Special Report: Coal Ash

Transcription

Saturday, March 12, 2016
SPECIAL REPORT: COAL ASH
Controversy at Broadhurst Landfill
JENNIFER LINDELL / Special
An aerial view shows the active cell(s) where trash is now being dumped at Republic Service’s Broadhurst Environmental Landfill. The mound stands
some 150-plus feet tall. Refuse dumped there is covered in earth that is removed from nearby areas, resulting in the pond areas visible near the mound.
This view shows the landfill from the west.
Coal-ash dispute follows long and winding road
Republic Services’ proposal to build a rail yard
at Broadhurst has engendered more controversy
than any other local development in the past two
decades.
The company, which operates the Broadhurst Environmental Landfill,
has—through a subsidiary—applied for a permit to build a rail yard
that could accept whole
trainloads not only of
household garbage but
also of coal ash.
Ever since a reporter for
The Press-Sentinel discovered the permit application two months ago,
Wayne County citizens
and officials alike have
been discussing the proposal, what it would mean
and what to do about it.
People in Pierce County,
which borders Wayne
County near the landfill,
have also been expressing
concerns. News outlets
from nearby Brunswick to
the state capital of Atlanta have been addressing the issue. And legislation to require more
reporting of environmental problems at landfills
has been making its way
through the Georgia General Assembly.
The concerns have been
so great that the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers
has twice extended the
public-comment period,
which will run through
April 5.
Next week the Wayne
County Board of Commis-
sioners will be hosting a
public meeting that will
feature presentations by
both the Corps of Engineers and Republic. Representatives of the Georgia Department of
Natural Resources’ Environmental Protection Division will also be present.
The meeting will take
place at the Coastal Pines
Technical College auditorium Wednesday from 7
p.m. to 9 p.m. and will afford local residents a
chance to ask questions
and make comments.
The City of Jesup will
hold another open meeting immediately after the
county one.
In light of the public attention that this issue has
already received, and in
preparation for the public
meeting, The Press-Sentinel is publishing this
special section, which
traces the evolution of
this controversy through
the main stories that the
newspaper has run so far
on the proposal.
The stories are accompanied by an array of photos
and diagrams, as well as
a map, that have been
used to illustrate the information provided.
The section also includes
a wide variety of editorials, columns, letters and
cartoons that have complemented the actual
news coverage.
Nor is the section completely a rehash of previously presented material.
It includes a brand-new
story explaining what
constitutes a Subtitle D
landfill, a previously unpublished aerial photo of
the landfill area, and a
cartoon prepared especially for this section.
Even the stories being
rerun have in some cases
been revised to clarify certain points.
The Press-Sentinel hopes
that this overview will
help the people of Wayne
County understand this
pressing issue so that
they will be in a better position to make informed
judgments about the situation in which this community currently finds itself.
Eric Denty
Publisher
The Press-Sentinel
COAL-ASH/RAIL-SPUR PUBLIC MEETING
March 16 • 7 p.m. at Coastal Pines Technical College Auditorium
This is an opportunity for the community to ask questions regarding the coal-ash issue and the plans for building a rail-spur at the Broadhurst landfill.
Representatives from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Georgia Environmental Protection Division, and Republic Services will be available.
Hosted by Wayne County Commissioners
Wayne County Press Established 1960 • Jesup Sentinel Established 1865 • Combined February 1977 © 2016 Press-Sentinel Newspapers, Inc.
2 Saturday, March 12, 2016 The Press-Sentinel
Landfill’s roots in Wayne go back to ’80s
By Drew Davis
STAFF WRITER
A great irony about concerns over the disposal of
coal ash at the Broadhurst Environmental
Landfill is that the landfill indirectly resulted
from environmental concerns in the first place.
Back in the 1980s, several trends—such as a
growing population, a
greater reliance on disposable products, a
greater use of non-natural chemicals in manufacturing processes, and a
growing sensitivity to environmental threats—
congealed to spawn new
federal and state laws regarding sanitary landfills.
Simply digging a big
hole away from homes
and businesses and
telling people to drop
their trash into it would
no longer be allowed. Instead, updated federal
regulations, passed in
1984, required that Subtitle D landfills be built
with thick liners and
other protective layers,
stringent operational regulations, extensive monitoring, and sophisticated
systems for the collection
of leachate (the “garbage
juice” that results from
rain running through different kinds of collected
garbage).
Some observers noted
even then that the new
procedures amounted to
little more than semipermanent entombment of
trash to be left for later
generations. No one
could argue, though, that
the new technology was
clearly superior to what
had come before.
The problem for local
governments was that
the cost of building and
maintaining a Subtitle D
landfill was prohibitive.
The only way to make
such a landfill economically feasible was to operate it as a large, high-volume enterprise that, in
rural areas, would have
to serve multiple counties.
As previously permitted
space began to diminish
in Wayne County, officials
looked at the high cost of
transporting waste elsewhere and decided that
the best solution might be
to locate a regional landfill here. Some local citizens objected to having
large amounts of trash
from other places brought
here. The rebuttal was
that having more trash in
a state-of-the-art landfill
was better than having
less trash deposited directly into the ground.
The Addington years
Established waste companies began making
pitches to build a regional
landfill in Wayne County.
In particular, Waste Management, the leading
provider of waste services
in North America, tried to
sell the Wayne County
Board of Commissioners—consisting, at the
dawn of the ’90s, of John
A. Flowers, Franklin
Denison, Eddy Lane, Bill
Morgan and L.G. Aspinwall—on its ability to operate a huge landfill
safely and responsibly.
The officials and, even
more so, local environmental leaders remained
skeptical, though—until
marketing representative
Ben Haley came to town
DERBY WATERS / Staff
This is the view looking south from near the top of “Mount Trashmore.” Each day more than 100 trucks travel up the landfill garbage mound
to add to the growing size of the garbage heap.
and made the case for
Addington Environmental. Addington Resources
was a successful Kentucky-based mining company that had been trying to diversify, in part
through its Addington
Environmental unit.
Early in the planning,
Addington proposed a relatively small regional
landfill to serve Wayne,
Glynn, Brantley and possibly Long counties in the
Mount Pleasant area.
Officials began negotiating specific terms with
Addington in 1991, and
in August of 1992 the
Wayne County Solid
Waste Authority—formed
in 1989 as the Wayne
County Resource Recovery Development Authority, with members appointed by the county
commissioners—approved an operating
agreement with Addington. That same night, the
county commissioners
voted 4-1 (with Lane in
dissent) to approve a host
agreement with the Solid
Waste Authority.
Under the agreement,
the county would retain
ownership of the property
and would receive a host
fee for every ton of
garbage brought to the
landfill. (Since 2005, that
fee has been $1.80 per
ton.) The county would
have to pay full price for
disposal at low levels of
landfill operation, but the
contract included a graduated scale whereby, once
enough volume of trash
was coming into the
county, local governments
would be able to dispose
of their trash free of
charge.
In December of 1994,
the new landfill opened
off Broadhurst Road
West, between U.S. 301
and Screven. By then, the
company and the county
had already started to approve changes to the original contract. For example, the original plans
had called for an automated recycling center at
the landfill, but prospective landfill customers
were unwilling to pay
more to operate such a
center. (Originally, 75
percent of the waste
stream was projected to
be diverted into recycling
and composting.)
As might be expected,
Solid waste is now being taken to the main landfill area at the right of this photo. Republic Services’ plan for coal
ash, though, is to develop new cells to the lower left.
the landfill got off to a
slow start, but as the
years passed, more area
governments began taking advantage of the service at Broadhurst. Eventually, the county was not
only disposing of its own
garbage at no cost, but
the host fees were helping pad tight county budgets.
Republic takes over
In December of 1996,
Republic Services bought
Addington Resources. In
2002 Republic bought the
902-acre landfill property
itself from the Solid
Waste Authority—for
$10. And then Republic
quietly began buying up
additional property in the
area, adding 517 acres in
2004 and 834 acres in
2008.
Meanwhile, some of the
original restrictions had
become looser. Back when
the landfill was struggling to turn a profit, for
example, limiting
garbage to the immediate
area was threatening the
needed growth of the
fledgling enterprise. In
fact, with Florida and
South Carolina so close,
even limiting garbage to
the state of Georgia
might have hindered the
landfill’s long-term viability.
If anyone questioned
whether trash might
eventually come in from
farther away, the answer
was that household
garbage from one state
doesn’t differ markedly
from household garbage
from another state.
When Republic took
over the landfill here, the
transfer was relatively
low-key. The idea was
that Republic would keep
operating the landfill essentially the same way as
Addington had done up to
that point. And according
to a Republic Public Relations representative, even
today—with annual tonnage into the landfill between 420,000 and
660,000 tons for the past
five years “substantially
all” of the waste stream
into Broadhurst originates in Georgia.
Yet when serious environmental accidents occurred with coal ash in
other states, Republic
was poised to take advantage of the business opportunities that new coalash rules presented.
Thus, a shell company
for Republic now has a
permit application pending for a rail yard that
could take in huge
amounts of waste—with
coal ash specifically mentioned—from other
states. That waste would
then be transported from
the rail yard to the landfill for disposal.
The coal-ash
conundrum
Just as the landfill itself was presented as a
solution to an environmental problem, new requirements regarding the
disposal of coal ash were
presented the same way.
And in fact, disposing of
coal ash in a lined landfill
is, on its face, an environmentally superior way to
handle coal ash than the
open containment ponds
that had caused problems
in other states, thereby
triggering some of the
new regulations.
When people in Wayne
County learned of the application, though, the
question became
whether—increased host
fees and rail-yard jobs
aside—Wayne County
should be accepting
tremendous quantities of
coal ash from the generation of power in other
states. In light of water
contamination that has
occurred elsewhere, local
residents wondered about
the potential long-term
impact on local wetlands,
the Floridan Aquifer and
even the Altamaha River
(via water from Penholloway Creek).
And while a lined landfill might be preferable to
an open containment
pond, some observers
wondered whether pro-
fessional lobbyists might
have had too strong a
hand in the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency’s decision to deem
coal ash a nonhazardous
material—meaning that
it could be buried in a
solid-waste landfill—
when it is known to contain significant amounts
of toxic chemicals, such
as heavy metals.
For its part, Republic
denies having any customers lined up for the
proposed rail yard. Those
of a suspicious turn of
mind, though, have noted
that the “just-in-case”
proposal has seemed
quite specific—and
costly—for there to have
been no conversations
with prospective coal-ash
customers.
Not surprisingly, then,
attention has been turning not only to local, state
and federal rules that
would come into play
here but also to the twisting history that led to
this point in the first
place.
One thing seems clear:
Back in the early 1990s,
no one could have dreamt
that the solution to
Wayne County’s Subtitle
D problem might one day
be envisioned as a grand
destination for a toxic
substance from throughout the Southeast and
possibly beyond.
Saturday, March 12, 2016 The Press-Sentinel
3
When representatives of Republic Services met with county officials recently, they left behind diagrams representing the components of a typical Subtitle D landfill
and the proposed rail yard. Above, a diagram of a Subtitle D landfill is on display at the county office. The diagrams were shown to the large crowd of residents who attended an open meeting to discuss the possibility of Wayne County becoming a mega-site for disposing of coal ash.
Subtitle D landfill:
What does this mean, and how does it operate?
By Derby Waters
STAFF WRITER
The Broadhurst Environmental Landfill is
known as a Subtitle D
landfill. But what does
that mean?
The name is from the
Resource Conservation
and Recovery Act of
1976, which contains a
Subtitle D. That portion
regulates the management of nonhazardous
solid waste. It establishes minimum federal
technical standards and
guidelines for state
solid-waste plans in
order to promote environmentally sound management of solid waste.
Prior to the passage of
the act, garbage collected from a community
was typically taken
some place close by and
dumped into an open
pit. No precautions were
taken to protect the environment.
A Subtitle D landfill is
engineered to provide
maximum protection for
the environment while
providing a location for
the disposal of nonhazardous waste. The “nonhazardous” wastes include residential and
commercial garbage.
This type of landfill involves engineering and
planning before construction, as well as
monitoring and maintenance after it is in place.
Another term sometimes
used to describe the
process is “dry entombment.”
The idea is to confine
the garbage so as to
keep it dry and as removed from the surrounding environment
as possible.
Construction
The construction begins with digging out an
area typically from 5 to
Robert Williams / Special
Jeremy Poetzscher, environmental manager for Republic Services, gestures toward a mound of garbage that
covers some 88 acres. Where Poetzscher is standing is the site of a cleanup mandated by the Georgia Environmental Protection Division after heavy metals were detected in the water supply. The cleanup has been completed, but results from monitoring wells around the site are still being reviewed by EPD.
10 acres. The bottom of
the area is sloped from
the sides toward the
center. After the earth is
removed and the “cell” is
shaped, a layer of clay or
semi-impervious earth is
laid down on the bottom
of the pit. That layer is
compressed, and then a
liner made of high-density polyethylene is laid
over the earthen layer.
The polyethylene must
be overlapped, and the
seams are usually
heated to seal the seams
and to avoid leakage.
The bottom of each cell
is typically designed so
that the bottom surface
of the landfill is sloped
to a low point, called a
sump. This design provides for liquids to seep
to the bottom and then
to be collected and removed.
Garbage that is
dumped contains liquids
of all kinds that will
seep downward through
the soil and other
garbage piled below it.
In addition, rainfall will
percolate through the
garbage.
All these liquids are
drained toward the
sump, where they are
pumped out or gravityflowed to a holding tank.
Called leachate or sometimes “garbage juice,”
these liquids collected
on the bottom are a
witch’s brew of hundreds
and sometimes thousands of various chemicals washed from the
tons of garbage in the
landfill.
The leachate is
pumped to a leachate
tank, where it is either
treated on-site or taken
to a wastewater-treatment facility for treatment to remove the toxins and chemicals.
Operation
Most landfills are designed with a mound of
garbage over the lined
cells as described above.
As garbage arrives each
day, regulations call for
each “layer” of garbage
to be covered with earth
or some other suitable
cover material.
The mound is added to
as each previous cell becomes filled with
garbage and another cell
is added.
In addition to the
leachate, the gases that
are created as the
garbage breaks down
must also be removed.
Usually methane and
carbon dioxide are the
most abundant gases.
Gases are removed
through collection vents
and are piped away from
the mound to be sold as
an energy supply or are
vented and burned.
As each cell is filled to
capacity, a top liner is
placed over the mound
of garbage and earth,
similar to the liner
placed at the bottom of
the cell. Then a few feet
of earth are added over
the top line, and typically grass is planted on
that.
The idea is that the
process “seals the
garbage inside the liners
and thus provides a “dry
emtombment” for the
refuse.
State regulations call
for the groundwater
around the garbage
heap to be monitored.
This is provided through
a series of monitoring
wells that are placed at
regular intervals around
the landfill.
The Georgia Environmental Protection Division requires that each
well must be monitored
each six months. When
pollutants are discovered in the monitoring
wells, the EPD prescribes what methods
must be used to arrest
the spread of the contamination.
Regulations call for
the operators of the
landfill to remain liable
for monitoring and
maintaining the Subtitle
D landfill for 30 years
after the landfill reaches
capacity and is closed.
Critics
Critics of Subtitle D
landfills point out that
the liners utilized may
not prove impervious
over time. They point
out that using heat to
seal seams may weaken
the polyethylene. And
they say that no one
knows how long the bottom liners, exposed to so
many corrosive chemicals, will stand up over
the years they are supposed to endure.
Others point out that
vertical leaks may not
be indicated in monitoring wells, which are
placed at horizontal distances around the landfill.
Still others are skeptical that 30 years following closing of these landfills is sufficient time to
hold landfill owners responsible for any future
problems.
EXISTING CSXT
MAIN TRACK
JURISDICTIONAL
WETLANDS PERMITTED
TO BE DISTURBED (TYP)
EXIST
ING S
30’ WIDE ACCESS ROAD
FROM BROADHURST ROAD
SERVICE TRACK. NO. 1
SERVICE TRACK NO. 2
.C.L.
RAILR
OAD
150’ R
/W
SERVICE TRACK NO. 3
SERVICE TRACK NO. 4
PROPOSED
SEDIMENT POND
PROPOSED CONCRETE
UNLOADING PAD
ISO W
LOAD ASTE CO
N
ING/U
NLOA TAINER
BETW DING ARE
SERV
EEN
A
ICE T
RACK
S NO.
2&N
O. 3
SCALE HOUSE
AND SCALES
JURISDICTIONAL
WETLANDS (TYP)
PROPOSED RE-USE TANK
WITH SECONDARY
CONTAINMENT
40’ WIDE GRAVEL
ACCESS ROAD (TYP)
(TWO-WAY TRAFFIC)
50’ WETLAND
BUFFER (TYP)
PROPOSED OFFICE
AND PARKING AREA
TO LAN
DFILL
POST-DEVELOPMENT
TREE LINE
BROA
CENT
DHUR
RAL V
ST EN
IRGIN
VIRO
PROPOSED WASH
DOWN FACILITY
IA PR
2O’ WIDE GRAVEL
ACCES ROAD (TYP)
(ONE-WAY TRAFFIC)
NMEN
OPER
TIES
TAL L
A
2O’ WIDE GRAVEL
ACCESS ROAD (TYP)
(ONE-WAY TRAFFIC)
EXISTING
TREE LINE
PROPOSED CONTACT
WATER SETTLING TANKS
EXISTING UNPAVED
ACCESS ROAD
JURISDICTIONAL
WETLANDS (TYP)
NDFIL
L
50’ WETLAND
BUFFER (TYP)
CONCEPTUAL CENTRAL VIRGINIA PROPERTIES RAIL YARD MASTER PLAN
Republic Services is in the planning stages of building a large rail yard adjacent to the Broadhurst landfill to accept trainloads of coal ash and other wastes. Above is a
diagram of the proposed rail yard.
Company plans to bring coal ash, other waste here
First published Jan. 13, 2016
By Derby Waters
STAFF WRITER
A South Carolina company has applied to the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for a permit that
would allow tons of coal
ash to be dumped in
Wayne County.
With just three weeks
left to comment on the
plan, apparently nobody
in Wayne County has
been told of it.
Dell Keith, president of
the Wayne County Industrial Development
Authority, said he has
not received any word
about the plan and that
the Authority is in no
way involved in the project.
According to Wayne
County Administrator
Luther Smart, Republic—which operates the
Broadhurst Landfill—
said it had been contacted by someone interested
in
possibly
shipping in coal ash, but
no specifics were provided.
The Press-Sentinel has
obtained a copy of the request to the Savannah
District office of the
Corps of Engineers,
dated Jan. 4. According
to the application, the
proposed project site
would be 249.8 acres located west of U.S. 301
and south of Broadhurst
Road West and 5.6 miles
east of Screven.
