{"id":2965,"date":"2013-04-14T14:52:08","date_gmt":"2013-04-14T18:52:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/?p=2965"},"modified":"2016-08-12T17:01:21","modified_gmt":"2016-08-12T21:01:21","slug":"atlanta-trash-and-tva-coal-ash-to-be-shipped-to-lowndes-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2013\/04\/atlanta-trash-and-tva-coal-ash-to-be-shipped-to-lowndes-county.html","title":{"rendered":"Atlanta trash and TVA coal ash to be shipped to Lowndes County?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nDid you know we already<\/em> have coal ash in our Lowndes County landfill?\r\n

\r\nAnd where will the trash come from for that landfill gas project,\r\nsubject of\r\n\r\nthe meeting 8:30 AM tomorrow morning at the Colquitt EMC office in Valdosta<\/a>?\r\nAtlanta, or even farther north (or south)?\r\nAnd what will be in it: coal ash like Taylor County’s landfill,\r\nwith arsenic and lead?\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nAs we’ve seen,\r\n\r\nGreenPower EMC’s previous two landfill gas projects<\/a> seem to be in Taylor\r\nCounty, Georgia.\r\nWhat none of GreenPower, ESG, ADS, or Colquitt EMC seem to have mentioned\r\nis that much of the trash in the landfill in Mauk, Taylor County,\r\nbetween Machon and Columbus,\r\nappears to come from farther north.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nJeffry Scott wrote for the AJC 24 October 2003,\r\n\r\nMAKING ROOM FOR GARBAGE: Landfill battles pile up: Rural areas targeted for urban trash<\/a>,\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n

\r\nThe 120-foot-high, 90-acre mound of compacted trash could become the\r\ndestination for 5,000 tons of commercial and residential garbage\r\ngenerated every day by the city of Atlanta.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nAt about 1,500 acres (more than 2 square miles), the Taylor County\r\ndump is the largest landfill in the state and already accepts trash\r\nshipped by railcar from as far away as Connecticut, Rhode Island and\r\nNew York City.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nNow its owner, garbage giant Allied Waste of Phoenix, wants Atlanta\r\nto hop aboard the trash train.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nThe company is pushing for permission to build a $\/00 million waste\r\ntransfer station on 20 acres on the west end of Atlanta from which\r\nit would ship Atlanta trash by train to rural Taylor County, about\r\n90 miles to the south.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nI don’t know whether they got approval for Atlanta trash, but in addition\r\nto CN, RI, and NYC, they’re already getting trash from Miami,\r\nas Allied district manager Mike Shattles bragged:\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n

\r\nAt the rail station about an eighth of a mile away, Shattles points\r\nat a long line of cars loaded with refuse containers and describes\r\nhow stealthily the garbage has been shipped such great distances.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\n“That covered container came from Miami and nobody even knew it was\r\ngarbage,” he says. “There’s no smell and you can’t see it until they\r\ndump it on the hill.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nAnd that’s not all. Pam Sohn wrote for the Chattanooga Times Free\r\nPress 10 May 2009,\r\n\r\nTVA sending ash to 2 sites<\/a>,\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n

\r\nThe Tennessee Valley Authority won’t identify where in Georgia and\r\nAlabama the coal ash sludge spilled in Kingston, Tenn., is being\r\ntaken during the utility’s two-week disposal test.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n“That information is simply not being given out,” TVA\r\nspokesman Gil Frances said Friday, adding that the sites in Georgia\r\nand Alabama are nonhazardous landfills.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nMr. Francis said the locations of the landfills aren’t being\r\ndisclosed because the test will help the utility choose the\r\ncontractors for disposal work. However, TVA documents and officials\r\nin Georgia and Alabama identified the specific municipal waste\r\nlandfills set to receive the ash.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nDerrick Williams, with the Georgia Environmental Protection\r\nDivision’s solid waste program, said a landfill in Taylor County\r\nnear Mauk, Ga., in the middle western portion of the state will\r\nreceive some ash loads.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nWhat is that coal ash?\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n

\r\nOfficials with TVA have said the ash sludge is nonhazardous, but\r\nregulatory and independent tests have found high levels of toxic\r\nsubstances such as arsenic, selenium and lead in the material and\r\nwater. Mr. Francis said the utility is complying with state and\r\nfederal regulations in handling the cleanup and test disposal.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nArsenic and lead? We already have\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\n\r\na Georgia Health Department warning to test our well water<\/a>\r\nfor those toxic metals (here’s how<\/a>).\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nSome of that arsenic, at least in the Alapaha River, is probably\r\ncoming from\r\n\r\nSouthern Company’s Coal Plant Scherer near Macon<\/a>.\r\nDo we need another, much closer, source of arsenic, lead, and other\r\ntoxic metals?\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nOh, wait: we already do!\r\nS. Heather Duncan wrote for The Telegraph 15 May 2009,\r\n\r\nCoal ash waste headed to midstate<\/a>,\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nBut the Taylor County facility wouldn’t be the first in Georgia to\r\naccept coal ash from out of state, [Jeff] Cown\r\n[Cown, solid waste program manager for the Georgia Environmental Protection Division] said. He knows of at least\r\nfour others in south Georgia, including the Veolia landfill in\r\nLowndes County, that take coal ash from Florida power plants.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nDoes this part sound familiar to you?\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n

