{"id":5503,"date":"2013-09-01T18:58:09","date_gmt":"2013-09-01T22:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/?p=5503"},"modified":"2013-09-03T22:26:15","modified_gmt":"2013-09-04T02:26:15","slug":"seven-out-superfund-site-in-waycross-joan-mcneal-for-channel-22","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2013\/09\/seven-out-superfund-site-in-waycross-joan-mcneal-for-channel-22.html","title":{"rendered":"Seven Out Superfund site in Waycross –Joan McNeal for Channel 22"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n
\n<\/a>
\nPeople are still getting sick and dying in Waycross after
\nChemical company Seven Out closed and left a toxic waste site.
\nIt’s now a Superfund site, which doesn’t mean anything has
\nbeen cleaned up.
\n10 out of 30 City Hall employees have cancer and 8 have already died.
\nMany living around the site are sick, and teachers and school children.
\nWhat will Georgia Reps. Jason Spencer and Ellis Black who attended do after that 29 August 2013 meeting<\/a>?
\nWill action wait until more people die?
\nAnd to which landfill were those precipitated solids taken?<\/p>\n

\n
\n\"GA<\/a>
\n
\nState representative Jason Spencer District 180<\/a>
\nsaid the state health report should be finished in October,
\nand was quick to point to
\n
\nRep. Ellis Black District 174<\/a> as representing the specific area.
\nRep. Black said they’d just heard about this and would be looking into it, and:<\/p>\n

\n

\nI’m a farmer from Clyattville….
\nI spent some time in the farm-supply business
\nand I have messed with agricultural chemicals all my life and
\nI’ve got a lot of experience there.
\nAnd I can tell you that I know firsthand
\nsomething about the danger and the challenges of dealing with these
\nreally sensitive products
\nand how minute amount can cause problems.
\nAnd it’s something that’s complicated.
\nThere ain’t going to be no quick or easy answers to this
\nbecause some things just get complicated.<\/p>\n

\n
\n\"Hazardous<\/a><\/p>\n

I lost my father back here a number of years ago to cancer.
\nAnd we’ve been studying cancer for eons and we still,
\nwe’ve made a lot of progress, but we
\nhaven’t got all the answers to cancer yet.
\nThere’s still a lot of work to be done.
\nAnd the only thing to be done is to persevere.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\nHe wants to find good solid scientific evidence,
\nbut it won’t be easy, or quick, or inexpensive.
\nThat’s a good idea.
\nMaybe we should also do a study of cancer in south Lowndes County.<\/p>\n

\n
\n\"Hazardous<\/a>
\nJoan McNeal said some of her neighbors
\nfound toxic sludge oozing from their sidewalk, and:<\/p>\n

\nThey grow organic food.
\n
\nThey thought they were eating organic food.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\nThere’s
\n
\na facebook group, South Georgia’s Secret Killer<\/a>,
\nand the contact slide said Joan McNeal 912-281-6897.
\nText below is from the
\n
\nSilent Disaster<\/a> website,
\n
\nInformation Regarding Operational History and Violations of the Seven Out Superfund Site,<\/a>
\nwith stills from the meeting video.
\nThe meeting slides are also
\n
\nin a separate YouTube video<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

\n
\n\"Possible<\/a>
\nThe Seven Out facility was an industrial waste water treatment plant
\nin Waycross, Ware County, Georgia, that operated from 2002 to 2004.
\nThe Site consists of a tank farm, an abandoned office building, and
\na small warehouse. The tank farm has 37 tanks ranging in volume of
\n8,000 gallons to 44,000 gallons, and a combined capacity of
\napproximately 400,000 gallons. It is approximately one-half acre and
\nis made of a concrete floor with a short concrete containment berm.\n<\/p>\n

\nSouth of the containment area is an office building of about 3,000
\nsquare feet. Around the south and east sides of the office building
\nis a fenced lot that contains the warehouse of about 4,500 square
\nfeet. The warehouse contains several drums, totes, and dry bags of
\nmaterial.\n<\/p>\n

\n
\n\"EPA<\/a>
\nWhen the facility operated, treated waste water was discharged to
\nthe City of Waycross publicly owned treatment works (POTW) using the
\nCity’s collection system. Precipitated solids were treated in a
\nfilter press, and then transported off-Site for disposal at a
\nlandfill. The treatment process was generally unsuccessful and
\neffluents regularly exceeded requirements of the company’s
\npre-treatment discharge permit. The Seven Out facility received
\nseveral Notices of Violation and an Administrative Order from the
\nCity of Waycross.
\n On March 1, 2004, the City of Waycross
\ndisconnected the facility’s connection to the POTW.
\n
\n\"Chemicals<\/a>
\nThe facility
\ndiscontinued processing waste waters, although it still received
\nshipments. Incoming waste waters were stored in tanks on-Site as
\nwell as four rented portable tanks that were placed on an adjoining
\nproperty. Shortly thereafter and since that time, the facility
\nceased all operations without discharging the remaining waste in
\nstorage. Georgia EPD determined the facility to be incorrectly
\nstoring hazardous wastes and out of compliance with State of Georgia
\nregulations.\n<\/p>\n

\n
\n\"What<\/a>
\nAn emergency action was initiated by EPA on January 27, 2005 while
\ninspecting the Site during a Removal Site Evaluation. Under the
\nemergency response action, pumpable liquids in the tanks and
\nstanding water in the secondary containment area were removed to
\nmitigate the threat of release.\n<\/p>\n

Following the 2005 emergency action, several tanks still contained
\n
\n\"How<\/a>
\n a
\nsignificant volume of unpumpable sludges; also, rainwater began
\ncollecting again in the secondary containment area, causing
\ndeterioration of the tanks still holding material. An administrative
\norder was signed on July 30, 2008, between EPA and Respondents,
\nconsisting of several generators that sent waste to the facility, to
\nconduct a time-critical removal action to remove all remaining waste
\nmaterials from the Site.\n<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n
\n\"What<\/a><\/p>\n

We don’t have any problems like that around Valdosta or Lowndes County,
\ndo we?
\nNot at
\n
\nflaming Perma-Fix<\/a>,
\nor
\n
\nthe PCB and coal ash-infested landfill in the aquifer recharge zone<\/a>?
\nAre we sure?
\nRemember:<\/p>\n

\n

Precipitated solids were treated in a
\nfilter press, and then transported off-Site for disposal at a
\nlandfill.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n


\n\"What<\/a>
\nWhich landfill was that?
\nOne which we already know has taken PCBs and coal ash from Tennessee?
\nAs in was it the Pecan Row Landfill in Lowndes County?<\/p>\n

\nAnd a big source of the problem in Waycross was the hazardous waste
\ntanks were uncovered for some time, so rainwater made them overflow.
\nSort of like runoff from a landfill.<\/p>\n


\n\"Contact<\/a><\/p>\n

Maybe we’d better check.<\/p>\n

\nMeanwhile, how can we help our neighbors in Waycross?<\/p>\n

\nPS: And do we want
\n
\na natural gas pipeline coming here<\/a>
\nfrom
\n
\nAnniston, Alabama<\/a>,
\none of the most contaminated Superfund sites in the country?\n<\/p>\n

\nHere’s
\n
\nthe video:<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n