The applicant, Central
Virginia Properties of
Spartanburg, S.C., has
proposed a discharge of
dredged material into almost 25 acres of jurisdictional wetlands. It proposes to construct a
rail-yard operation including unloading structures, rail-car wash
down stations, parking
and an office.
The rail yard would include four-track yard
services with the CSX
mainline and an unloading infrastructure capa-
ble of servicing train-car
gondolas and shipping
containers. The property
would adjoin the Broadhurst
Environmental
landfill and be joined by
a service road.
“Work is planned to
commence immediately
upon successful issuance
of all required permits,”
the application stated.
The company said that
it already has a valid
Department of Army
permit to discharge material into 5.666 acres of
wetland on the northern
half of the existing property and to construct a
smaller rail yard that
would have received a
smaller volume of traffic.
The company now anticipates a “greatly increased” volume of 100plus rail cars and an
increase in tonnage.
“Coal
Combustion
Residuals (CCR) material would be removed
from the rail cars,” according to the permit application, and loaded
onto dump trucks, presumably to be moved to
the Broadhurst Landfill.
The application proposes that the rail yard
would accommodate the
CCR and “other nonhazardous
waste
streams, including municipal solid waste,” that
can be transported via
rail to an approved lined
landfill for proper disposal.
In order to offset the
impact to the jurisdictional wetlands, the applicant proposes to purchase
wetland
mitigation credits from
the Wilkinson-Oconee
Wetland
Mitigation
Bank.
According to the application, any interested
person may request in
writing that a public
hearing be held to consider the application.
Also, any comments
about the application
must be submitted in
writing to the Commander, U.S. Army Corps of
The Broadhurst Environmental Landfill can be seen in the distance to the north. U.S. Hwy. 301 can be seen
just to the right (east) of the CSX railway. Just to the left of the railway, a proposed rail spur would be built by Republic Services. It would stretch from Broadhurst Road south along the track all the way to McKinnon.
Engineers, Savannah
District, Att; John W.
Derinzy,
100
W.
Oglethorpe Ave., Savannah, GA 31401-3604 no
later than 30 days from
the date of the notice
(Jan. 4).
The application states
that the Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ Environmental
Protection Division “intends to certify this project at the end of 30 days
….”
All coastal projects are
filed at the Brunswick
DNR office and can be
requested from Bradley
Smith
at
[email protected]
ov. Any person who desires to comment, object,
or request a public hearing is required to do so
in writing and to state
the reasons or basis of
objections—also within
only 30 days after the
state’s receipt of the application.
The application can be
reviewed in the Savannah District, U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers, Regulatory Division, at 100
W. Oglethorpe Ave. in
Savannah.
Coal ash causing
growing concern
STAFF REPORT
The plan to bring tons of coal ash
into Wayne County reflects a concern
also being voiced in other areas of the
state.
“Due to recent concerns over coal
ash, power companies are being forced
to move the material, usually kept in
unlined ponds next to coal plants and
rivers, to permitted lined landfills
(i.e., Broadhurst),” Satilla Riverkeeper Asby Nix told The Press-Sentinel this week.
Duke Energy, which was fined $100
million for allowing coal ash to contaminate the Dan River in North Carolina, is looking to transfer coal ash
from South Carolina into Banks
County in Georgia. (A South Carolina
company, Central Virginia Properties,
is named as the applicant in a plan to
haul tons of the ash into Wayne
County.)
According to investigations by the
Atlanta Journal-Constitution and
television station CBS 46 in Atlanta,
communities in Georgia are being
used as dumping grounds for coal ash
being produced in other states.
Duke Energy is presently sending
its coal ash to a Waste Management
lined landfill near Homer and apparently wants to do the same in Banks
County.
Is that a possible origin for what is
being proposed for the Broadhurst
Landfill? The application does not indicate the origin of coal ash that would
wind up here.
Already, Broadhurst Landfill accepts some coal ash from Jacksonville
Energy Authority.
Georgia Power maintains coal-ash
ponds at several sites around the
state, and all of the ash that was being
sent to ponds must now go to a lined
landfill.
With the recent flooding in middle
Georgia, Altamaha Riverkeeper reported possible coal-ash dumping at
Lake Sinclair with overflow into the
Altamaha River. The Georgia Department of Natural Resources has since
indicated that all discharge into the
river is within state guidelines.
Duke Energy has more than 30 coalash ponds that must be cleared for the
ash to be moved to lined landfills. Nationwide, more than 1,100 such contaminated sites must be transferred.
5
County will ask Corps for public meeting on plan
❏ What will
coal-ash facility
mean to Wayne?
By Derby Waters
STAFF WRITER
The Wayne County
Board of Commissioners
will request a public
hearing about a proposed project to bring
tons of coal dust and
municipal waste into
Wayne County.
An application being
reviewed by the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers seeks approval for
a 250-acre rail yard adjacent to Broadhust Environmental Landfield.
The plan calls for offloading coal ash to be
placed in the landfill.
The
application
caught local officials unaware, and they are now
scrambling to find out
what the proposal
means.
County Administrator
Luther Smart said Friday morning that he
had talked with County
Attorney Andy Beaver
and had instructed him
to send a letter to the
Savannah office of the
Army Corps, formally
asking for a public meeting to learn more about
the proposal.
Board Chair Kevin
Copeland said he was in
Atlanta for the opening
of this year’s legislative
session and the Okefenokee Occasion when
he first heard about he
proposal.
He said that after The
Press-Sentinel broke the
news in the midweek
edition, he learned about
it. Copeland said he
spoke briefly with representatives from Republic, which owns and operates the landfill here.
“I hope that we can
meet with them in the
next few days and learn
more about what this is
all about,” Copeland
said.
The application was
filed Jan. 4 by Central
Virginia Properties of
Spartanburg, S.C. Attempts to learn more
about that company
have not been successful
thus far. However, the
application filed with
the Corps of Engineers
provides basic information as to what the phys-
ical operation would entail. Where the coal ash
and any other materials
would come from is not
revealed in the application.
Environmental and
safety issues are also
not included in the application.
Maps included in the
application show four alternative sites for the location of the operation.
The first choice would
reach from the Broadhurst Highway south on
the western side of the
CSX railroad right-ofway. This would encompass part of what was
once the town of Broadhurst.
This alternative would
require 11,736 linear
feet of “lead track” to be
built. This track would
be long enough to accommodate a “full inbound 100-unit train.”
In addition, three service tracks would be required to provide room
for moving rail cars,
maintenance and solidwaste unloading. Track
2 would extend 9,000
feet for storage of
cleaned
outbound
trains. Track 3 would be
6,456 feet long for rail
car maintenance and
unloading of municipal
solid waste. Track 4
would be 8,708 linear
feet to provide for unloading onto dump
trucks, as well as a
wash-down operation
for empty cars.
The plan calls for the
coal combustion residuals (coal ash) to be removed from the cars by
excavators and placed
into dump trucks. The
municipal waste would
be in containers, which
would be removed from
the rail cars with a forklift and placed onto specialized container-carrier trucks.
The cleaning station is
proposed to consist of
wastewater collection
trays under and next to
the rail cars. From
there, the waste water
would be collected in
three settling tanks, and
water from those would
be recycled for cleaning
additional cars.
Water that could no
longer be used would be
transported to a publicowned treatment works
facility (presumably the
Jesup wastewater-treatment plant).
County meets with Republic Services reps
❏ What are
company plans
for coal ash coming
to Broadhurst?
By Derby Waters
STAFF WRITER
Representatives of
Republic Services were
in Jesup Wednesday to
explain at least some
of the company’s plans
for a proposed rail
yard at the Broadhurst
Environmental Landfill to be used to bring
tons of coal ash into
Wayne County.
Wayne County Board
of
Commissioners
Chair Kevin Copeland
said that he had set up
a meeting to gather information about the
proposal. He said the
meeting was to have
been a study session
with only Copeland
and Ralph Hickox, vice
chair; County Administrator Luther Smart;
and three representatives from Republic,
which owns and operates the landfill.
Jeremy Poetzscher,
environmental man-
ager; Timothy Laux,
district manager; and
a third representative
from Republic were at
the meeting. The name
of the third individual
was not available in
notes from the meeting, which were provided by Smart.
Copeland said that,
according to the company men, Republic is
opposed to a public
hearing on its proposal
to build the rail yard.
He said the company
position seems to be
that it is properly licensed to take in coal
ash, which is approved
by the U.S. Environmental
Protection
Agency (EPA) as a
legal waste stream for
lined landfills-such as
the one in place at
Broadhurst.
According
to
Copeland, he was told
that if the Corps
agrees to a public
hearing, the only matter under its purview
would be construction
of the rail yard and the
impact on wetlands at
the site.
Copeland said Thursday that he had talked
with representatives
from U.S. Rep. Buddy
Carter’s office about
the
congressman’s
commitment to have
the Corps schedule a
public hearing on the
proposal.
Copeland
said that while that effort is under way, he is
also seeking a meeting
with the Georgia Environmental Protection
Division so that local
elected officials and
the public can learn
about the laws and
regulations involved in
handling wastes such
as coal ash.
Copeland said the
men stressed that Republic does not have a
customer to provide
coal ash at this time.
The company representatives said that
the proposal for the
rail yard is merely
preparation to allow it
to take in coal ash
under new regulations
from the EPA, according to Copeland.
“No final decisions
have been made, but
the landfill is responsibly taking steps to prepare for the possibility
of accepting coal combustion
residuals
(CCRs) and municipal
solid waste (MSW) by
rail,” Smart quoted the
company representatives as saying.
Copeland said the
men told him and
Hickox that the company would soon put up
a website and would
provide more information about the plans
and also answer questions from the public.
The company said
that if the plans are
fully implemented, as
much as 10,000 tons of
coal ash could be
brought into the landfill each day, Copeland
reported.
He said the company
pointed out that at
that rate, there would
be a substantial increase in host fees paid
to the county and numerous additional jobs
to be filled at the
Broadhurst site.
The local officials
also learned that the
company listed on the
application
seeking
the permit from the
Corps, Central Virginia Properties, is a
subsidiary of Republic.
That company lists
Spartanburg, S.C., as
its place of business.
The website for Republic Services does not
list a city or state for
its home office.
It does provide the
following description of
its growth and operations:
“Republic Services,
Inc. was incorporated
in 1996 with a ‘can do’
spirit, driving its dramatic growth and acquisitions through the
years, welcoming other
organizations
that
share its values and
fiduciary discipline.
Today, Republic Services, Inc. is the second
largest provider of services in the domestic
non-hazardous solid
waste industry, as
measured by revenue,
as well as a Fortune
500 company, publicly
traded on the New
York Stock Exchange
(NYSE: RSG).
“Through our subsidiaries, we provide
non-hazardous solid
waste and recycling
services for commercial, industrial, municipal and residential
customers. Our customers come first as
we strive to safely and
sustainably provide re-
liable service through
338 collection operations, 200 transfer stations, 193 active solid
waste landfills and 66
recycling centers and
69 landfill gas and renewable energy projects across 39 states
and Puerto Rico. Republic Services, Inc. is
a holding company and
all operations are conducted by its subsidiaries.”
Copeland called The
Press-Sentinel after
the Wednesday meeting and said he has
asked the representatives from Republic to
meet with local media
to tell the company’s
plans. As of press time,
no one from Republic
has set up such a
meeting.
He also said that
after the meeting had
begun, the group was
joined by Commissioner Boot Thomas.
The presence of the
third
commissioner
constituted a quorum
and changed the study
session into an illegal
meeting.
Copeland
apologized, saying that
Thomas had not been
expected.
County seeks more info on coal ash
By Derby Waters
STAFF WRITER
The Wayne County
Board of Commissioners was faced with
more questions than
answers about the
coal-ash
issue
as
members prepared to
meet Tuesday night in
a called work session
and public hearing.
The commissioners
were hoping to learn
more about a proposal
to construct a large
rail yard at the Broadhurst landfill. If approved and built, the
facility could mean
that coal ash would be
brought into the landfill—by
train-car
loads.
According to an application before the
U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, the proposed project site
would be 249.8 acres
located west of U.S.
301 and south of
Broadhurst
Road
West and 5.6 miles
east of Screven.
The applicant, Central Virginia Properties of Spartanburg,
S.C., has proposed a
discharge of dredged
material into almost
25 acres of jurisdictional wetlands. Interference with the wetlands
mandates
approval by the Corps
of Engineers. The
company proposes to
construct a rail-yard
operation including
unloading structures,
rail-car wash-down
stations, parking and
an office.
The application to
the Corps notes that,
if approved, work on
the rail yard would
begin at once.
In a meeting with
representatives of Republic, owner and operator of the landfill
at Broadhurst, county
commissioners
learned last week that
Central Virginia Properties is a subsidiary
of Republic.
Billy Birdwell, public relations specialist
for the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers office in Savannah, said
that office would take
public comment on the
proposal through Feb.
3. Birdwell said that
the Corps is concerned
only with the proposal
to build a rail yard at
Broadhurst.
The operation of
Broadhurst Landfill
and what Republic
plans to receive as
solid waste is not a
matter for the Corps
to rule on, Birdwell
said.
“We have nothing to
do with a permitted
landfill,” Birdwell said.
Meanwhile, County
Board of Commissioners Chairman Kevin
Copeland said that he
has spoken with Mark
Williams,
Georgia
commissioner of the
Department of Natural Resources, and
was assured that the
state Environmental
Protection Division
(EPD) would hold a
public hearing on the
concerns of local residents.
A date for a meeting
with the EPD had not
been determined as of
press time, and a decision on requests for a
public hearing with
the Corps of Engineers will not be made
until after the Feb. 3
public-comment period.
Birdwell said that
typically the Corps
does not have public
hearings on applications. He said the only
reason the Corps
would have such a
meeting would be in a
case where the Corps
needs more information to make a deci-
sion on a permit application.
Birdwell said that
comments submitted
to the Corps are generally not taken via email but only by letters sent by standard
mail.
The address to send
comments and requests is Commander,
U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, Savannah
District, Att: John W.
Derinzy,
100
W.
Oglethorpe Ave., Savannah, GA 314013604.
The Press-Sentinel
has contacted Republic in an attempt to
meet with company
representatives. The
company has not responded to those requests.
Wayne County Board of Commissioners Chairman Kevin
Copeland led the meeting that was designed to give the community more information of the proposed landfill project and to gather
comments from the community.
Screven's Newton Sikes spoke during the meeting of his
concerns for the project, offered his help and suggested several governmental sites for the county to review.
Photos by Eric Denty
Darrell Beasley has worked for years in the power-generating industry and told those gathered of the dangers he experienced every day working in and around coal.
Deadline for comment extended
Corps will meet here on rail spur
By Derby Waters
STAFF WRITER
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,
Savannah District, has agreed to attend
a public meeting on a proposed construction of a rail yard adjacent to Broadhurst Environmental Landfill.
The action was requested by U.S. Sen.
David Perdue, U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter,
the Wayne County Board of Commissioners and others.
Kevin Copeland, chair of the Wayne
County Board of Commissioners, said
that he was contacted Wednesday by
David Lekson and Sherelle Reinhard,
permitting chief of the District office,
and told that the Corps will attend a
public meeting to be scheduled for sometime in mid-March. The date and meeting site will be announced in coming
days.
Although the Corps will have representatives here to listen to concerns, no
actual public hearing will be conducted—only a public meeting. Notice of
that meeting was followed Thursday
with an e-mail to The Press-Sentinel
from the Corps that the public comment
period regarding the application for the
rail yard has been extended to March 4.
What was made clear at a Tuesday-night
called meeting of the commissioners was
that the public wants that meeting with
the Corps and that the commissioners’
meeting room will not be large enough to
hold the interested public.
An overflow crowd was on hand Tuesday to learn more about the proposal to
build a large rail yard at the landfill to
allow Republic Services, Broadhurst Environmental’s owner, to ship tons of coal
ash to the lined landfill. Commissioners
Copeland, Mike Roberts and James
“Boot” Thomas were present for that
meeting, and Commissioner Ralph
Hickox attended via Skype. Commissioner Jerry “Shag” Wright was ill and
unable to attend.
Copeland explained that the commissioners are attempting to learn all that
they can, having been alerted to the proposal two weeks ago by an article in The
Press-Sentinel.
“We stand to become the dump site for
the whole East Coast,” Hickox said.
He said he would introduce a resolution at Monday night’s regular Board of
Commissioner’s meeting opposing the
plan.
Several members of the large audience
A large crowd packed the Wayne County commissioners’ meeting room to express concerns and gather more information on a proposal by Republic Services to build a rail yard adjacent to the Broadhurst Landfill and bring in tons of coal ash and other wastes.
spoke in opposition to the idea, and no
one voice approval.
Dink NeSmith, chairman of the board
of The Press-Sentinel, said that Republic had done a textbook case of “tiptoeing” by the public and elected officials
with this plan. He said he loved Wayne
County for its people and its natural resources.
“I hope we won’t do this,” he said.
Darrell Beasley, who worked on power
plants that burn coal (which results in
coal ash), said that those plants posted
warnings about the danger of the toxic
ingredients in the ash.
“Cancer-causing arsenic present,” he
said one of the postings warned.
“All we had to go by was the law. I feel
like EPA and EPD have let us down on
this,” John A. Flowers, former chairman
of the Wayne County Solid Waste Authority, said.
Dell Keith, president of the Wayne
County Industrial Development Authority, said that he and board members
were doing their homework just like
everybody else.
“We want to bring in jobs, but we want
the right kind of industry,” Keith said.
When asked whether the various local
officials and agencies were united, Keith
said that the IDA would stand with the
county commissioners.
Copeland asked the commissioners to
speak for themselves, and Hickox said
he was definitely opposed. Mike Roberts
said that he was trying to learn.
“I can’t see where we can do anything
but fight it,” Roberts said.
Thomas seemed the least inclined to
oppose the plan outright.
“My theory is to get all the facts before
I make a decision. My position is that I
will represent my constituents. If they
don’t want it, I will be against it,” he
said.
“I would love to have the money to
come into the county—but at what
cost?” Copeland said.
“As of right now we are working with
little information. I stand with you
against it,” he said.
Copeland said later this week that he
had had been assured by Reinhardt that
no permit would be granted for the proposed rail yard until after the public
meeting in March. She said there were
questions about the wetlands and “a lot
to look into,” according to Copeland.
In response to questions from The
Press-Sentinel, Billy Birdwell, public-relations specialist for the Corps, wrote
that public hearings are not normally
conducted.
“We hold public meetings only in those
circumstances where we believe we will
receive information not available
through other means. The purpose of a
public meeting would be for us to gain
more information, not simply to hear
pros and cons of a particular application.
Therefore, we rarely hold public meetings. The Corps is only evaluating the
construction of a rail yard, not the purpose of the rail yard or the use of a preexisting landfill permitted by the state.
The landfill is regulated by the state and
the EPA, not the Corps,” Birdwell wrote.
