Tag Archives: Pecan Row Landfill

Toxic Waste? Coal ash in Alabama and Georgia landfills



Oregon

denying a permit for a coal dock on the Columbia River Monday
may seem far away, but the effects of coal ash are right here
in Lowndes County.
Effects that an Alabama county is calling a toxic chemical civil rights violation in the Arrowhead Landfill in Uniontown.

AP reported 14 August 2014,

EPA investigating claims west Alabama landfill violates civil rights of black property owners,



It’s not the first time that the Arrowhead has been in the news. In
2009, an estimated 3.9 million tons of coal ash was dumped at the
landfill. It was brought in after a Tennessee Valley Authority dam
breached in east Tennessee, spilling toxic ash into a river and
damaging about 300 acres. To date, it’s the largest coal ash spill
in U.S. history.

Much of that ash ended up being dumped at the landfill in Perry
County, which in return received Continue reading →

Two arrest warrants issued for $1 mllion landfill scam

Interesting things sometimes turn up when a landfill is investigated.

Taylor West wrote for the AJC 5 June 2014,

Police: Arrest warrants issued in connection with $1 million scam,


Robert Stevens (Fulton County Sheriff’s Office)
Multiple arrest warrants have been issued in relation to a trail of
criminal activity resulting in the theft of more than $1 million
from a Fulton County business, authorities said.

Police began an investigation in mid-April when Waste Management
Inc. made a complaint regarding Willow Oak Landfill, which it owns,
following an anonymous tip and a private investigation, according to
the Palmetto Police Department today.

In this case it was the landfill operator that filed a complaint.
Waste Management is one of the two largest solid waste companies
in the U.S.; the other is ADS.

The complaint alleged Continue reading →

Defibrilators from Homeland Security @ LCC 2014-04-07



The

KLVB presentation told us up to three states dump in
the Pecan Row Landfill in Lowndes County,
for which the county gets some unspecified amount of tipping fees,
which go to fund KLVB.
An appointment to
KLVB was added to the agenda,
although nobody deigned to reveal who was “that individual that has
requested to serve on that board”.
The

Homeland Security grant application turned out to be for defibrillators.

Here’s
the agenda, with a few annotations and links to the videos.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

AMENDED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, MONDAY, APRIL 7, 2014, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, APRIL 8, 2014, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

U.S. EPA, GA DNR, GA Health Dept., and landfill in Lowndes County @ EPA 2013-11-14



At the

EPA meeting in Waycross about the Seven Out Superfund site,
EPA, GA EPD, and state health officials also had information about
crossover contamination in Lowndes County.




Matthew J. Huyser, On-Scene Coordinator for U.S. EPA,
told me that before

EPA shipped those 196,500 gallons of wastewater from Seven Out to the Pecan Row Landfill in Lowndes County
they had applied procedures that were supposed to ensure those liquids
were no longer toxic and had tested them to be sure.
He said he would send me the specifics on that.
I didn’t ask him whether

CSX toxic wastes were shipped to Lowndes County.



Huyser also said EPA had checked the record of that receiving landfill
before sending anything there, and it had a good record.
He seemed surprised to learn Continue reading →

From Seven Out in Waycross to CSX to Pecan Row Landfill in Lowndes County

CSX was involved directly in the

Seven Out contamination,
storing hazardous water that leaked:
and then that water was apparently shipped to the Pecan Row Landfill in Lowndes County.
This is in addition to the

the CSX trichloroethylene groundwater contamination dating back to 2000 and earlier.

According to a letter from Georgia Department of Natural Resources
to BCX, Inc. of 20 July 2004,

EPA Identification Number: GAR000030007,


  1. Twenty-seven tanks of wastewater were stored at the facility.
    Four portable tanks were storing the excess capacity of wastewater next door
    on property owned by CSX Transportation.
    These portable 10,000-gallon tanks were not labeled to indicate their contents;
  2. According to a BCX representative, one of the portable 10,000-gallon tanks
    had a gasket failure on the forward manhole which caused the release of an
    unknown substance onto the ground at the site owned by CSX
    Transportation;
  3. Dead vegetation was observed in a 15 feet by 30 feet area downgradient of the
    tank that caused the release;
  4. A yellowish-green substance was observed on the ground between the portable
    tank that had the release and another portable tank adjacent to it. There was
    also dead vegetation observed between these two tanks; and

And GA EPD tested the soil and found something the document doesn’t
specify, but whatever it was was enough that: Continue reading →

Landfill is in aquifer recharge zone

In a recharge zone for

our drinking water supply, the Floridan Aquifer,
is the Pecan Row Landfill




with its

PCBs and

coal ash.
That proposed

landfill pipeline requiring cutting through the vegetative buffer
along an unnamed tributary to Spring Branch?
Also at least partly in the recharge zone. Continue reading →

Landfill pipeline



Apparently

ADS’s landfill gas project
wants to take in methane from the closed old landfill, as well,
according to a public notice today that proposes
a pipeline from the old

Evergreen Landfill
to the

Pecan Row Landfill that has the natural gas turbine.

Nevermind
the

$27,500 fine for PCBs or
that

coal ash in the landfill that nobody on the Lowndes County Commission
or Valdosta City Council or Deep South Solid Waste Authority (SWA) can be bothered to check on.
Nevermind the

unaccounted for tipping fees
or
host fees.
I wonder if cutting through that vegetative buffer will let the coal ash and PCBs reach the Withlacoochee River more easily?


Location of proposed pipeline from Evergreen Landfill to Pecan Row Landfill

The yellow path indicated for the pipeline is just a guess.

In the VDT today,

PUBLIC ADVISORY NOTICE,

The proposed project located west of Valdosta, in Lowndes County, GA
along Wetherington Lane near the Pecan Row Landfill facility (2995
Wetherington Lane, Valdosta, GA, 31601) involves buffer
encroachments necessary to install a 30-inch gas pipeline. This
pipeline will Continue reading →

Landfill PCB violation

What hazardous waste was accepted at Veolia’s Pecan Row Landfill
that got a $27,500 fine from GA EPD this January?


Veolia is ADS now, the same company to which

Lowndes County granted an exclusive franchise for waste pickup.

We already knew that landfill accepts

coal ash from TVA.
What else is in there,
seeping into our drinking water aquifer,
and with runoff going into the Withlacoochee River?

According to

GA EPD,

Under authority of the Comprehensive Solid Waste Management Act :

Facility: Veolia ES Pecan Row Landfill/Valdosta; order issued to Veolia ES Pecan Row Landfill, LLC
Location: Lowndes County
Order Number: EPD-SW-2564
Date of Issue: January 30,2013
Cause of Order: Violations of Rules for Solid Waste Management/regulated hazardous waste acceptance; failure to properly conduct inspections
Requirement(s) of Order: Implement plan to prevent acceptance of regulated quantities of HW and PCB wastes at facility; ensure all employees handling waste recognize/identify labeled HW and PCB wastes at facility
Settlement Amount: $27500.00

According to

U.S. EPA,
Polychlorinated Biphenyl (PCB): Continue reading →