‘DISMAL LACK OF PUBLIC NOTICE’<\/H3>\r\n

\r\nJack McGlaun of Butler said artesian springs around the landfill are\r\npart of a large aquifer. “This is not just a Taylor County\r\nthing,” he said. “This aquifer goes to Montezuma and all\r\nthese other towns below us into south Georgia.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nMcGlaun said the community just fought off a medical waste\r\nincinerator project about 18 months ago.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n“Taylor County seems to get more than their fair share of\r\nproposals to dump other people’s waste,” said Justine\r\nThompson, an attorney for the Atlanta firm Greenlaw.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n“They irony is the very same week a report is released about\r\nthe dangers of coal ash to those who live near it, a test project\r\nwas launched to put it in our state,” she said. “The\r\nmost disturbing aspect is the dismal lack of public notice.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nDo you remember any public notice about coal ash being imported from Florida\r\nto Lowndes County?\r\nI don’t.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nNear Plant Scherer, Georgia Power is\r\n\r\nbuying and leveling homes near a coal ash pond<\/a>\r\nbecause people living in them are at risk of cancer,\r\nand many of them say they have already gotten cancer.\r\nAs noted in a Southern Company\r\n\r\nhttp:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2012\/05\/coal-ash-and-political-spending-transparency-shareholder-resolutions-defeated-so-2012-05-23.html#item4<\/a>,\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n

\r\n“Whereas: Coal combustion waste (CCW or coal ash) is a\r\nby-product of burning coal that contains potentially high\r\nconcentrations of arsenic, mercury, heavy metals and other toxins\r\nfiltered out of smokestacks by pollution control equipment. CCW is\r\noften stored in landfills, impoundment ponds or abandoned mines.\r\nOver 130 million tons of CCW are generated each year in the U.S.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n“Coal combustion comprised a significant portion (58%) of\r\nSouthern Company’s generation capacity in 2010.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n“The toxins in CCW have been linked to cancer, organ failure,\r\nand other serious health problems. In October 2009, the U.S.\r\nEnvironmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a report finding\r\nthat ‘Pollutants in coal combustion wastewater are of particular\r\nconcern because they can occur in large quantities (i.e., total\r\npounds) and at high concentrations…in discharges and leachate to\r\ngroundwater and surface waters.’\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n“The EPA has found evidence at over 60 sites in the U.S. that\r\nCCW has polluted ground and surface waters, including at least one\r\nsite belonging to Southern Company. In some of these cases,\r\ncompanies have paid substantial fines and have suffered reputational\r\nconsequences as a result of the contamination.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n“Reports by the New York Times and others have drawn attention\r\nto CCW’s impact on waterways, as a result of leaking CCW storage\r\nsites or direct discharge into surrounding rivers and streams.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n“The Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) 1.1 billion gallon CCW\r\nspill in December 2008 that covered over 300 acres in eastern\r\nTennessee with coal ash sludge highlights the serious environmental\r\nrisks associated with CCW. TVA estimates a total cleanup cost of\r\n$1.2 billion. This figure does not include the legal claims that\r\nhave arisen in the spill’s aftermath.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nWho agreed to import coal ash to Lowndes County?\r\nDon’t we have enough cancer sources in Lowndes County already?\r\nWhy do we need more?\r\nAnd what else will be imported into Veolia’s (excuse me, ADS’s) Pecan Row Landfill Gas Facility?\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n -jsq\r\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Did you know we already have coal ash in our Lowndes County landfill? And where will the trash come from for that landfill gas project, subject of the meeting 8:30 AM tomorrow morning at the Colquitt EMC office in Valdosta? Atlanta, or even farther north (or south)? And what will be in it: coal ash […]","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[6149],"tags":[6143,6145,4792,8780,6151,6148,6144,8701,6153,6152,6150,655,8702,8887,12,7,8734,6146,6147,6154,6,618],"class_list":["post-2965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-landfill-gas","tag-advanced-disposal-systems","tag-carlson-environmental-consultants","tag-cemc","tag-colquitt-emc","tag-conley","tag-energy-systems-group","tag-esg","tag-georgia","tag-global-energy-holdings-group-inc","tag-global-energy-systems","tag-hickory-ridge-landfill","tag-jason-davenport","tag-lake","tag-landfill-gas","tag-lowndes-area-knowledge-exchange","tag-lowndes-county","tag-lowndes-county-commission","tag-mcgee-environmental","tag-pecan-row-landfill-gas-facility","tag-republic-services-inc-taylor-county-landfill","tag-valdosta","tag-veolia"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p585fK-LP","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2965"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2965\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17161,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2965\/revisions\/17161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}