He also shed some light on the reason
that local officials were caught off guard
by the application from Republic. No
public notices were received at any of
the local governmental offices nor by the
legal organ of the county--The Press-
Sentinel.
“We no longer publish in the county
publication of record. We only publish
to contacts who have signed up on our
public-notice notification list and to
those adjacent landowners identified by
the applicant,” Birdwell explained.
Readers who would like to sign up for
notification of permit applications can
do
so
by
going
online
to
http://www.sas.usace.army.mil/Missions/Regulatory/PublicNotices.aspx.
Though Republic has yet to provide
any information to The Press-Sentinel,
the company is making an effort to
make its case to some of the concerned
groups in the area. The Satilla and Altamaha riverkeepers both submitted
questions to Republic concerning the
rail yard plans and the landfill. In a
reply to those questions, Republic denies
that the wetlands will be affected by its
plans.
“Coal Combustion Residuals (CCR)
would absolutely not be deposited directly in any wetlands on the Central
Virginia Property as part of the rail development. Fill material placed as part
of the rail siding would be composed of
native on-site soils.
As referenced in the pending wetlands
application, any CCR received at the rail
siding yard would be offloaded into haul
trucks and taken to Broadhurst Environmental Landfill for ultimate disposal,” Jeremey C. Poetzscher, environmental manager for Republic, wrote.
As a result of all the concern over the
coal-ash issue, the Wayne County Solid
Waste Authority has set a meeting for
Monday at 4 p.m. at the county commissioners’ meeting room.
County permit is required to disturb wetlands
First published Feb. 3, 2016
By Derby Waters
STAFF WRITER
Before Republic Services can build a
rail yard at Broadhurst, a permit from
the Wayne County Board of Commissioners is required.
That was the word from County Attorney Andy Beaver at a meeting of the
Wayne County Solid Waste Authority
Monday afternoon.
A county ordinance adopted in 2000
requires that a permit has to be
granted by the county commissioners
before any wetlands can be disturbed.
That ordinance was made public after
investigation by The Press-Sentinel,
and Beaver said Monday that the ordinance is in effect.
Board of Commissioner Chair Kevin
Copeland said that he had been told by
Beaver that if Republic is granted a
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit
to proceed with its plans for a rail spur,
the company must then apply to the
county for a permit before it can proceed. The spur would allow trains of
garbage and tons of coal ash to be
brought into Wayne County from anywhere in the nation.
Copeland was one of two county commissioners present for the meeting of
the Waste Authority.
Representatives from Republic Services of Georgia were also on hand for
❑ See PERMIT, Page 7
Jeremy Poetzscher, environmental manager for Republic, answers a question during the Monday meeting of the Solid Waste Authority of Wayne County.
7
Republic amasses 2,000-acre dump site
❑ Expansion of landfill
has been years in making
By Derby Waters
STAFF WRITER
Wayne County Solid Waste Authority member Rob Patton said in a Monday meeting that in his opinion the operation
of
the
Broadhurst
Environmental landfill now and the
plans for its future are “so far from
where we started.”
In fact, the size and scope of the
landfill today and the latest plans to
drastically increase the volume of materials received there are acres and
tons apart from the early days of the
business. As Patton put it, there are
now circumstances that were never
planned for (by the Authority).
The Authority may not have planned
for it, but it would appear that plans
were developed years ago by Republic
and that those plans are continuing to
be perfected. The history of change at
what was once a relatively small area
landfill includes growth never envisioned by the local board.
Before Republic, there was Addington. In those early days Wayne County
took on what surrounding counties did
not—the construction and operation of
a regional landfill on a 901.9-acre tract
near what once had been the small
hamlet of Broadhurst.
In 1996 Republic Services Inc. was
founded and by 2008 had grown into
the second largest waste-management
company in the nation. According to its
website, the company has more than
30,000 employees and operates in 39
states.
Meanwhile in Wayne County, the
business model for Addington was
proving difficult, and the former mining company agreed to sell its assets to
Republican. Waste from surrounding
counties was being brought into
Wayne County in increasing quantities.
By 2006, the landfill was a viable
working landfill that seemed successful for Republic and for Wayne County.
Local leaders such as then county administrator Nancy Jones were sounding the praises for the operation.
“It has been one of the best moves
this county has ever made,” Jones told
a Florida newspaper reporter.
The landfill was taking in refuse
from 20 area counties, and a newspaper article included an ominous notice
of things to come.
“Still others come with loads of fly
ash from JEA,” the article noted.
Jones touted the foresight of the
board of commissioners in landing the
business, which was generating $1
million a year in host fees.
It seems everyone was euphoric over
the success of the landfill. The county
was making money and residents of
the county’s municipalities were not
being charged for disposal of their
household garbage.
But county records show that Republic was not satisfied with the original
landfill it had acquired. And quietly
the company began to add acreage to
its holdings. In 2004 two purchases
were made from private individuals
who owned property near the landfill.
Apparently the company saw value in
the acquisitions and shelled out more
than $1.5 million for 517 acres.
Then in 2008, Republic paid more
than $4 million and added 834 more
acres. In fact, the land purchased in
2004 was done in the name of Central
Virginia Properties (CVP). More than
a decade later it was that name, not
Republic, that was used to request a
permit to build a large rail spur that,
if built, will make it possible to ship
whole trainloads of garbage and coal
ash into the local landfill.
The property of the company has
been expanded to more than 2,200
acres today, though not all of that is
permitted as a landfill. Any designation for a landfill will require additional permits, though an article in the
Atlanta Journal-Constitution stated
the company plans to expand its
“waste footprint” from 260 acres to
1,100 acres.
While the company was adding to its
land holdings, it was subtracting language not to its liking in agreements
with the county waste authority.
Republic renegotiated its agreements with the Solid Waste Authority
in April, 2005. And in those agreements, the Authority granted changes
in the language that now become evident to the company’s permit application and its plans for growth.
For instance, a former volume limitation on the total tonnage that could
be taken in at the landfill was completely eliminated in a newly accepted
Host Agreement.
In the Operations Agreement between Republic and the Waste Authority, the Authority agreed to cooperate
with Republic in obtaining permits
and approvals for “the expansion of
the Landfill and ancillary facilities
proposed by Republic.” And the Authority agreed not to adopt any regulations or requirements “more stringent that those required by federal or
state law,” language that is directly re-
flective of the eventual Environmental
Protection Agency’s (EPA) ruling on
coal ash.
Perhaps more telling, the meaning of
the term “facilities” was altered to
mean the “property and all facilities
ancillary thereto, including any rail
siding or other rail facility utilized for
the shipment and handling of waste
transported by rail from within the approved area.”
Before that change, the agreements
read “the property, and all facilities
ancillary thereto.”
The meaning of “approved area” was
changed to mean “the geographic area
consisting of all of the incorporated and
unincorporated areas of the State of
Georgia and any other state.” That was
a significant change from the former
agreement, which listed the approved
area as “the incorporated and unincorporated areas of the state of Georgia
and states contiguous to Georgia.”
With these changes in place and with
the additional property, the company
was prepared to take advantage of the
EPA ruling that coal ash is a nonhazardous material and thus can be
dumped into lined landfills such as the
one at Broadhurst.
That ruling was made in October,
2015. Just two months later, on Jan. 4,
2016, Republic filed for a permit to build
a facility at Broadhurst that can handle
up to 10,000 tons of coal ash per day and
entire trainloads of other waste.
When the request for the permit was
revealed, the plans for a huge expansion and the possibility of becoming
the “dump for the entire East Coast”
caught the community and local officials off guard and unprepared to challenge the application.
“That plan is gone,” member Dan
O’Neal commented, saying the landfill
would fill much sooner if the company
brings in tons of coal ash.
“It ain’t right for Wayne County to
take other people’s coal ash,” Wright
added.
“Water quality is the real issue.
We’ve got to protect our aquifer,”
Bobby Townsend said.
Townsend chaired the meeting, saying it was called so the members could
discuss the coal-ash issue and determine what stance it might want to
take. He said that the Republic representatives were there to answer any
questions or concerns the Authority
might have.
“I don’t think these people [Republic] care what we think about it,”
member Frank Ross said.
Poetzscher said the company is listening to residents’ concerns.
“We understand that we didn’t get
information out front,” he said. He
added that the company is working on
a website to get information before the
public.
Asked what will happen to the landfill once it is filled, Poetzscher said
that Republic would continue to manage and monitor the site for 30 years
and would own it in perpetuity.
One member of the public asked how
a leak in the landfill would be detected, and, if it leaked, what would be
done to contain the spill. Poetzscher
said that the company is required to
monitor the water table each six
months. He said that if a leak were detected, the company would follow
EPD/EPA guidelines to address any
specific problems.
The man then asked Poetzscher
whether it would kill him if he drank
a glass full of coal ash.
“I wouldn’t recommend it,” Poetzscher replied.
Townsend asked what is being done
with the leachate collected from the
landfill at present. Poetzscher said the
leachate is collected and taken to the
Waycross city wastewater treatment
plant.
Asked by member Rob Patton
whether coal ash contained radioactive material, Poetzscher deferred,
saying he “could not speculate on
that.”
Patton said that in his opinion the
operation of the landfill now and the
plans for the future are “so far from
where we started.” He said there are
now circumstances that were never
planned for (by the Authority).
Townsend asked that Republic provide quarterly written reports of how
many tons are taken in and from
where. He was assured that the information would be provided and that
the company had been making reports.
Townsend said that, if so, he had
never seen any reports. He said that
all he was familiar with were verbal
reports.
The Authority voted to write a letter
in support of the county commissioners’ efforts to hold a public meeting
with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
PERMIT
Continued from page 6
that meeting and fielded questions
from the public and members of the
Authority.
Jeremy Poetzscher, environmental
manager for Republic, told those present that the landfill at Broadhurst
had received some 800,000 tons of coal
ash from Jacksonville Electric Authority between 2006 and 2014. Asked
why the company stopped receiving
the material, Poetzscher replied that
the company knew that environmental regulations were about to be
changed and the company was preparing to be ready for whatever changes
were mandated.
Authority member and County Commissioner Jerry “Shag” Wright said
the landfill had originally been built
so that the residents of Wayne County
would have a place for household
garbage for years into the future.
“We will run out of air space if you
bring in all this coal ash,” he said.
Poetzscher said that “at current levels,” the landfill is projected to last another 90 to 100 years.
If you have concerns about coal ash being shipped
to Wayne County, send your comments and concerns to:
•Sen. Tommie Williams ([email protected])—
148 Williams Ave., Lyons, GA 30436 or 110-B State Capitol, Atlanta, GA 30334. His telephone numbers are 912-526-7444 and
404-656-0089.
•Rep. Chad Nimmer ([email protected])—P.O. Box
1174, Blackshear, GA 31516 or 113 State Capitol, Atlanta, GA
30334. His telephone numbers are 912-807-6190 and 404-6517737.
•Rep. Bill Werkheiser ([email protected])—P.O.
Box 27, Glennville, GA 30427 or 411-E Coverdell Legislative Office Building, Atlanta, GA 30334. His telephone numbers are
912-654-3610 and 404-656-0126.
•Gov. Nathan Deal (e-mail address unavailable)—206 Washington St., Suite 203, State Capitol, Atlanta, GA 30334. His telephone number is 404-656-1776.
•Rep. Lynn Smith ([email protected])—228 State
Capitol, Atlanta, GA 30334. Her telephone number is 404-6567149. (Smith is chairman of the Natural Resources and the Environment Committee for the House. Also, she is also a graduate of Wayne County High.)
•Sen. Frank Ginn ([email protected])—121-I State
Capitol, Atlanta, GA 30334. His telephone number is 404-6564700. (He is chairman of the Natural Resources and the Environment Committee for the Senate.)
•DNR
Commissioner
Mark
Williams
([email protected])— 2 Martin Luther King Jr.
Drive S.E., Suite 1252—East Tower, Atlanta, GA 30334. His
telephone number is 404-656-3500.
•Georgia EPD Commissioner Judson H. Turner (Office refused
to give out his e-mail address.)—Environmental Protection Division, 2 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive S.E., Suite 1456—East
Tower, Atlanta, GA 30334. His telephone number is 404-6575947.
•U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Savannah Division Attn.:
John W. Derinzy 100 W. Oglethorpe Ave. Savannah, GA 314013604.
•Michael Jon Ward, Chairman of CSX, 500 Water St. 15th
floor Jacksonville, FL 32202, 904-359-3200.
•Don Slager, President of Republic Services Inc. 18500 Allied
Way Phoenix, AZ 85054, 480-627-2700.
Toxic metals escape into groundwater at Broadhurst
❏ No county
officials informed
of leakage
By Derby Waters
STAFF WRITER
Toxic heavy metals found in coal ash have
been detected at levels above drinkingwater standards in local groundwater
around Republic Services’ Broadhurst Environmental Landfill.
Increased levels of beryllium and zinc
were detected in monitoring wells in December, 2011, according to records of the
Georgia Environmental Protection Division
(EPD). Other toxic heavy metals have also
been detected in excessive amounts.
The EPD has determined that the increased levels of heavy metals could not
have come from the soil, according to a
statement made to Republic in 2013 and
cited by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
(AJC) Friday.
Chip Lake, a public-relations consultant
for Republic, denied that a spill occurred.
“There has not been a spill at Broadhurst
Landfill,” he told The Press-Sentinel Friday
afternoon. “Broadhurst is currently working with EPD to respond to limited impacts
that were detected in shallow groundwater
and were confirmed to be limited to a small
area of the site.
“All of the work has been performed in coordination with EPD, under state requirements and guidelines. We will continue to
cooperate with EPD until it confirms that
any impact has been addressed.”
Although the EPD was aware of the apparent leakage, no local officials or agencies
were aware of the problem, nor did any
local agencies receive notification of it.
“It makes me mad, frankly, that they had
something spill into our environment and
we didn’t know about it,” Kevin Copeland,
chairman of the Wayne County Board of
Commissioners, said.
Copeland first learned of the incident
from Dan Chapman, a reporter with the
AJC. Both shared information with The
Press-Sentinel.
Republic had reported earlier that it took
in as much as 800,000 tons of coal ash from
Jacksonville Electric Authority (JEA). Jeremy Poetzscher, environmental manager
for Republic, said that the company took
the material in from 2006 until 2014.
Charles Heath, who was Broadhurst operations manager at the time, said in a 2006
news article that the company used the material for “stability” of its growing mound of
garbage.
It was also in 2006 that the company was
issued a permit for horizontal expansion for
additional cells and “solidification.”
Solidification and stabilization are methods to slow the release of harmful chemicals
such as are found in coal ash and involve
creating a “sludge” of such materials. In
this case, coal ash was apparently mixed
with dirt, sawdust and other materials, and
then the mixture was placed in the mound
of other refuse at Broadhurst.
It is uncertain whether the contamination occurred during the solidification
process itself or when moving the material
to the lined portion of the landfill.
The AJC account stated that Penholloway Creek was less than two football
fields away and that wetlands were half
that distance from the solidification pit.
The company reported to the EPD on
April 2, 2012, that wells WC-40S and SWC41S detected levels “of beryllium and zinc
above regulatory standards.”
Those two particular monitoring wells
were put down in June and July, 2009, but
the beryllium was not detected until two
years later. Poetzscher told a meeting of the
Wayne County Solid Waste Authority that
wells are monitored every six months in
order to meet the EPD requirement.
So does this mean the leakage could not
have occurred before the time the wells
were put in place? No. In fact, it could well
have happened earlier.
“It takes a period of time for the contamination to migrate to and through the subsurface to these monitoring wells,” according to a statement from the EPD.
“There isn’t any way of determining when
the beryllium reached the soil or groundwater until it is detected by the groundwater
monitoring system wells,” stated an EPD
reply to questions about the leakage.
Poetzscher did not mention the leakage
in connection with the company’s decision
to stop taking coal ash from the JEA. He
said that decision was made because the
company was positioning itself for anticipated changes in its business.
Noticeably, however, the company
stopped receiving coal ash in 2014 and also
discontinued its solidification process in
March, 2014.
Poetzscher said in a meeting with the
Wayne County Solid Waste Authority just
this past week that the company had taken
in coal ash from the JEA and had experienced no problems. Now that seems not to
have been the case.
According to the EPD records, the
cleanup at the Broadhurst Landfill is continuing. The AJC story noted that remediation has included “destroying the solidification structures, scooping out three or more
feet of soil surrounding the buildings and
sinking a number of new monitoring
wells—last fall.”
A consulting firm working on the cleanup
noted in a report in 2015 that “beryllium
and cadmium exceeded Georgia drinking
water standards.”
The report continued, “Arsenic levels in
the soil ‘slightly exceed’ the standards.
More recent reports indicate that the heavy
metals are now ‘below detection levels.’”
Sarah Barr, a geologist with the EPD, indicated to the AJC that she is “generally
satisfied’’ with the progress of the cleanup.
“We’ll just have to see if it’s going to correct the problem,” she said.
Decade-old agreements hinder fight over coal ash
By Derby Waters
STAFF WRITER
The Wayne County Board of Commissioners
cannot oppose or impede in any way the plans
of Republic Services to bring trains filled with
coal ash to its Broadhurst Landfill facility.
According to County Attorney Andy Beaver,
two intergovernmental agreements from 2005
not only tie the hands of the Board but could
also provide a method that Republic might be
able to invoke to stop paying host fees to the
county. Host fees paid to Wayne County at
today’s tonnage amount to some $750,000
each year.
In a work session Tuesday, representatives
of the County Board of Commissioners and
the Jesup City Council met to discuss Republic’s plan to build a rail spur to receive coal ash
and garbage at Broadhurst.
Board of Commissioners Chair Kevin
Copeland said that he has been inundated
with calls and has gone as far as he knows
how to go at this point.
“I am to the point that I don’t know what
else to do and what we should do next,”
Copeland explained.
His dilemma seemed to be shared by other
elected officials who oppose the plan but now
feel they can’t put up a strong fight against
Republic. Several said they have heard more
opposition to Republic’s plan than any controversy they can remember.
Ralph Hickox said it was “unbelievable”
that the county is bound by the agreements
signed by officials a decade ago. He expressed
dismay that the documents block today’s
elected officials from being able to take steps
to protect the community. He said he could not
believe that officials back then had signed off
on agreements that gave such concessions to
Republic.
Beaver said that though the commissioners’
hands are tied as a body, there is nothing to
prevent other elected or appointed bodies from
doing whatever they wish to object to Republic’s plans. He said the commissioners as individuals also are not bound by the agreement
to assist Republic in its expansion plans.
He said the agreements only affect the
Wayne County Board of Commissioners and
▼▼▼
A public meeting with the
Army Corps of Engineers
has been set for March 16 at 7 p.m.
at Coastal Pines Technical College auditorium
the Wayne County Solid Waste Management
Authority as signing parties to the 2005 agreements.
