin, IDEM's deputy assistant commissioner for its Office of Land Quality] said he wrote the memo discussing the hazardous waste after the director of the Lake County Solid Waste Management District inquired about cleaning up the site.
In the Aug. 14 memo, Palin said a staff summary documented there were 500 barrels of hazardous waste from a company called Spartan Chemicals, along with pesticides, paint thinner, resins and a variety of chemicals at the site. * * *
Robert Feddeler, who once also owned land immediately north of Ind. 2, but sold it about three years ago to Allied Waste to turn into another construction and debris landfill. He could not be reached for comment.
Palin recalled that money from the sale was to be used to properly close the Feddeler dump, but that did not happen and, after years of ongoing troubles, IDEM Commissioner Lori Kaplan ordered Feddeler's company, R&M Enterprises, the corporate owner of the dump, to pay a $54,750 fine. The state did not fine Feddeler himself. The company asserted it had no money and never paid.
Also of interest is an April 13, 1999 Agreed Order (387) entered into by R&M ENTERPRISES, INC. d/b/a Feddeler Construction/Demolition Landfill and IDEM, whereby the respondent agreed to pay a civil penalty of $98,862.50. However, most of this penalty was to be forgiven under the terms of a vaguely outlined Supplemental Environment Project (SEP) whereby respondent was "to provide earthmoving equipment and equipment operators for performance of earthmoving activities at a site or sites to be identified by the Complainant." This agreement also makes no mention of barrels of hazardous waste, but rather charges "that the Respondent has overfilled 66,000 cubic yards of construction/demolition material located on the southwest portion of the landfill."
Posted by Marcia Oddi at April 29, 2004 12:08 PM