Copeland told the group that a date has
been set for a public meeting, which representatives of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
will attend. Later in the week, Copeland said
that he had been contacted by Jeff Cown of the
Georgia Environmental Protection Division
(EPD). He said EPD refuses to send anyone to
Wayne County for the public meeting.
Copeland said the meeting will take place
March 16 at 7 p.m. The location of the meeting has yet to be set but is expected to be announced next week.
Copeland suggested that the county contribute its attorney’s time and that the city donate its attorney’s time so that the lawyers
could explore the legal options available.
Jesup Mayor David Earl Keith and Jesup City
Manager Mike Deal agreed to that arrangement.
Others attending the meeting were Jesup
Commissioners Bobby Townsend and Ray
House. Rob Patton from the Solid Waste Authority was also on hand.
Agreements
At the heart of Beaver’s opinion are two documents signed in 2005. The agreements with
Republic basically “gave away the farm,” according to County Administrator Luther
Smart.
A Second Amended and Restated Host
Agreement between Wayne County and the
Wayne County Solid Waste Management Authority, dated April 19, 2005, provides Republic carte blanche control of the operation of the
landfill and bars local governments from any
actions to prevent its growth or any limitations on what it brings into the county or
where it comes from.
“The County agrees to cooperate with the
Authority and the Operator in connection
with development and operation of the facilities, including … the development and operation of the expansion of the Landfill proposed
by Republic,” reads a paragraph entitled “Cooperation with Authority and Operator.”
The agreement also acknowledges that “the
county’s obligations under this agreement
shall be binding upon all future County
boards or other governing bodies during the
term of this agreement.”
Another paragraph states that “the County
has determined that it is in the public interest
of the citizens of the county to enter into this
agreement.” How that “public interest” is
served was not stated, nor does the agreement
indicate whether any public meetings to measure the public’s input were conducted.
Under a paragraph entitled “Zoning,” the
County agreed that “no zoning law or any
other land use law or restriction exists under
the laws and ordinances of the county …
which would restrict or prohibit establishment and operation of the facilities and properties.”
That agreement, however, appears to be in
conflict with a 1995 Wayne County Soil Erosion and Sedimentation Control Ordinance. In
that ordinance’s Section 16-56 are the wetlands protection regulations.
Paragraph (e) states, “Prohibited uses. In
compliance with the Georgia Rules for Environmental Planning Criteria, the following
uses are prohibited entirely and no permit
shall be issued for them: Receiving areas for
toxic or hazardous waste or other contaminants.”
Some have read this to mean that the wetlands ordinance would prohibit the county
commissioners from issuing a county permit
because a rail spur built to receive coal ash
and other household and commercial garbage
could be deemed to be a “receiving areas for
toxic waste.”
The agreement provides that if one section
is found to be in violation of law, that portion
of the document can be considered without
changing any other portion of the provisions.
This agreement sets the fee of $8.80 per ton
for commercial wastes from the county and
city (which since has been increased) and host
fees of $1.80 per ton to be paid to the county
(which cannot be increased without agreement by Republic) except for “general solid
waste” (Wayne County’s trash), which is not
included in payments to the county.
Terms of this agreement extend to at least
Oct. 22, 2031, or to whenever the landfill no
longer has any disposal capacity. The agreement also states that, “if the proposed expansion of the landfill contemplated here … is
permitted and developed by Republic, then
the term of this agreement, without further
action of the parties or further amendment to
this agreement, shall be extended to Oct. 22,
2054 ….”
It is in the terms of the Operations Agreement between the Solid Waste Authority and
Republic that the restrictions placed on the
local government are further spelled out.
“The Authority agrees to cooperate with Republic in obtaining all permits, licenses or approvals necessary for the development, construction, expansion and operation of the
facilities,” the document reads.
Also included are even further restrictions
on local officials. “The Authority agrees not to
take any action or sponsor any law, ordinance,
regulation or restriction mandating any requirement for the development, maintenance,
expansion, operation of closure of the facilities
that conflicts with or is more stringent than
those required by federal or state law or by the
terms of this agreement.”
Beaver explained that, in his opinion, were
the County Board of Commissioners or the
Solid Waste Authority to take steps to block
the rail spur proposed by Republic, that could
be construed as a breach of the agreements.
In that event, Beaver said, the county could
stand to lose the host fees Republic now pays
the county.
City funds research for rail-spur site
By Derby Waters
STAFF WRITER
The Jesup City Council has voted unanimously to help fund research into the possible effects of dumping tons of coal ash into
In a called “emergency meeting” Friday
morning, the Council considered a report
from City Attorney Mike Conner on possible
next steps for the city to undertake if the
members are so inclined.
Mayor David Earl Keith explained that he
had instructed Conner to prepare information for the commissioners following an
agreement Tuesday night between city and
county representatives. (See story on page
1A.)
Keith said that time is of the essence before the March 4 deadline to make comments
to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. That is
the last day to enter comments into the
record in regard to an application by Repub-
lic Service to build a rail spur at the landfill.
That was the reason for calling the emergency session.
Conner sent a comprehensive letter to the
commissioners with information about the
controversy. He outlined possible steps the
city might take were it to engage in the
issue.
He told the Council that the letter had
been vetted by environmental attorneys engaged by a third party, and they had approved of Conner’s findings.
“To involve in the process now, you use science to present findings of fact to the Corps,”
Conner said.
He said he estimated the cost to the city to
hire scientific consultants to gather the facts
to be approximately $5,000 to $7,000.
Commissioner Ray House said that in his
20 years in government he has never seen an
issue “that the whole community is opposed
to.”
“People are as upset about it as I have
seen,”
added
Commissioner
Bobby
Townsend.
“It is my honor to make a motion that we
spend what it takes to have qualified people
to get us the science to stop this from happening,” Commissioner Bill Harvey said.
That was quickly followed by a second
from Commissioner Don Darden. All six
commissioners voted to approve the expenditure.
Wayne County Board of Commissioners
Chair Kevin Copeland spoke to the Council
about the county’s involvement.
“I just want to clarify that right now we
don’t know what the county will do. We have
been told by the county attorney that if we
take any action, it could render the contract
with Republic as void,” Copeland said.
“I don’t think they knew what they were
doing,” Copeland said of the members of the
County Board of Commission and the Solid
Waste Authority who signed on to the 2005
agreement that now limits opposition to Republic’s ambitions.
“Pardon my language,” Copeland said,
“but it’s as piss-poor a contract as I have ever
seen.”
House supported Copeland’s contention in
an earlier statement about the 2005 agree-
ments.
“Those contracts are as bad as anything I
have ever seen,” he said.
Conner said that the agreements not only
limit what the county officials can do but actually asserts that a third party’s objection
to Republic’s permit application could be sufficient for Republic to revoke the agreements.
In those worst case conditions, Republic
would still own and operate the Broadhurst
Landfill but could pay no host fees to Wayne
County and could even charge Jesup and
Wayne County for residents’ garbage.
“All citizens could have to pay higher fees
to Republic. Taxes will go up. If people want
to do this [fight the permit], we will do what
we need to do,” Copeland told the group.
House suggested that a possible sit-down
meeting with representatives of Republic
might be helpful.
“At this point nobody is suing anybody. I
would like to sit down with Republic and see
if they can tell us anything,” he said.
9
The lines that bind
Minutes show no officials challenged ’05 documents
By Derby Waters
STAFF WRITER
County records show that two agreements at the center of the controversy
over coal ash were presented to those
who signed off on them as little more
than updated payment agreements.
Referred to with derogatory terms
such as “junk,” “the worst ever seen”
and even “piss-poor,” the documents
provide the legal agreements under
which Republic Services operates its
Broadhurst Landfill. Now that Republic is planning to bring trainloads of
garbage and coal ash to the landfill,
the two agreements have become central to an effort to thwart the company’s plans.
In April of 2005, two agreements
from 1994 were updated and signed by
members of the Wayne County Board
of Commissioners and members of the
Wayne County Solid Waste Authority.
In a Host Agreement, the county commissioners agreed that the contract
would stay in force as long as Republic
operates the landfill. In the Operations
Agreement, the Solid Waste Authority
agreed to assist Republic in enlarging
the landfill by accepting refuse by rail
from anywhere in the continental
United States.
Now those agreements are seen as
“tying the hands” of the present Board
of Commissioners and members of the
Solid Waste Authority. In fact, County
Attorney Andy Beaver has asserted
that if either board works to prevent
Republic from enlarging the landfill
and accepting coal ash, the company
could possibly cease host fees paid to the
county and require payment at Broadhurst for accepting county garbage.
Though county officials have avoided
calling names of those who approved the
two agreements more than a decade ago,
they have expressed exasperation that
anyone could have signed documents
that, as County Administrator Luther
Smart said, “gave the farm away.”
One of those who signed both agreements was James “Boot” Thomas, who
served as a county commissioner and as
a member of the Sold Waste Authority.
He said the documents were not seen as
controversial at the time.
“It was just SOP [standard operations
procedure] as I recall,” said Thomas.
“If the county attorney approved it,
then I am sure we would accept it,”
Thomas said.
That seemed to be the opinion of those
who could remember anything about approving the documents.
“I remember, but I don’t remember. It’s
been a long time,” said James Boykin,
chair of the county commissioners then.
The Press-Sentinel researched old
records and found minutes from the joint
session of the County Board of Commissioners and the Solid Waste Authority
when both documents were signed. Minutes of the meeting support Thomas’
memory and show that the documents
were presented to the boards as merely
an update on payment procedures.
“John Simmons [manager of the Broadhurst Landfill at the time] explained that
it has been 10 years since the agreement
between Solid Waste Authority, Republic
and Wayne County Commissioners.
“Mr. Simmons says just some cleaning
up, deleting clutter and streamlining has
been done to the agreement and that basically nothing has changed. The important change is going from a three-tier fee
system to a one tier fee system,” reads
the minutes from the Solid Waste Authority.
The minutes from the county commissioners reads much the same.
“Mrs. Jones [then County Administrator Nancy Jones] asked Mr. John Simmons … to come forward and explain the
new agreements. Mr. Simmons stated it
was mostly to clean up the agreement
and change the fees from a three-tier
plan to a one-tier plan, which would
make the accounting of the fees much
easier for everyone,” those records stated.
The county attorney at the time, Bob
Smith, was noted in the Solid Waste Authority minutes as saying that the host
fees in the new agreements were higher,
which would “mean more money for
Wayne County.”
Simmons’ statements in the minutes do
not reflect seemingly substantive
changes contained within the two agreements. Those alterations would seem to
refute the assertion that “basically nothing has changed.” In fact, those changes
are at the heart of the issue today.
The revised documents changed the
area where refuse can come from to include all of the continental United States.
Provisions for a rail spur were inserted
into the contracts, and the agreements
bound future commissioners by the new
terms. It further removed daily limitations on the volume of refuse to be taken
to the landfill and provided that the land-
fill could be expanded without further approval by local boards.
The host fees were changed from three
categories to a single tier, which set the
rate at $1.80—which can only be increased by approval from Republic.
In the end, both boards approved both
agreements without a dissenting vote.
The minutes do not reflect any discussion
or any questioning of the documents.
For the County Board of Commissioners, the minutes show the voting as “motion by Mr. Wright, second by Mr.
Thomas to adopt and authorize the
Chairman to sign the agreement … Mr.
Boykin, Mr. [Gleason] Copeland, Mr.
Thomas and Mr. Wright voted yes.”
For the Solid Waste Authority there
were two votes. The minutes show, “motion made by John Flowers, second by
Gene Lyons to accept new host agreement … John Flowers, Gerald DeWitt,
Aubrey Mansfield, Delores Roberson,
Jerry Wright, Freeman Bacon, Gene
Lyons, James Boykin, Gleason Copeland,
James Thomas and Jerry Wright voted
yes.”
And, “motion made by Aubrey Mansfield, second by John Flowers to accept
new operations agreement …. John
Flowers, Gerald DeWitt, Aubrey Mansfield, Delores Roberson, Jerry Wright,
Freeman Bacon and Gene Lyons voted
yes.”
The Press-Sentinel attempted to reach
several of those officials who signed these
agreements as well as the county attorney. Most were not reached; some did not
return calls; and most of those who were
contacted were not able to recall the
votes.
Broadhurst residents fear what is to come
By Candice McKinley
STAFF WRITER
“We didn’t bargain for a mountain of
coal ash. We settled in a place with few
people and few distractions because
that’s the lifestyle we wanted to live. We
are scared now that we will no longer
have that,” Judy Butts said, deep worry
lines creasing her forehead.
She and her husband, Danny, are residents of the once-thriving little community of Broadhurst. The home to some
300 families during the highpoint of the
“turpentine days,” of the 1950s, Broadhurst today is considered home to a handful of families.
The Buttses invited several neighbors
into their home earlier this month to
voice concerns about Republic Services’
plan to receive up to 10,000 tons of coalash every day. If that plan goes through,
it will bring big changes just across the
road from the residents’ homes.
Judy and DannyButts have lived in the
area since 2001. They are surrounded by
other Broadhurst residents, such as KC
Gest (a resident since 1972), Jeremiah
and Sharon Spradley (residents since
1990), Justin Yarbrough (a native of the
area), and Kenneth Tipton (a resident
since 2012) who were all present for the
gathering.
“I found this letter in my mailbox,
dated Jan. 26, 2016,” Tipton said.
“It was addressed to Matt Kallio, but
Kallio has been dead for years.”
He opened the letter, as he is now the
owner of property using the same mail
address, to find information for the proposed expansion of the Broadhurst Landfill, to be built within 500 yards of his
property.
Tipton said he would never have known
a thing had he not opened the letter. In
fact, none of the neighbors knew anything about the plans by the giant landfill company just to the east of their
homes.
Republic is required by the permit
process of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to provide the names of those who
own property adjacent to the site to be developed. Then the Corps is required to inform the landowners of the permit application and thus the ramifications the
permit may hold for them.
No one at the meeting has received any
notification from the Corps or from Republic.
The Press-Sentinel has requested a list
of any landowners who were notified during the application process. As of press
CANDICE MCKINLEY / Staff
Several residents of Broadhurst met to discuss their concerns over the potential hazards of coal ash being brought to nearly
their front porches. Danny Butts, and his wife, Judy, point from their front yard to the proposed site of Republic Services’ coalash rail yard. The site would be located just across U.S. Highway 301, directly behind the tree line.
time, the request is being reviewed by the
legal department of the U.S. Army Corps.
of Engineers
“I got on the phone first thing and
called everyone here to let them know
what was happening,” Tipton said of the
letter to the deceased Kallio.
It was the first time that any of the residents had received mail about expansion
of any kind, including the growth of the
Broadhurst Landfill property—the same
property which had expanded right
under their noses in 2004 and again in
2008, from 901 acres to more than 2,200
acres.
“Our community smells like a landfill
now,” Judy Butts explained. “It has only
been within the last couple of years that
we could smell anything. Now it is getting worse all the time.”
The Spradleys remembered when the
landfill was originally proposed by
Addington, before Republic Services took
over. Sharon Spradley said they had been
“promised the world,” including a “beautiful” recycling plant, warehouses and the
lure of more than 150 jobs that were to be
created by the construction of the landfill.
“They didn’t follow through on any of
it,” she commented flatly.
She said that the original site for the
landfill was to have been in Mount Pleasant, though residents there fought to
keep it out of their community. Broadhurst became the successor, and the
Spradleys fought a losing battle to keep
the landfill out.
“We were the only people opposed.
Addington brought contracts to the
[county] commissioners, and they were
given what seemed like 20 minutes to
sign them or they [Addington] would pull
out,” the Spradleys contended.
“[The commissioners] said they were
trapped because we needed the landfill.
There was no representation for District
3, our district, when the contract was put
through,” according to the couple.
The Spradleys said they voiced their
opposition at County Board of Commissioners meetings and through letters to
representatives of the Solid Waste Authority and The Press-Sentinel.
Jeremiah Spradley foretold of the current situation they are faced with now,
back then, he recalled. His concerns
seemed to fall on deaf ears. His wife said
that she also voiced her concerns about
what would happen several years down
the road if the landfill were allowed.
“I had a three-hour conversation with
representatives from the Solid Waste Authority, where they tried to convince me
that this [contract] would be a good thing,
even while I strongly disagreed with
them,” she said.
Everybody at the meeting had something to say about negative experiences
of trash from dump trucks flying out of
the trucks and blowing up and down the
roadsides from the landfill to U.S. Highway 301. These experiences have
prompted serious concerns for them
about the proposed coal-ash repository.
The residents liken the rogue trash to the
airborne coal ash they expect from the
proposed dump site. If the original
promises of a small, community-friendly,
job-promoting and beautiful waste-facilitation company were never fulfilled,
these residents say, they now fear the
current boasting of environmental stewardship and health-risk management to
be a farce.
One resident said he saw dump trucks
bringing “fly ash” (coal ash) from Jack-
sonville and depositing it, dry, on top of
the landfill.
“What happens when the wind blows
and they are taking tens of thousands of
tons of ash out [of train cars] with an excavator? Where does it go?” Danny Butts
asked.
Airborne fly ash has been linked to
heart and lung disease, reportedly because particles can be inhaled into the
deepest parts of the lungs, triggering inflammation and immunological reactions.
“My father has COPD [chronic obstructive pulmonary disease],” resident Justin
Yarbrough explained.
“What happens to him when coal ash is
consistently airborne? You can’t tell me it
won’t happen with that much [coal ash]
coming in.”
Other concerns for the neighbors include worries about possible contamination of groundwater. Walker Creek runs
through the proposed site, and residents
are concerned about their well water.
One man said he has small children, one
of whom has to drink bottled formula
every day, and that formula has to be
mixed with water from somewhere. And
if the wetlands were disrupted with a
four-lane railway line, the residents
asked, where would all that water go?
They wonder whether it could flood their
properties with hazardous waste.
The value of their property is a source
of regret for all those in attendance. The
smells and the proximity of the current
landfill have made their property values
plummet, they said.
“What inheritance am I leaving for my
children?” Judy Butts asked. The furrowed lines above her eyes remained
dark with worry.
County approves funding for landfill study
By Derby Waters
STAFF WRITER
It took two weeks to get together
enough county commissioners to vote
on funding for a scientific study of the
environment around the Broadhurst
Landfill. Once on the table, though, approval of the idea was handled in less
than a minute.
Attempted last week, a vote was prevented with only two commissioners
present. This week the vote to approve
a study was quickly approved.
Commissioner James “Boot” Thomas
made a motion to fund up to $5,000 for
the study, which is also being partially
funded by the city of Jesup and a private citizens group led by Dink NeSmith (chairman of the board of Press
Sentinel Newspapers Inc.)
Work on the study is to be completed
in time for reports and findings to be
entered into the public record of the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers before
the March 4 deadline.
At stake is the permit application by
Republic Services to build a rail spur
at the landfill in order to begin dumping tons of coal ash and out-of-state
garbage at the local landfill.
Wayne County Board of Commissioners Chairman Kevin Copeland said
after the vote that many rumors and
talk of blame are circulating around
the county about those who signed two
2005 agreements, which have come to
the center of contention of the coal-ash
issue. Copeland read parts of the minutes of the meeting in which the commissioners at the time signed off on
agreements that are said to block the
county from opposing the plan by Republic.
“It was not properly explained to
them by the county attorney at the
time,” Copeland said.
“There is a reason the county commissioners hire an attorney. They
weren’t aware of what they were signing,” he said.
Copeland said that the commissioners and the Wayne County Solid Waste
Authority were both misled that the
agreements were nothing more than
changing the pay system and that “basically nothing has changed,” as the
minutes state.
Thomas, one of two commissioners in
2005 still on the Board, said that “it
was no one’s fault” that the contracts
were signed. He defended the action by
saying that no one knew anything
about coal ash at the time.
Commissioner Ralph Hickox again
voiced his displeasure with the 2005
contracts using a colorful descriptive
noun. He apologized for his language
but said he strongly believes the contracts are invalid. County Attorney
Andy Beaver once again advised caution in challenging the agreements.
Copeland told the audience that the
commissioners would have a retreat
today (Wednesday) at the Boar’s Head
Restaurant in Savannah beginning at
3:30 p.m.
Meetings planned
Corps of Engineers extends deadline
❏ County to
hire legal help
STAFF REPORT
After further prompting from U.S.
Rep. Buddy Carter, the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers has agreed to extend the date to allow the public to
enter comments on a proposal from Republic Services to build a rail spur at
the Broadhurst Landfill to April 5.
That spur, according to a permit application, would allow Republic to
bring in many tons of garbage and coal
ash from anywhere in the country.
In an e-mail response to attorney
Ken Crowder, who is working with a
group of Wayne Countians to defend
against the prospect of coal ash being
dumped here, the Savannah District of
the Corps said no decision has been
reached on a request for a public hearing in Wayne County. However, according to John Derinzy, regulatory specialist for the Corps, the public-comment
period deadline has been extended to
April 5.
Following a retreat this week, the
Wayne County Board of Commissioners has apparently determined to seek
further legal advice. Chair Kevin
Copeland said the commissioners have
agreed to hire an attorney versed in
contract law to advise the Board on two
agreements signed in 2005.
County Attorney Andy Beaver has
advised the Board that engaging in a
challenge to the plans of Republic to
build the rail spur could be construed
as a breach of those agreements.
Beaver has said that a breach could be
costly to the county and may even
allow Republic to stop paying host fees
to the county government.
Republic Services, owner of the landfill, has announced it will have a series
of open houses during March and plans
to send out a mailer to residents in
Wayne and Pierce counties to tell
about the plans for the landfill. The
Press-Sentinel contacted Republic for
times and places of any meetings, but
so far that information has not been
provided. Two open-house sessions are
planned for the week of March 7, and a
third is planned for later in the month.
Republic also plans to have representatives at a March 16 meeting to be
conducted by the Wayne County Board
of Commissioners. The Corps of Engineers will have representatives there
as will the Georgia Environmental
Protection Divison (EPD). The EPD
had initially said it would not attend
the public meeting, but following a conversation with State Rep. Chad Nimmer, the EPD agreed to attend.
Republic now saving thousands using easements at Broadhurst
First published March 5, 2016
By Derby Waters
STAFF WRITER
If plans to dump millions of tons of
coal into the Broadhurst landfill proceed, the property owner could be faced
with thousands of dollars in penalties
for breaching the terms of timberlandconservation easements it now claims
when paying county property taxes.
And for the past seven years, the
company has saved in property taxes
by making use of conservation easements.
Rumors have circulated for weeks
that Republic Services is paying reduced property taxes on its holdings in
Wayne County by claiming all of its
land is timberland.
In fact, County Commissioner Ralph
Hickox has said that tax records show
the company is not paying its fair
share of taxes and that the land is all
shown as timberland.
A look at some reports, which can be
found on-line, would seem to vindicate
Hickox’s claim. But a closer examination shows it is easy to misinterpret
the tax records. While the records on
each parcel of property owned by Republic Services does list it as timberland, timberland-conservation easements are not claimed on all the
acreage.
Wayne County Chief Tax Appraiser
Ralph O’Quinn’s office says the records
may be confusing to the average reader
until they are further examined.
Further, he said, should Republic put
in place its plans to construct a rail
spur at the Broadhurst Environmental
landfill, not only may it face a re-evaluation of its properties, but it will also
be penalized for conservation easements it now claims, O’Quinn explained.
According to the records in the
Wayne County Tax Assessors’ Office,
Republic Services and its subsidiary,
Central Virginia Properties (CVP),
own a total of 2,163.45 acres. Of that,
the properties are divided into 448
acres with no easements and another
1,715.45 acres with timberland easements. Some of the easements are
listed under CVP and others under Republic, but all the easements go back to
2009.
The tax savings Republic takes advantage of are on the total of 1,715.45
acres under those easements. For that
acreage, Republic is taxed an average
land value of approximately $500 per
acre. On the 448 acres listed with no
easements, the average fair market
value of the land is computed at
around $1,782 per acre.
Records in the tax commissioner’s office reveal the actual numbers and the
savings. Republic pays property taxes
on five parcels of property, of which
four are eligible for the timber exemption.
Parcel 90-9-1 is composed of 453.8
acres, and over the last seven years
has had a savings of $37,507 for Republic.
Parcel 105-1-3 is 834.32 acres and
has a savings over the past seven years
of $83,184.
For parcel 90-1-1, the company has
saved $24,309 for those 244.74 acres in
the past seven years.
Parcel 90-1-4 is another 182.59 acres
for which the company has saved
$18,203 over the past seven years.
Parcel 90-9 is 448 acres large and has
no timber easement and no conservation easement. It is taxed on 40 percent
of its fair market value of $798,154,
which amounted to an assessed value
of $319,261 for 2015. The assessed
value multiplied by the millage rate of
29.95 means that Republic paid net
property taxes of $9,561. This 448-acre
tract is where the main area of the
landfill is located, the spot where the
mound of garbage presently being accumulated is located.
In all, by making use of the conservation easements that are available to all
qualified landowners, Republic has
saved a total of $163,203 in property
taxes over the past seven years.
If Republic were to use the property
for anything other than timberland,
that could revoke the right to claim the
easements. And in that case, O’Quinn
said, the penalty would be twice the
amount of savings per year multiplied
by the number of years the easements
have been in place. In this case, the
easements have been in force from
2009 to 2015, or seven years.
The penalty the company could have
to pay were all the easements removed
at one time could be $326,406.
Were Republic successful in constructing a rail spur along the CSX
railroad line, then all the remaining
1,715.45 acres (with a few acres possibly excepted) would no longer be eligible for the easements.
Republic plans to meet with elected officials
❏ County looks
for adviser
By Derby Waters
STAFF WRITER
Elected officials from across Wayne
County have been invited to attend an
open house at the Broadhurst Environmental landfill scheduled for next
Wednesday.
Chip Lake, a spokesperson for Republic Services, said this week that
members of the Wayne County Board
of Commissioners, the Wayne County
Solid Waste Authority, and the Jesup,
Odum and Screven city councils all
have been invited to the session.
He said that State Reps. Bill
Werkheiser and Chad Nimmer and
State Sen. Tommie Williams have also
been issued invitations.
The press and members of the public
are not being invited to participate.
Lake said that the officials will be
given a tour of the landfill and explanations of its operations. He said any
questions or concerns the officials may
have will be addressed.
Lake said the open house is part of
an effort by Republic to inform the
community about the landfill at Broad-
hurst and the plans to expand the operations there.
Other open houses will be scheduled
for later in March so that others in the
community may have an opportunity
to tour the facility. Those tours will be
after the March 16 county meeting,
which is to be held at 7 p.m. at the auditorium at Coastal Pines Technical
College.
Republic Services will have representatives at that meeting to answer questions from the audience. The U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers and the
Georgia Environmental Protection Division will also have representatives in
attendance.
County Board of Commissioners
Chairman Kevin Copeland said that
the Carl Vinson Institute of the University of Georgia will provide a moderator for the meeting.
Copeland also said this week that no
decision has been made as to an attorney to examine two 2009 agreements
with Republic Services. The disputed
documents are to be examined by a
legal adviser with expertise in the
area, Copeland said.
The chairman said the decision on an
attorney is scheduled for the commissioners’ next regular meeting, which is
set to begin Monday at 7 p.m. in the
county meeting room.
11
Jeremy Poetzscher, left, makes a point at the site where the proposed rail spur
would begin. From left, Robert Williams, Carol McNeary and Russ Knocke look on.
From left, Jeremy Poetzscher, Robert Williams, Republic vice president Russ
Knocke and Satilla Riverkeeper board member Carol McNeary stand on the site
where heavy metals were found in the water supply.
Garbage disposal is growing business at Broadhurst landfill
by a negative pressure system through
a series of hoses into a flare, which
burns the gas to keep it from escaping
into the atmosphere.
The amount of methane produced at
Broadhurst at present does not make a
sufficient supply for commercial use.
However, Poetzscher pointed out that
as the tonnage of waste increases, the
company expects that a steady supply
of methane will make it possible to sell
methane as an energy source.
❏ A tour of
‘Mount Trashmore’
and environs reveals
complex industry
By Derby Waters
STAFF WRITER
You would never know it to pass by
the entrance to the Broadhurst Environmental Landfill, but just mere yards
from the highway is a sprawling industrial site.
At the entry gates, more than 100
trucks each day weigh in at the scales
and proceed down a road a short drive
to where a mound of garbage covers almost 90 acres and towers more than
150 feet high. Nearing the mound, a
visitor is faced with a tall hill of grass,
where 21 monitoring wells, various
vents and pipes pop from the ground
and long hoses snake along the hillside.
This is South Georgia’s face of an industry that is growing each year in this
country, even as what residents nearby
call “Mount Trashmore” continues to
grow each day in width and height.
Municipal waste tonnage across the
nation has increased each year since a
mere 2.68 million tons were collected
following the Solid Waste Disposal Act
of 1965. By 2013, that number had
grown to 254.1 million tons dumped in
hundreds of landfills across the country. In addition to municipal wastes,
nonhazardous landfills such as the one
at Broadhurst also accept millions of
tons of industrial waste.
The landfill just east of Screven is one
of more than 160 landfills the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
lists in Georgia. It takes in more than
600,000 tons of wastes each year, primarily from within Georgia, although
some out-of-state refuse is accepted.
Site layout
Broadhurst now counts more than
2,200 acres in its complex. Of that,
some 240 acres is presently permitted
to be used for garbage disposal, and of
that, a mere 88 acres is actively being
used for disposal of wastes.
“People hear we have a 2,200-acre
dump, and that’s misleading,” Jeremy
Poetzscher, the environmental manager for Republic Services, said last
Above is a new 695,000-gallon leachate tank for storing the 27,000 gallons of
liquid collected from the Broadhurst garbage heap each day.
week.
He said that of those 2,200 acres,
1,100 acres are actually property permitted by the Georgia Environmental
Protection Division (EPD), while the
other half is additional property surrounding the landfill.
Poetzscher said that some 750 acres
have been set aside as wetlands and
257 acres have been set aside and/or developed as part of the company’s wetlands mitigation program.
Trucks filled with garbage make their
way up the dump site amid piles of
trash already dumped and flights of
buzzards drawn to the easy pickings.
After loads of garbage have been leveled by bulldozers, a layer of dirt is
added to cover the refuse, and all of
that is then compacted.
Over the course of 15 years, the company has used almost 90 acres to build
the mound of waste, and each acre has
been covered with 60-mil high-density
polyethylene—the liner is required
under Subtitle D of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).
The fact is that since 1976, the federal
Methane and other gases are removed from the trash heap and burned by the
open-flare system used at Broadhurst.
government has required all states to
adopt and implement permit programs
to ensure that landfills comply with relevant federal standards. Part of those
requirements is construction of lined
landfills such as the one at Broadhurst.
The Broadhurst landfill is permitted
for 24 lined waste cells. To date, nine
cells have been used and a 10th is currently under construction. The cells
vary from 6 to 9 acres large.
With 14 remaining permitted cells,
and as the tonnage taken into the landfill increases, the pile of garbage could
eventually more than double its size of
today.
Just to look at it, that massive mound
might appear to be a mere static pile of
garbage and dirt, neatly topped with a
covering of grass. But inside the mound
of tons of garbage, two things are constantly being created—gas and
“garbage juice.”
The gas is mostly a mixture of carbon
dioxide and methane, produced as the
garbage is broken down by microorganisms. The gas is extracted through
vents and collection points and is pulled
Leachate
Sometimes referred to as garbage
juice, leachate is created by the liquids
within the waste and the rainfall on the
cells. Both percolate down to the bottom of the cell and collect on the liner.
Each cell is engineered to drain all the
fluid toward the center at the bottom of
the cell. There it is collected and
pumped to one of two massive leachate
tanks.
Broadhurst landfill produces some
27,000 gallons of leachate each day. The
newest leachate tank will hold 695,000
gallons of liquid waste.
Every day or two, a tanker truck is
filled with leachate and transports it to
the Waycross Municipal Wastewater
Treatment Plant. The liquid is treated
at that plant and the pollutants removed before the eventual effluent
empties into the Satilla River.
Company pride
Poetzscher is proud of the landfill at
Broadhurst and said it is his personal
favorite of all the landfills operated by
Republic in this part of the country. He
said that a lot of engineering and sophisticated monitoring goes into the operation and maintenance of the facility.
If plans of the company become a reality, Poetzscher will become busier in
coming months. Those plans call for a
massive four-track rail spur to be constructed for the delivery of millions of
tons of municipal and industrial waste,
including trainloads of coal ash.
He said a site for new lined cells
would be constructed on the northeast
side of the property to receive the coal
ash. Poetzscher sees the expansion as
market-driven and something the company can safely manage.
If all that becomes a reality, “Mount
Trashmore” will be just one of two huge
lumps on the otherwise flat terrain at
Broadhurst.
Republic has set aside some 257 acres of wetlands as part of its wetlands mitigation program. This site is to be left in its natural state and will not be disturbed by a
proposed rail spur.
Proposed law would make EPD more transparent
❏ Inspired by Wayne’s
coal-ash controversy
STAFF REPORT
The fight over coal ash
in Wayne County may
make the Georgia Environmental Protection Division more transparent.
State
Rep.
Bill
Werkheiser (R-Glennville)
announced
Wednesday that
he will
file legislation
to
require
greater
Bill
transWerkheiser
parency
between the EPD and
the citizens of southeast
Georgia, where hazardous waste is being
disposed.
Republic
Services,
which
operates
the
Broadhurst
Environmental Landfill, is seeking a permit for a large
rail yard that would explicitly be able to accept
large volumes of coal ash
from outside the area.
Werkheiser noted that
the proposal has been
pursued legally but secretly.
“Just last week, we
learned of a spill of hazardous material that
happened nearly five
years ago,” he said.
“Again, no laws were
broken and no rules were
violated, but residents
were not made aware of
this accident until it was
reported by a newspaper
that discovered the accident buried in reams of
documents.”
Werkheiser’s bill would
require the EPD to report certain actions to
the official legal organ
and the affected local
governments, as well as
the
surrounding
landowners. These actions would include—but
are not limited to—any
new permit application,
a change in an application and evidentiary indication of a violation of
a permit.
Coal ash is the waste
left behind when coal is
burned to produce energy. Republic has estimated that the incoming
waste stream could
amount 10,000 tons of
coal ash a day.
“The process that has
taken place in Wayne
County
has
caught
everyone off guard and
jeopardized the period of
time where public comment would have been
allowed,”
Werkheiser
added. “We will not get a
second chance to get this
right, and we need to do
what we can to rectify
this situation going forward.”
Werkheiser represent
District 157, which includes
portions
of
Wayne, Tattnall and
Evans counties.
Landfill-leak bill passes Ga. House
By Drew Davis
STAFF WRITER
A bill requiring communities to be informed of landfill leaks passed the
Georgia House Monday 163-0.
The version that passed the House,
though, is different from the version
that State Rep. Bill Werkheiser first
introduced.
The legislation was prompted by the
fact that an apparent leak at the
Broadhurst Environmental Landfill
was never reported to Wayne County
officials or citizens by either the
Georgia Environmental Protection
Division or Republic Services, which
operates the landfill.
The version of House Bill 1028
headed to the Georgia Senate reads
that “The owner or operator of a municipal solid waste landfill shall notify the local governing authorities of
any city and county in which such
landfill is located of any significant
release therefrom within 14 days of
confirmation of such release by the
division.”
Originally, though, the bill would
have required that the EPD—not the
landfill owner—report any “eviden-
tiary indication” of a permit violation.
Also, the report would have been
made to the official legal organ as
well as the affected local agovernments.
And the bill would also have required the EPD to report any new
permit applications and any application changes.
The original bill summary read
that the bill was meant “to require
the Environmental Protection Division of the Department of Natural
Resources to provide notice to affected localities upon the occurrence
of certain events relating to permit-
ted solid or hazardous waste facilities.”
The new summary, though—as
adopted by a House committee before being sent to the House floor—
reads that the bill is meant “to require the owner or operator of a
municipal solid waste landfill to provide notice to the relevant local governing authority upon the occurrence of a solid waste release.”
Werkheiser sponsored the original
legislation, and the first co-sponsor
was Wayne County’s other state representative, Chad Nimmer.
OPINION
Public should be notified
of health hazards
It’s frightening the amount of secrecy all levels of today’s government works in.
We know that at times it can be pesky to do the people’s business in complete and total
openness, but that is absolutely how it should work.
Just a few weeks ago this newspaper uncovered a plan by Republic Services to haul in
tons of coal ash and other municipal wastes by train into Wayne County without ever
alerting the county, the city of Jesup or even its neighbors. Republic wants to destroy
some wetlands to build a rail yard in Wayne County, and so it did have to contact the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps does have a 30-day comment period for the
community. However, the kicker is that virtually no one has to be alerted of this comment period. The Corps is not bound to notify the general public. It only has to post it
on its website, send letters to those named by Republic and send an email to those who
had signed up for one. Only after we shed light on the plan and a public outcry went up,
did the Corps postpone its decision on the destruction of the wetlands in Wayne County.
Then, this past week we learned that toxic heavy metals found in coal ash have already been detected at levels above drinking-water standards in local groundwater
around Republic Services’ Broadhurst Environmental Landfill.
Republic Services has been working with the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) for several years to clean up this mess.
Surprise, surprise—no one in the county was notified of this pending environmental
disaster.
“It makes me mad, frankly, that they had something spill into our environment and
we didn’t know about it,” Kevin Copeland, chairman of the Wayne County Board of Commissioners, was quoted in an article in The Press-Sentinel last week.
We’ve yet to find a single Wayne Countian who isn’t outraged over this assault our environment. So many have asked what they can do to help. There are many things that
can be done, but one is to continue to cry out for openness and sunshine in government.
One area to start—which seems to be a no-brainer—is that when a toxic spill (or, as
Republic euphemistically refers to it as a leakage) happens in a community, the offending company and the Georgia EPD should be compelled by law to notify the surrounding community of the issue.
Unfortunately, we are sure Wayne County isn’t alone in facing this type of health crisis.
This is a law that needs to be implemented from the Georgia legislature now—today—
this session. It’s obvious we can’t expect these private and government organizations to
do the right thing on their own. They must be compelled by law to notify the public.
Please take time to write or call your local representatives and ask them to introduce
this type of legislation—today. Not only does Wayne County need this protection; the
rest of the state does as well.
In Wayne, we have several to contact:
•Sen. Tommie Williams ([email protected])—148 Williams Ave., Lyons,
GA 30436 or 110-B State Capitol, Atlanta, GA 30334. His telephone numbers are 912526-7444 and 404-656-0089.
•Rep. Chad Nimmer ([email protected])—P.O. Box 1174, Blackshear, GA
31516 or 113 State Capitol, Atlanta, GA 30334. His telephone numbers are 912-8076190 and 404-651-7737.
•Rep. Bill Werkheiser ([email protected])—P.O. Box 27, Glennville, GA
30427 or 411-E Coverdell Legislative Office Building, Atlanta, GA 30334. His telephone
numbers are 912-654-3610 and 404-656-0126.
•Gov. Nathan Deal (email address unavailable)—206 Washington St., Suite 203, State
Capitol, Atlanta, GA 30334. His telephone number is 404-656-1776.
•Rep. Lynn Smith ([email protected])—228 State Capitol, Atlanta, GA 30334.
Her telephone number is 404-656-7149. (Smith is chairman of the Natural Resources
and the Environment Committee for the House. Also, she is also a graduate of Wayne
County High.)
•Sen. Frank Ginn ([email protected])—121-I State Capitol, Atlanta, GA
30334. His telephone number is 404-656-4700. (He is chairman of the Natural Resources
and the Environment Committee for the Senate.)
•DNR Commissioner Mark Williams ([email protected])— 2 Martin
Luther King Jr. Drive S.E., Suite 1252—East Tower, Atlanta, GA 30334. His telephone
number is 404-656-3500.
•Georgia EPD Commissioner Judson H. Turner (Office refused to give out his email
address.)—Environmental Protection Division, 2 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive S.E.,
Suite 1456—East Tower, Atlanta, GA 30334. His telephone number is 404-657-5947.
Kudos to Werkheiser
for upcoming EPD bill
State Rep. Bill Werkheiser is doing right by Wayne County in filing a bill to make the
Environmental Protection Division more transparent.
He’s also doing right by the citizens of Georgia.
Wayne County citizens are now under the gun to express their concerns about a proposed rail yard that would set the stage for Republic Services to bring in thousands of
tons of coal ash a day for disposal at the Broadhurst Environmental Landfill.
As a state legislator, Werkheiser can’t directly address U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
procedures that do not require local communities to be notified when the Corps is asked
to allow the disruption of wetlands for such projects.
The Georgia General Assembly can, however, require the EPD to announce new permit applications, changes in applications and evidence that a permit has been violated.
Under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s definition of coal ash as a nonhazardous material, the landfill here is already permitted to receive coal ash. But under
existing laws, the EPD was not required to notify the community when Republic’s own
monitoring wells found higher-than-allowed levels of contaminants in water around
the landfill.
And those contaminants are consistent with substances found at significant levels in
coal ash, which the landfill was already accepting—in relatively limited amounts—at
the time this leakage was discovered.
The EPD is supposed to be protecting the people of Georgia from environmental
threats. And the first line of protection is letting the people know what those threats
might be. So kudos to Werkheiser for trying to make sure that, at a minimum, the EPD
will have to tell us what’s going on.
NIMBYWMA!
NIMBY is a well-known acronym for “not in my back yard.” We would add WMA to
those letters to mean “without my approval.”
We learned this week of a plan that would bring tons of coal ash and other waste products into our community. The proposal must be permitted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources—and neither agency is required to tell anybody in the county anything about the plan.
This is the second time that some outside interest has asked for a government permit
to do something in Wayne County without telling us about it. First was the plan to dig
up minerals here and take them out of the county. This new proposal would take wastes
from somewhere else and bring them here.
And this is not just any waste. Coal ash contains heavy minerals and radioactive material that have been proven harmful to humans and wildlife. Shouldn’t we have a say if
something like that is to be brought into our community?
To add to this insult is the fact that anybody here who wants to ask about the proposal
or complain or have a public meeting about it has only 30 days to do so in writing. But
the catch is that no public notice has been provided, so how are we to react without being
informed of the idea? If we are to respond in writing, should not those agencies be accountable to tell us in writing about what they are up to?
What is needed is a law that requires any federal or state agency that is authorized to
permit any business or change in a community be required to inform the public in a
timely fashion.
We don’t pay state and federal taxes so that those agencies that we fund can secretly
plan what is to happen where we live.
So here it is in writing. This community deserves and demands a public hearing so
that we can learn more about this plan. Where is this toxic ash coming from? What is in
it? What safeguards are planned? Are our children safe?
Without being informed, our first response to this or any proposal so surreptitiously
thrust on us is no, hell no. Not here. Not unless we say so. NIMBYWMA.
13
OPINION
Will coal ash spoil our air and water?
Lack of public notice could help bring danger to our area
Public notice. When is the
last time you read one?
Public notice is more than
our county commissioners’
moving their monthly meeting
from one day to another. Public
notice is more than a bank’s
foreclosing on your neighbor
down the street for nonpayment.
Public notice is more than
those lengthy columns of type
or small, plain block ads you
see in the pages of this newspaper, reporting that someone is
adopting a baby or telling you
how much it costs to qualify for
office.
Public notice can be much
more. Public notice can be the
first warning the home you and
your family have enjoyed much
of your life may be threatened.
Public notice may be the first
warning that leisurely summer
cookouts on your back patio
could be a thing of the past because a foul-smelling industry
will soon be locating just down
the road, polluting the air
around your home with a putrid stench.
Public notice could be your
first hint that drinking water
from the tap in your kitchen
may no longer be safe.
Public notice, a staple of
American government since
our forefathers first tacked up
quill-and-ink scribbled notices
in the town square, is gradually being taken away. Government leaders at every level,
acting from a mistaken sense
of “saving money” and fueled
by a public that largely pays no
My Opinion
▼▼▼
attention,
are offering
fewer and
fewer public
notices of actions that
can affect
everything
from the
value of your
home to how
you get to
work—and
more.
The latest example of how
”
ROBERT
WILLIAMS
The Blackshear
Times
Coal ash contains
contaminants like
mercury, cadmium
and arsenic ... Who
wants to live near
tons of that?
inadequate public notice can
affect our lives is on our
doorstep today.
The quality of life in Wayne
and Pierce counties is being
threatened by the very real
possibility of mountains of
toxic coal-ash residue being
hauled to our area from elsewhere and dumped in the
nearby landfill operated at
Broadhurst in Wayne County.
We are talking millions of
TONS of coal ash, the residue
GERRY BROOME / AP
A resident of Eden, N.C., scoops coal ash from the banks of a river fouled by a spill from a coal-ash disposal area. Tons of coal ash brought to our area could spoil our air and water, as well.
of coal-fueled power plants.
What exactly is in coal ash?
EPA describes it this way:
“Coal ash contains contaminants like mercury, cadmium
and arsenic. Without proper
management, these contaminants can pollute waterways,
ground water, drinking water,
and the air.”
Coal ash also contains lead.
Ask folks in Flint, Mich., how
harmful that is.
Who wants to live near tons
of that? Not the people where
this poison is produced. They
want to ship it far, far away. To
us.
The Army Corps of Engineers is part of the process because a proposed rail yard to
handle the trainloads of coal
ash may be built in a wetlands
area. The Corps issued no public notice of the plan, however,
because someone, somewhere,
at some time, decided the
Corps no longer needed to give
public notice in the local newspaper of the community where
such actions might be taken.
Instead, if you sign up—in advance—you will be sent a notice.
Will Wayne be ‘sacrifice zone’?
Is Wayne County in danger of becoming a “sacrifice
zone”?
Some local residents are starting to ask that question.
The concern has been prompted by a proposal by Republic Services to build a rail yard that could accept
trainloads of coal ash and other waste for disposal at
Not only has coal ash caused serious environmental
problems in other parts of the country, but Republic is
still cleaning up an apparent leak associated with
much more limited disposal of coal ash here a few
years ago.
So what is a sacrifice zone?
According to a broad description by bestselling author
Chris Hedges to longtime PBS commentator Bill Moyers
a few years ago, sacrifice zones are U.S. areas where
“Americans are trapped in endless cycles of poverty, powerlessness and despair as a direct result of capitalistic
greed.”
Speaking on Moyers & Company in 2012, Hedges
discussed areas “where communities suffered while
the corporations plundering them were thriving,” according to a Feb. 14 Savannah Morning News story by
Ron P. Whittington.
Whittington was writing about the concern—raised
by Palmetto Pipeline opponents—that some of the
areas along the pipeline route could become sacrifice
zones.
If built, the pipeline would run from Benton, S.C., to
Jacksonville, Fla., transporting fossil fuel for Texasbased Kinder Morgan.
Whittington’s story notes that, according to Hedges
and other environmental proponents, pipeline operators often skimp in sacrifice zones because those
areas—typically characterized by depressed neighborhoods, government-owned property, heritage lands
and wetland areas—pose a lower risk of lawsuits.
Republic is not trying to build a pipeline, but it is a
big corporation trying to reap big profits from waste
containing toxic chemicals. And the proposed rail yard
would be built in a rural wetland area.
Also, like opponents of the Palmetto Pipeline, opponents of the rail yard are now concerned about the potential impact on waterways and the Floridan Aquifer.
And like Palmetto Pipeline opponents, opponents of
the rail yard are seeing a big company flex its corporate muscles to get what it wants—just as big companies have done in sacrifice zones across the country.
It’s no surprise, then, that Wayne County citizens
don’t want their community to be sacrificed for bigger
corporate profits. Let’s not let this county become the
latest sacrifice zone.
The right way to do it is at home in the open
Republic Services is a hard case.
The company representatives have yet to learn that
more openness is a requirement for cooperation. Almost nobody in this county is in favor of the company’s plan to bring tons of coal ash to our community. And almost everybody here has questions about
what is going on.
And yet, the company persists in its apparent belief that the way to carry out its ambition is to do so
in secret.
Company officials never told us they planned to
dump coal ash on us. They never told us they had already brought 800,000 tons of coal ash to the landfill.
They never told us that they have already had serious failures at the landfill, which resulted in poisoning our groundwater.
Now they want to meet with local “leaders” and
elected officials. Only they want to have “open”-house
sessions that are closed. In fact, when we asked about
these meetings, we were told that the press could not
attend them.
Now compare that sort of heavy-handed attitude by
a huge absentee corporation with the way things are
being done when we are dealing with folks here at
home.
The Jesup City Council met with unhappy neighbors who wanted their community safe from commercial enterprises being located where they make their
homes. There had never been a business in that residential neighborhood, and residents there wanted to
keep it that way. (Maybe they don’t like the idea of
increased traffic where their children play.)
Fortunately, unlike property in unincorporated
Wayne County, property within the city of Jesup has
zoning ordinances in place. Were the county zoned,
probably we would not be fearing what a huge corporation has the power to do over our wishes.
But zoning aside, the thing is that the Jesup commissioners met with the public in the open to discuss
the issue, along with the property owner who had requested the rezoning. There was no attempt by the
landowner or those opposing his plan to make some
secretive end-around play.
When home folks have the say, our neighborhoods
can be what we want them to be. When the federal
and state governments bow to the dollars of large, secretive businesses, the only interest served is that of
those big business owners. They could care less that
we live here. They just want some place to dump
their trash and count their dollars.
Only because Derby Waters,
a vigilant reporter with The
Press-Sentinel in Jesup, got
wind of this plan did any information see the light of day, and
now the fight is on to protect
our area from this threat.
Public notice. When’s the
last time you asked why one
wasn’t published?
•••
(Robert M. Williams Jr. is
the editor and publisher of The
Blackshear Times. E-mail:
[email protected].
PRESSTALK
▼▼▼
Coastal group objects
to permit application
I am writing to state our unconditional objections to the permit
application for a waste-transport facility located west of U.S. 301
and south of Broadhurst Road West and 5.6 miles east of
Screven.
Clearly, there are much better-suited locations for this operation that would not impose unjustified harm to jurisdictional
freshwater wetlands. The toxicity of the material being transported further exacerbates the potential risk to public interest.
There is no compelling rationale that substantiates the stated
need to fill nearly 25 acres of jurisdictional wetlands.
Accordingly, the Center for a Sustainable Coast strongly objects to this permit because an alternative to it is available at
other locations adjacent to disposal sites where destruction of
wetlands would not be a factor.
Moreover, the alleged mitigation method does not honor the
principle of “no net loss” of wetlands because it would result in
the destruction of 25 acres of functional jurisdictional wetlands.
Cumulatively, the continued practice of implementing such measures would result in the loss of thousands of acres of wetlands
that serve important habitat, filtration and flood-control benefits
of great, well-documented benefit to the public.
Finally, whatever the proposed precautions, unloading operations will undoubtedly result in the contamination of surrounding areas with the toxic materials being transferred at the proposed facility. These materials (including known carcinogens),
when spilled, would risk contamination of surrounding surface
and groundwater resources, further jeopardizing public safety.
We urge the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to reject this proposal due to its unacceptable and unjustified disturbance and destruction of valued natural resources and associated risks to public health.
David Kyler
Executive director
Center for a Sustainable Coast
Lobbyists are wrong—
coal ash is hazardous
As a citizen, as a property owner and, most important, as a father, I feel I must address this issue of the coal ash.
In my research, I have found that the U.S. EPA, this past October, published its Final Rule on coal-ash disposal after five
years of debate, public comment and, of course, political lobbying. Why a rule now? After all, haven’t power plants been generating this ash for decades?
If you have any interest in this debate, please educate yourself
on the Kingston, Tenn., coal-ash disaster of Dec. 22, 2008. That
cleanup is still ongoing; the bill is $1.2 billion and rising; and the
human cost is beyond calculation. The rule is in response to this
disaster and the later coal-ash disaster in Eden, N.C., in February of 2014.
Relevant to us in Wayne County, this waste material was classified under Subtitle D of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, or RICA. This means that the ash is now deemed “not
❑ See PRESSTALK, Page 14
OPINION
PRESSTALK
Continued from page 13
hazardous” and on the level with
normal household garbage. It was
not—and this is key—classified
under Subtitle C (in other words, a
“hazardous material”). Curiously,
the debate was won by the industry lobbyists over the research scientists and physicians.
For the highly profitable landfill
industry, the rule is a veritable bonanza—110 million tons of this ash
was generated in 2012 alone, and
now they want to haul it to us. And
old ash, or “legacy” ash, can now be
scooped up and hauled to a stateof-the art, lined facility such as Republic Services Inc.’s Broadhurst
Environmental Landfill.
It is no wonder that multibillionaires such as Bill Gates and Warren Buffet are heavily invested in
Republic. There are fortunes to be
made and stock prices to be raised
by dumping this material in out-ofthe-way places where pliant governments and lax regulation pass
the costs on to unsuspecting locals.
On the other hand, please look
up the reports published by Physicians for Social Responsibility concerning the health impacts of coal
ash. These sobering, even horrifying facts about the arsenic, lead
and cadmium, as well as radioactive elements, that Republic’s proposal would bring in by the trainload—up to 10,000 tons of ash per
day—will make you wonder why
we all, with a single voice, have yet
to echo Dink Nesmith’s “No! No!
No!”
We must choose to stand up for
ourselves in this matter. Really.
The EPA rule states that they will
not be enforcing their own rule. It
is up to citizens or their local governments to sue landfills that
break the rules.
But, as Flint, Mich., proves, what
good is suing when a generation
has already been poisoned? Fortunately, we are not without recourse.
The Joint Wayne County Solid
Waste Management Plan 20102021 is found online. Section 6 tells
me that our collective hands are
not tied when it comes to this fight.
There is no radioactive ash in this
“Community’s Vision”!
Dan Chappell
Jesup
Coal ash raises
Pierce concerns
I read Dink NeSmith’s column in
The Blackshear Times about the
proposed dumping of coal ash near
the Wayne/Pierce line. I’m certainly no expert on this subject;
however, I have seen its impact on
family members in North Carolina.
My sister and her family live in
Belmont, N.C., and are victims of
contaminated water from coal ash.
Last March they were issued a
warning to avoid drinking their
water and were informed that bottled water would start being delivered to their home. Some of the
neighbors bathe in the contaminated water, while others avoid
doing so. It seems as though you
would do so at your own risk, as
there are so many unanswered
questions regarding this issue.
Having visited my sister’s family
several times over the last year, I
can attest to the inconvenience but,
more important, the health concern involved. My brother-in-law
was
diagnosed
with
throat/tonsil/tongue cancer in
June. One can’t help but wonder
whether this was caused by the
contaminated water, as they have
been told that cancer cases have
risen in the area.
Some in the area would like to
move; however, no one wants to
buy a home with contaminated
water. Property values have diminished greatly.
Although those affected are glad
to have the bottled water delivered
to their homes, I’ve seen the inconvenience of having to use it to cook,
etc., and the difficulty in storing
cases of bottled water. My sister
does have a garage, but in the summer, the bottled water gets hot, and
that alone poses a safety issue as
well (plastic bottles).
This has been going on for almost
a year, and there is no solution in
sight for my sister and many others affected by the contaminated
The Georgia Supreme Court itself
ruled, on June 29, 2015, in Elbert
County vs. Sweet City Landfill,
that a county ordinance can place
burdens upon a private landfill as
long as it is evenhanded and “promotes the safety and welfare of
County residents … and protects
the natural resources of the
County.”
The current Joint Public Notice
from the Corps of Engineers states,
“The applicant’s proposed work
may also require local government
approval.” Not forthcoming!
The shock has worn off, the facts
are coming to light, we are fighting
this, and we are winning!
Elizabeth Anne Chappell
Jesup
Carolina coal ash
is coming to Georgia
water. How do we know this wouldn’t happen to us in this area? No
amount of job creation should ever
come before our health!
This is the extent of what I know
on this issue, but it’s enough to
make me cringe at the thought of
having toxic material dumped near
my home. Thank you so much for
bringing this to the attention of
those residing in Pierce and Wayne
counties.
Tammy Oakley
Pierce County
Public should voice
coal-ash concerns
According to the webpage of Republic Services, the company is
“Committed to your community”
and “Part of your neighborhood.”
The page says, “At Republic Services, our most important relationships are the ones we have with
our customers. We continually
strive to make your recycling and
waste effortless. Our exceptional
employees are here for you–to listen, to provide outstanding service,
and to help you help the environment.”
Sounds good, yet Republic Services has plans to bring tons and
tons of toxic-waste materials in the
form of coal ash to our community,
all from other states–all without an
opportunity for a public meeting to
address the fears and concerns of
the citizens of Wayne County. In
other words–sneak it in!
“Coal ash, the second largest industrial waste stream in the U.S.,
is less regulated than your household trash. Coal ash contains high
levels of heavy metals such as arsenic, lead, mercury, and other
toxic substances,” according to
Cleanwateraction.org.
Can we really be assured Broadhurst storage units of coal ash,
which contains such caustic chemicals, can be retained without the
threat of leakage? If so, why are
other states sending this material
to Georgia?
I commend Wayne County Commission Chair Kevin Copeland for
his quick action to address Republic Services’ attempt to bring hazardous waste into our county without the benefit of a public meeting.
I also highly commend The PressSentinel reporter Derby Waters for
his diligence in sounding the alarm
and his extensive research into the
dangers of coal ash and what it
means for our community.
Now is the time for the citizens of
Wayne County to step up and send
letters to both the Army Corps of
Engineers and to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
Without sufficient outcry by each of
us against this blatant form of
treachery instrumented by Republic Services, we will seal our own
fate! Is this the legacy we want to
leave our loved ones and future
generations?
Beth Roach
Concerned Neighbors
of Wayne County
Halt permit process
for coal-ash answers
All one has to do is see or hear
the news of the tainted water supply in Flint, Mich., and then think
of the possible dumping of coal ash
in our county.
There are two very informative
articles recently published in the
Atlanta Journal-Constitution that
should be of interest to everyone in
Wayne County and especially to us
who live near the proposed dump
site of the coal ash. The first article
is an investigative report published
Nov. 7, 2015, titled “Georgia coal
ponds a ‘lurking disaster.’” The second was published Jan. 22, 2015,
and titled “Pumping from coal ash
pond into Lake Sinclair stopped,
Georgia Power says.”
The second article says that in
general the safest way to store coal
ash is to move it away from rivers
and lakes. This proposed site is just
the opposite. Other statements
concern leakage into the groundwater system. The proposed dump
site is wet.
Among the main concerns I have
are: 1) this site is located on top of
the Floridan Aquifer; 2) it is located
in the surficial aquifer system or
local surficial aquifer (www.stateofwater.org ); 3) our home is located
five miles from the proposed site,
and we have an 846-foot-deep well
drawing water from the Floridan
Aquifer; and 4) we have a farm located four miles from the site on
Whitestar Road. There are many
creeks and streams located in the
proposed dump location that lead
directly into a creek that flows
through our farm property, where
we have two shallow wells.
Locating this dump site on and in
the aquifer system could result in
monumental damage not only to
our water but to the drinking water
of millions of people. What illnesses
could be caused if our water is
tainted? How long would it take to
really assess the damage done to
our drinking water? Could the
damages be permanent? What
about the wildlife, especially the
wildlife we hunt and fish for food?
Maybe the citizens of nearby counties and north Florida would be interested in what may occur here in
Wayne County and the lasting effects it could have on them.
Where does your bathing, cooking and drinking water come from?
Where does your garden water
come from? If you have a pool,
where does the water come from?
What damages could be done to us,
not to mention our generations to
follow?
My fifth concern—is this proposed dump already a done deal?
Anyone who rides down Broadhurst Road will see a fairly new
power line disappearing south into
the pines. Where does this go and
for what purpose? No one lives
down there. Is this another project
“slipped” in (like mining) on the citizens of Wayne County?
Before retiring from the Department of Homeland Security, I was
in contracting for a period of time.
Whenever I oversaw a contract
that had gone through layers of
lawyers, I always had a go-to person, a contact. Therefore, my sixth
concern (and a troubling one that
smells of back-room dealing)—who
in Wayne County is the go-to person? No major firm will go to the
trouble of even considering an endeavor of this magnitude without a
contact. I guarantee you this was
the case for the mining company.
Has this firm already received
some guarantees from this contact?
Have any laws been violated? It is
imperative these questions be answered for all of us.
I applaud The Press-Sentinel for
bringing this looming cloud to our
attention. The permit process
should be halted indefinitely to
allow for a more diligent and thorough investigation until all questions are answered.
Larry Welch
Screven
Coal-ash concerns
are having effect
First, my heartfelt thanks to the
Wayne County Solid Waste Management Authority for answering
the public call to confront this proposed rail yard and massive expansion of coal-ash dumping head on.
Board members addressed Republic Services representatives at
Monday’s meeting with the uncomfortable questions that have gone
unasked for too long, and the answers forthcoming elicited shock
from the assembled board and public.
Did you know 800,000 tons of
coal ash were hauled up from Jacksonville and dumped here between
2006 and 2014? This was news to
the Board but “common knowledge,” according to Republic.
Tellingly, the company man apologized for not notifying the community about this, but he did not apologize for the coal ash itself.
According to the Board, Wayne
County does have an ordinance on
the books that would prohibit the
dumping of radioactive waste here.
Republic’s answer: If the rail yard
is constructed, the company would
be testing the trainloads of incoming coal ash for radioactivity and
would send the radioactive loads
back!
The fact that this ash would require radiation testing to begin
with tells me all I need to know, but
for the still-skeptical, see the Duke
University study published in the
Sept. 2, 2015, edition of the journal
Environmental Science and Technology. Radioactive elements are
present, in concentrated levels, in
the coal ash left over from combustion in coal-fired generators. The
researchers tested coal mined in
different regions, and it is all
deadly.
By whatever means at hand, this
community must halt this project.
Republic itself stated that the daily
trainloads of ash would be equal to
400-450 daily truckloads. This in
addition to the 120 truckloads per
day of regular garbage.
This was never part of the plan.
And we do have a written Solid
Waste Plan. And we can stop this
dumping.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has taken the extraordinary
step of extending public comment
and postponing the wetlands-permit decision because we spoke up.
A Savannah TV station came down
and covered a meeting of the
Wayne County Solid Waste Authority because we spoke up. Our
elected officials at the city, county,
state and federal levels are going to
act in our interest because we are
speaking up! Through social
media, through the print media,
and face to face, we are uniting in
this cause and teaching ourselves
how to claim the results we demand.
Tell your commissioner that you
demand a well-crafted, enforceable
local ordinance that will deny Republic carte blanche to poison us.
Having grown up in Jesup and
known Dink NeSmith’s parents, I
have enjoyed reading his columns
in The Press-Sentinel. However,
his latest about disposal of coal fly
ash in Wayne County is disturbing
in light of the damage that has
been done by spills at TVA’s
Kingston Plant near Knoxville,
Tenn., and a Duke Power plant
near Charlotte, N.C..
TVA spent hundreds of millions
in cleanup. Dukes’ resolution is to
use Georgia as a dumping ground;
this is evidenced by the number of
side-dumping tractor-trailers traveling out of South Carolina down I85 to Homer. I have been seeing
these trucks for several months,
wondering what they were hauling. I just learned that it is fly ash.
The company has a fleet of over 100
trucks hauling from a plant near
Asheville, N.C. (no pun intended),
to Homer. From there they go back
up to Plezer, S.C.; pick up another
load; and return to Homer. This is
all in a day’s work.
I learned this during a conversation with a friend who has a relative driving one of the trucks.
Not only is fly ash hazardous to
the environment; it is hazardous to
one’s health. This is evidenced by
the the safety precautions taken by
people working on coal-fired boilers.
I wish for success in keeping
Wayne County clean.
Pete Dyal
Toccoa
New landfill plans
endanger homes
Our home and our health are at
risk!
The Press-Sentinel has reported
that toxic heavy metals have been
detected at Broadhurst Landfill at
levels above drinking-water standards. As the crow flies, we live
about a mile from the landfill, and
we are outraged that we were
never notified of this leak!
Moreover, if further expansion of
this landfill occurs, we will be approximately 400 yards from the
proposed rail yard that will be receiving tons of coal ash and waste
from other parts of the country, day
and night. You can imagine the
noise and the air pollution we will
be forced to endure.
Move, you say? I think you can
see that will be easier said than
done.
If legislation is not enacted to
force private companies and government organizations to do the
moral and decent thing, this will
not only continue but escalate to
levels that will render areas of our
state and country uninhabitable. It
is a wretched thought, indeed, that
in this day and age, when every
threatened species of plant and animal can draw outrage and support
from the four corners of the earth,
the safety and well-being of a small
community of people in south
Wayne County, whose very lives
are being threatened by toxic
waste, are afforded no protection
by taxpayer-funded agencies designated to do just that.
We feel we are without power, too
unimportant to be worth consideration and, most sadly ... invisible.
Danny Butts
Jesup
15
OPINION
An Alabama town’s toxic crisis—over coal ash
By Esther Calhoun
My family has lived in
Uniontown, Ala., for generations. My daddy and granddaddy were sharecroppers
who grew cotton, corn and
okra on the nearby Tate
plantation.
The people here—mostly
African-American, like
me—have strong ties to the
land. They are proud of this
piece of the country.
At least they used to be.
That was before Arrowhead
Landfill turned Uniontown
into a dumping ground for
the eastern half of the nation, before Arrowhead received permission to take in
tons of toxic coal ash from
the disastrous 2008 coal-ash
spill in Kingston, Tenn.
The toxic heavy metals
found in coal ash—arsenic,
boron, cadmium, chromium,
lead, mercury, selenium and
thallium—have been linked
to cancer and many other
illnesses. Children are experiencing nosebleeds,
headaches and breathing
problems.
A terrible smell emanates
from the landfill. It attracts
flies and buzzards and rats
and fleas. There is no air
monitoring of the hydrogen
sulfide gas let off by the coal
ash.
Uniontown residents
have seen property values
decline. Stores are boarded
up. Schools have closed. The
city can’t afford to operate
an ambulance service. We
are becoming a ghost town.
Our children don’t want
to come back here to live,
and when they come to
visit, we’re afraid to let our
grandchildren play outside.
The smell, the pollution and
the fear affect all aspects of
our lives. We don’t know
whether it’s safe to eat food
from our gardens or simply
spend time outdoors.
This isn’t right.
Uniontown is a poor,
black community—made
poorer by state agencies and
others who decided this
town would be a good place
for a prison, a toxic-waste
landfill, a catfish processing
plant and other polluters.
I head a local grassroots
group, Black Belt Citizens
for Health & Justice, made
up of community members
seeking environmental justice. We are actively pursuing remedies to the threats
posed by Arrowhead Landfill and the other sources of
Is Broadhurst Landfill the next Arrowhead?
(Editor’s note: What does a
Subtitle D landfill in Uniontown, Ala., have to do with
Broadhurst Landfill in
Wayne County? See how the
company that owns the Arrowhead Landfill describe it
on its own website. It strikes
a similar note to what is
being proposed here.)
“Arrowhead offers a
uniquely designed, high-capacity disposal facility for
customers, communities and
a wide range of industries
across 33 states. Located
contamination in the town.
The Alabama Department of Environmental
Management, the agency
charged with protecting the
community from health and
environmental hazards, has
failed to take responsibility.
The agency reissued the
permit for Arrowhead Landfill without proper and enforceable protections for
public health, despite the
dangers of coal ash and the
objections of Uniontown residents.
Why did Uniontown become a dumping ground for
the eastern half of the coun-
above the Selma Chalk Formation, Arrowhead is one of
the most environmentally
secure disposal facilities in
the nation. With large capacity, unmatched logistical
capabilities, railway access,
and regulatory permitting
for a wide range of waste
streams, Arrowhead is
uniquely positioned to meet
the expanding needs of a
wide range of customers.
“Arrowhead, located in
Perry County, Ala., is a
1,345-acre greenfield devel-
opment with a 425-acre
Subtitle D footprint. The facility has 75 million cubic
yards of permitted airspace
and can receive up to 15,000
tons of waste per day. Proximity to major rail lines allows Arrowhead to handle
waste disposal from communities and companies in all
states east of the Mississippi River, all states along
the western edge of the Mississippi River, Oklahoma
and Texas.”
try? No one thought that
the members of this poor
community would fight back
or that anyone would listen
to us.
Working with attorneys
for nonprofit environmental
law organization Earthjustice and others, we have
filed a civil-rights complaint
against ADEM and the U.S.
Environmental Protection
Agency for permitting this
facility despite its disproportionate impact on
African-Americans.
The owners of Arrowhead
apparently want to make it
the go-to dumping place for
coal ash—a potentially huge
and lucrative market as
coal plants close down and
storage regulations at existing plants tighten.
The people of Uniontown
don’t want more of this toxic
waste brought here. Our
lives have already been affected enough.
(Editor’s note: Esther Calhoun is president of Black
Belt Citizens for Health &
Justice, a grassroots environmental justice group.
This column ran in several
newspapers across the state
this past weekend.)
Save Screven memories from rail yard
By Lisa Sikes
I have spent the majority
of the past three weeks
writing my comments to
send to John Derinzy at the
Savannah District Corp of
Engineers. My reason for
doing so is that, although I
don’t live in Wayne County,
my family’s home in
Screven has determined a
large portion of the trajectory of my life—and before
this potential rail yard was
proposed, I had no idea just
how important it was to me.
My father was a National
Park Service ranger. He and
my mom are Newton and
Jean Sikes. Because of his
job, we lived all over the
United States when I was
growing up—states such as
Minnesota, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Nevada. But
no matter where we lived,
we traveled at Christmas
and in summertime to
Screven.
It is hard to describe what
that is like, and the effect
that that has had on my life
is something that I ponder
even at my age. It means I
am not from anywhere and
never really fit in Wayne
County. But it doesn’t mean
that I don’t have my own
version of love for it.
I went to the University of
Georgia and lived seven
years in Athens, 12 years in
Decatur and now six years
in Alexandria, Va. From the
time I was born to this day,
when I come “home,” it is to
Screven, a place where I’ve
only lived in the summers
and at Christmas. I remember getting ice cream at
Sarge’s. I remember driving
the country roads with my
grandfather in his old Buick
perched on top of a box of
McNess products so that I
could see out the window. I
know what the pattern of
raindrops looks like in the
white sand and how the
pine needles smell after it
rains.
When I am home, I sit on
the porch with my parents.
We sit on the north side
when it’s warm because
that’s where the good breeze
is, and when the moon rises,
it is from the east, over in
the direction of the Broadhurst Landfill.
We sit on the south side
when it is cooler because
the sun sets back there. It
looks out over my mom’s
organic garden, and we
watch for the cardinals
that perch in the Lady
Banks.
We’ll visit and read, and
my sister will stop by with
my great-niece, who loves
to catch tree frogs, lizards
and butterflies. She is a little naturalist. My father
and I may go for a walk,
and he’ll show me the lon-
gleaf pines that he’s
planted for posterity.
My parents chose this
place to build their home,
and the nature of this terrible coal-ash proposal is
such a slap in the face to
that idea that it is hard to
imagine its happening.
I have found that, no
matter my age,— college
student in my 20s or a
grown-up at age 50—as I
am driving home to Mama
and Daddy’s, the closer I
get, the faster I go. As I
make the turn onto the
Odum-Screven Road, I
press the accelerator; the
windows get rolled down as
I sail past the cotton fields
with the radio turned up.
I’m almost home as I pass
my cousin’s house, over
Dog Bridge, and then
slowly pass the cemetery
where my grandparents
are buried. If I look, I’ll see
the name Sikes on the back
of their headstone. But I
never look. I don’t know
why.
Finally, there are those
four turns, the feel of
which I have known since I
was a girl. Bounce over the
railroad tracks, turn right,
turn left, turn right ... onto
Sikes Road. There’s that
hint of anticipation and relief because now I am safe
from the world, and someone is expecting me. The
road is longer than it
seems, and it has a slow,
gradual slope which makes
for a specific Doppler effect—down, then up ... and
then I turn into the drive. I
have made my way there
for 50 years.
And so I found myself for
the past three weeks writing, researching and worrying with an emotion that
I have never experienced
before. What are those
feelings that a threat stirs
in us? I don’t know. I really
don’t.
A zero-discharge principle for coal ash
By Clay Montague
(Editor’s note: Clay Montague is a Camden County
residents and an associate
professor emeritus of environmental engineering sciences at the University of
Florida.)
Everybody wants coal ash
to be responsibly stored. Effective management minimizes risk to health, property value and ecosystem
services. So the question
arises: Where should responsible coal-ash disposal
take place?
Coal ash contaminates
water. No matter where
done, storage in a lined
landfill is better than leaving a pile connecting directly to ground and surface
waters. Coal-ash disasters
happen (Google it).
A zero-discharge principle
means that the pollution
from manufacturing is
stored and managed at the
site where produced. It’s a
good solution for many pollutants–part of a sustainable business plan for environmental management.
Zero discharge puts the environmental risk closer to
those who benefit from the
process that caused it. In
contrast, exporting coal ash
transfers the risk while retaining the benefit of plentiful and cheap electricity
close at hand. No wonder
the producing communities
would rather export the pollution. Zero discharge puts
a stop to that.
Cost savings accrue from
close proximity. Electricity
is conserved when used
close to its source–less is
lost when transmission
lines are shorter. Moreover,
both the energy production
and the pollution disposal
create local jobs. With a
zero-discharge policy, both
are held close to the source.
Storage of coal ash in a
lined landfill in which the
leachate is collected and
processed as industrial
wastewater is an appropriate method of management.
It can be done safely–environmental professionals
know how–but it is not
without risk.
Landfill leachate is the
tea made when rainwater
steeps amongst the contents. The leachate from
coal ash is toxic. The lining
holds the leachate, but linings sometimes leak.
Leachate can also spill during transfer to a treatment
plant. In severe cases, contaminated water can move
into shallow wells and
rivers.
With proper landfill construction and management,
the risk to people, fish and
wildlife is low compared to
storing coal ash in unlined
piles. Nevertheless, risk remains. Should that risk accrue to people far from the
source of production?
In Georgia, present federal and state regulations
do not require zero discharge of coal ash from
power plants. So how can
local citizens go a step further to insist on a more sustainable practice for everyone?
The citizens of just one
county could decide to prohibit the importation and
storage of coal ash that was
not produced within their
county. At the same time,
they could resolve to properly store coal ash that is
produced within their own
county. This two-pronged
approach is both precautionary and responsible.
When the citizens of one
county pass a law such as
this, people in adjacent
counties may be moved to
follow. They may see protective value in the law and
vulnerability without it.
Eventually the daisy chain
of county laws leaves only
one alternative for coal ash:
to be managed closer to
where it was generated.
In this manner, a de facto
regional practice may
emerge, county by county,
that effectively implements
something like a zero-discharge policy. But even if
that ideal never materializes, every county that
makes the law will better
protect itself. Will you start
the chain in your county?
OPINION
No, thanks, we don’t want your toxic trash
If a sledgehammer had been
slammed on my thumb, I couldn’t
have yelped any louder. And that
was just thinking of the possibility
that coal ash, a life-threatening pollutant, was going to be dumped into
Wayne County.
No.
No.
No.
And hell no!
Pardon my language. But if you
aren’t cussin’ mad about the idea of
our backyard being turned into a
dump so someone else can get rid of
what they don’t want in their backyard, well, what does it take to get
smoke coming out of your ears?
Before you go to sleep tonight, you
need to peruse an article in Environmental Health News by Brian Bienkowski. (http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/2016/jan
/coal-ash-environmental-justice-epacivil-rights) If you don’t have Internet service, stop by The Press-Sentinel. We will give you a copy of the
story. Here’s a hint—from Environmental Health News—of what should
give you nightmares:
“There are about 200 sites nationwide where coal ash has tainted air
and water. The most recent disaster
was in 2014 at Duke Energy’s Dan
River Steam Station in North Carolina where 39,000 tons of coal ash
and 27 million gallons of wastewater
My Opinion
▼▼▼
gushed into
the Dan
River. …
Catchment
areas leave
those (people)
nearby subject to leaks,
discharges
and spills.”
So I ask,
“Why would
DINK
we want our
NeSMITH
quality of life
Chairman
and our natural resources put at that kind of
risk?”
The company proposing to contaminate our county with this nasty
stuff is Central Virginia Properties of
Spartanburg, S.C. The company’s
application to the U.S. Corps of Engineers seeks to haul in trainloads of
coal ash and pile it in an area between U.S. 301 South, Broadhurst,
and U.S. 84, Screven. Let’s hope our
federal government is looking out for
us. Let’s also hope the feds will listen: “We don’t want our lives and our
environment endangered by carpetbagger-like profiteers.”
Wayne County commissioners
were unaware and blindsided by this
proposal, until The Press-Sentinel
shined some light into this dark and
dangerous corner. Your newspaper’s
roots go back to its 1865 founding.
You have our promise that we will do
everything we can to follow this issue
and keep you informed, now and for
the next 151 years. We are pleased
our commissioners are rallying to see
what they can learn. I hope this
frightening plan gets road-blocked
before it’s too late.
Are you fired up yet?
If not, read John Grisham’s Gray
Mountain. It’s a novel, but the facts
are scary, very scary. The arrival of
coal ash in our community brings no
good news, even if it meant 500 jobs.
And it won’t. What they want is to
dump on us and cram their pockets
with cash. With potential new neighbors like that, who needs enemies?
If Republic Services, operator of
the Broadhurst Landfill, is behind
this ploy to bring these harmful materials here, we need to know. And if
that’s the truth, shame on Republic.
The possibility of dumping coal ash is
a bait-and-switch tactic that makes
no sense at all for the citizens of
Wayne County.
Evangelist Billy Sunday once
said, “Very few souls are won after 20
minutes.” I’m done preaching—for
now. And I hope you, too, are mad
enough to make even a preacher
want to cuss. But let’s don’t just fuss
and cuss. Let’s do whatever it takes
to stop these unwelcomed trainloads
of polluted filth.
[email protected]
(For more commentaries, go to
www.dinknesmith.com)
Can you smell money swirling about landfill plan?
If your nose is wrinkling over the landfill
controversy in the south end of our county,
keep sniffing. You’ll smell more than the
mounds of big-city garbage and coal ash
that could be headed our way, trainload
after trainload. What you are whiffing is
the influence of money at work.
Unless the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers halts Republic Services’ application
to transform one of our wetlands into a
massive railyard, our people and our environment are about to get railroaded into a
gamble that isn’t worth any amount of
money.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I know. There are state and federal regulations that are designed to protect us.
Up in Michigan, ask the people of Flint
how much good those laws did in keeping
their drinking water safe.
“But that’s different,” you argue. Not
really. Contaminated water is contaminated water. The Broadhurst Environmental Landfill—operated by Republic
Services—sits atop two of the best underground water sources anywhere: the
Florida and Ocala aquifers. Those enormous underground streams are out of
sight, but they should never be out of
mind.
What’s very much in sight of the l
andfill are the headwaters of the Penholloway Creek. That black-water stream
crosses under U.S. 301 South and weaves
its way through the wilderness to the Altamaha River that drains into the Atlantic
Ocean. The Titanic was “unsinkable,” but
it sank. One puncture or breach in the
government-approved, not-supposed-to-
My Opinion
▼▼▼
leak pits in Broadhurst, and neither
apologies nor fines
will make the contamination go away.
So how did we
happen to get a private regional landfill
in Wayne County?
Your nose will lead
you to the answer.
It’s the smell of
DINK
money—lots of it—
NeSMITH
that seduced our
Chairman
commissioners in
1992 to strike a deal with Addington Environmental. Rather than having to hassle
with our garbage, an outside waste management company got a contract to handle
it for us. What seemed to be a windfall for
Wayne also opened the door for outside
garbage to be dumped here—for a fee.
Have you driven past our Mount Trashmore on the Broadhurst-to-Screven road?
If the Corps approves the railyard application, we could have a mountain range of
trash in the piney flat woods. We will
likely become the city dump for the likes of
New York, Boston and Philadelphia. And
that’s not to speak of the trainloads of coal
ash coming from such places as North Carolina that woke up and prohibited coal ash
from being deposited in their open containment ponds. Georgia needs to get busy on
similar legislation.
In the meantime, Republic—under the
name of Central Virginia Properties,
LLC—almost sneaked past the community
“The nation behaves
well if it treats its natural resources as assets
which it must turn over
to the next generation
increased, and not impaired, in value.”
Theodore Roosevelt
with its Corps of Engineers application.
Instead, a pesky reporter from The PressSentinel started asking questions. Last
week, Republic met—behind closed
doors—with three of our commissioners,
hoping to seduce them to get on board with
their landfill expansion plans.
I am pleased Chairman Kevin Copeland
and Vice Chairman Ralph Hickox have
been vehement in their opposition. I am
anxious to see how commissioners Boot
Thomas, Shag Wright and Mike Roberts
stand on this. Republic figures the
promise of trainloads of money into public
coffers will make Wayne County accept the
risks—now and forever.
Here’s what I said to one commissioner:
“If you and I wanted to just make money,
and we were willing to gamble with our
freedom and reputations, we could peddle
pornography or traffic dope. Until we got
caught, we’d be getting filthy rich. But no,
thanks! I feel the same way about taking
environmental risks that will affect generation after generation.”
No, sir!
You could stack money as tall as that
trash mountain at Broadhurst Environmental Landfill, and the deal would still
stink. And I hope that’s what your nose
tells you, too.
[email protected]
Will Wayne County become a trash can for East Coast?
Back in the pre-PVC days, when
plumbers toted monkey wrenches, Junior
Burns took me to school. Cranking a galvanized pipe, underneath our 100-year-old
house in Jesup, Junior lectured: “The first
two things you learn in plumbing are that
the hot water goes on the left, and the stuff
flows downhill.” Junior is gone, but those
rules still live.
If Republic Services gets its wish, mega
tons of stuff—municipal garbage and toxic
coal ash—will be flowing downhill from the
East Coast into our piney woods. We already have a mountain of garbage at the
private Broadhurst Environmental Landfill. If Republic’s application to destroy a
wetland tract and install a massive rail
spur is approved, we could have a mountain range on its 2,000-plus acres.
Let me repeat: 2,000-plus acres in
leaks-like-a-sieve sandy soil, near the
headwaters of the Penholloway Creek that
flows into the Altamaha River that empties
into the Atlantic Ocean. Republic tells us
its landfill liners won’t leak. Won’t leak,
ever?
In 1991 and 1992, when our commissioners were seduced by the promise of big,
My Opinion
▼▼▼
bonus money into the
county coffers, do you
think they ever imagined the possibility of
a 2,000-plus-acres national landfill? The
easy thing would be to
lambast their lack of
foresight. That won’t
help. The unintended
consequences are the
same.
DINK
In 2016, the hard
NeSMITH
thing is what we must
Chairman
do if we care about
our families and generations to come. We
must stand our ground and resist Republic’s urge to make us the East Coast’s trash
can. There’s money in garbage disposal,
and there’s even more money in getting rid
of coal ash. We cannot become environmental prostitutes, accepting Republic’s
payments for dumping toxic trash on us.
Shame on us if we sell out for any amount
of money. The future of our heirs should be
priceless.
And then there’s the railroad that
stands to reap rewards for our misfortune,
should the Corps of Engineers permit Republic’s rail-spur request. Jesup, originally
known as Station Number 7, was labeled
as a town built by trains. Wouldn’t it be a
travesty if a railroad profited by making
our community sick from hauling in unwanted pollution? We are proud of our rail
heritage, and we need rail service. We also
need the railroads to look out
for our best interest, too.
There’s a
long list of bothersome issues in
this scheme to
bring unhealthy
waste into
Wayne County.
Near the top is
how a taxpayerfunded watchdog, the Environment Protection Agency (EPA), could be
induced to reclassify coal ash as nonhazardous. Coal ash contains a string of toxic
components such as mercury, arsenic and
lead. Ask the poisoned people in Flint,
Mich., if lead in their water is nonhazardous.
After nearly 50 years of watching laws
ground into being in sausage-mill fashion, I
have a hunch as to why the EPA did what
they did last fall. Lobbyists for coal-ash
creators, with bottomless expense accounts, got their lawyers to “help” draft
more lenient rules for coal-ash disposal.
Money talks in Washington and Atlanta,
just as it did here in the 1990s. In the
meantime, perhaps the EPA
would demonstrate how safe
coal ash is by
sprinkling some
on their breakfast
cereal and stirring it into their
morning coffee.
Don’t expect
the EPA to do
that, but you can
expect Republic
to find a way to
spin its story of how buying 2,000-plus
acres wasn’t to create an East Coast trash
can in Wayne County. Heed Junior’s
words, if not mine. If we don’t throw a
monkey wrench into Republic’s plan, the
toxic stuff will be flowing downhill by the
trainloads.
[email protected]
“Coal ash contains a
string of toxic components
such as mercury, arsenic
and lead. Ask the poisoned
people in Flint, Mich., if
lead in their water is nonhazardous.”
17
OPINION
Semantics can’t twist Wayne’s danger of becoming a toxic-trash dump
My Opinion
▼▼▼
Semantics. That’s the weapon Republic
Services is wielding in the backlash over
toxic trash that has been dumped in the
Broadhurst Environmental Landfill. “There
has not been a spill,” Republic’s public-relations consultant contends. Spill or leak, dangerous stuff seeped into Wayne County’s soil
and put our good people and our environment at risk.
Semantics is a fancy way to spin words.
Big companies and politicians are masters at
semantic warfare. But here’s the way I see
this hair-splitting of words, as it regards to
the health of our community. You can put a
tutu on a pig, but you won’t make it a ballerina. After all the wordplay posturing, you
will still have pork chops with four hooves
and a curly tail.
Many people like pork chops, bacon,
sausage, barbecue, and, by all means, an
Easter ham. I know of no one who would
lick their lips to eat hog meat that, in its previous life, had wallowed in beryllium, mercury, lead or arsenic-tainted mud or slurped
Penholloway Creek water that was downstream of a coal-ash dump.
Wayne County, I love you. From the moment Dr. Alvin Leaphart Sr. grabbed me by
my heels and spanked my bottom in 1948, I
have been grateful my first breath was
taken on the corner of Macon and Cherry
streets in downtown Jesup. And there’s
nowhere in the world that I travel that I
don’t let people know where my roots are
planted. I could live in Hong Kong, and if
someone asked me where I’m from, I’d say—
proudly—“Jesup, Ga.”
I love my hometown, its people and its
environment. When
our business grew over
multiple states, our
family sat around the
supper table—night
after night—discussing
and praying about our
future. Alan, Emily
and Eric were still at
DINK
home, and I didn’t want
NeSMITH
to miss one moment of
Chairman
those years. Unanimously, we voted to relocate to Athens as our
geographic center.
After I left Ninth Street, my parents
joked, “We see more of you now than we did
when you lived across the street.” That was
true. And 26 years later, I spend as much
time as possible in Wayne County. I’d rather
be with family and friends in the Altamaha
River Swamp than anywhere on the globe. I
can walk you to my favorite spot, overlooking an elegant cypress tree that was growing
long before Christopher Columbus discovered America. And some of the cypress trees
could have been here when Jesus prayed in
the Garden of Gethsemane.
No one in our family is expecting a trust
fund to be left for them. However, my dream
has been to leave them a slice of Wayne
County’s heaven, along the Altamaha, that is
permanently protected through conservation
easements. This way, 100 years from now,
“You can put a tutu
on a pig, but you
won’t make it a
ballerina. After all
the wordplay
posturing, you will
still have pork chops
with four hooves
and a curly tail.”
heirs can’t be tempted or seduced by oil
wells, strip mines or landfills.
My people, like many of yours, came from
hardscrabble upbringings during the Great
Depression. My widow-farmer grandmother
was as earthy and country as a bowl of collard greens. I adored her. And when I was
about 7, we were standing at her Baker
County barnyard gate. After streaming
strawberry snuff over the fence, Nanny
pointed to a bantam rooster defending his
hens from a bigger rooster.
“That banty rooster reminds me of my
daddy, your great-granddaddy,” she said.
“He was little, but he was as tough as a pine
knot. Nobody bullied him. If somebody tried
to push him around, he’d pick up a lever
(stick) and knock the hell out of ’em. Honey,
don’t ever let anybody push you around.”
There’s no way semantics can twist these
words: Wayne County, I love you. And as
long as Republic, a multibillion-dollar conglomerate, threatens to make our community a toxic-trash dump, I am going to be
swinging my lever.
[email protected]
Let’s not get addicted to coal-ash money
My Opinion
▼▼▼
Shhhhhh.
Listen. Over the whispering wind
through the pines of Wayne County, I hear
something. The sound is soft—this far from
Arizona. But in my mind, the noise of clinking cocktail glasses is distinct. Bosses at Republic Services, the Phoenix-based national
waste giant, have to be toasting themselves
for being slick enough to slip into our community and snare a sweetheart deal—almost
unnoticed.
Private landfill companies are notorious
for targeting rural communities, hoping local
decision-makers will accept “easy money” for
dumping privileges. Waste-management
companies have a history of preying on cashstarved, minority-dominant communities
such as Uniontown, Ala. Unless we fight,
Wayne County’s contaminated fate could be
similar to Uniontown. Republic almost got
away with the same tactic here.
“Almost” is a key word. Except for a
handful of people, our community was almost
blindsided by quiet maneuvers that almost
railroaded our community and its environment into a dangerous spot, almost before we
had a chance to react. Finger-pointing is an
act of futility in this conspiracy-like predicament. Snookered or not, we must focus on
stopping toxic coal-ash trains headed our
way.
Now that public outcry has reached deafening decibels, the rumor
mill has cranked up.
Listen to what the fearmongers are hurling at
us:
•If Wayne County
rejects the coal ash, Republic will take the
waste and its millions
DINK
down the road to
NeSMITH
Brantley County. Our
Chairman
environment will still
be affected, but our next-door neighbor will
get the money. In Chicken Little fashion,
they are telling us that property taxes will
rise if we don’t have Republic’s money.
Wayne County lived without Republic money
before. We can live without it again. Boo,
that shouldn’t scare us.
•If the Wayne County commissioners oppose Republic’s railyard plan, the company
will contend the county breached its muchamended contract. If Republic wins that argument, Wayne County will be without a
place to dump its trash or the money Republic pays the county to dump whatever it
wants in the Broadhurst Environmental
Landfill. Boo, that shouldn’t scare us.
for a closer look. Then, Erk plopped a rat•Some officials and lawyers are contendtlesnake on the table. Horrified Eagles flew
ing, “There’s nothing we can do. We’re handbackwards. “That’s right, men,” he barked.
cuffed, and we can’t stop Republic’s rail-spur
“Cocaine will kill you, just like this ratapplication.” Boo, that shouldn’t scare us.
tlesnake. Stay away from both!”
Republic has not
Coal ash, like cobeen forthright
caine, in a little pile
with us, and there
doesn’t look threatare legal chinks in
ening. But if we
this Goliath’s
allow Republic to
armor.
dump mountains of
These rumorit into our commupropelled myths
nity—by the toxic
cause concern, but
trainloads, courtesy
I am not intimiof CSX—coal ash
dated. I think of a
will sink its poisostory about the late Except for a handful of people, our nous fangs into our
Erk Russell, leghealth forever.
community was almost
endary football
If we don’t stand
blindsided by quiet maneuvers
coach. When the
up to protect our
bald-headed defenpeople and our enthat almost railroaded our
sive genius, archivironment, Wayne
community and its environment
tect of the Bulldogs’
County’s budget is
Junkyard Dog
into a dangerous spot, almost be- destined to be adswagger, moved
dicted to coal-ash
fore we had a chance to react.
from Athens to
money. We’re in
Statesboro, he hudjeopardy of selling
dled his Georgia Southern Eagles in a circle.
our souls—like the now tormented people of
As the story goes, Erk piled a mound of
Uniontown—to an environmental devil—coal
white powder on a table in the middle. In his
ash. Heaven help us if we don’t say, “NO!”
signature gruff voice, he said, “This, men, is
But if we give up, boo!
cocaine. Drugs are dangerous. Stay away
Now, that does scare me.
from drugs.” Curious, his team crowded in
[email protected]
Why should we trust Republic now?
When’s the last time you took a rollercoaster ride?
Up, down, up, down and twist sideways.
Oops, I think I’m going to throw up.
Remember those feelings? That’s how I
feel right now about this threatening coalash dumping. Since I learned Republic
Services was plotting to sneak a rail-spur
application past the people of Wayne
County, it’s been an emotional rollercoaster ride.
I have never seen this many worry lines
on my hometown faces. Even school-age
children are asking how to help stop the
dreaded trainloads of toxic coal ash.
Folks, we have a crisis. It’s time to plumb
the depths of our minds, souls and resources to galvanize our resolve to stand
up against Republic’s poisonous scheme to
pollute our future. The risk is too great
for any amount of money.
Some days, I sense emotions are higher
than high. Pure fear and determination
underscore the battle cry. Other days,
spirits plummet, just like a roller-coaster
car rocketing out of the clouds and into an
amusement-park canyon. If we plan to
keep Republic from turning our community into an environmental prostitute, we
might throw up in the tussle. But we cannot give up.
Republic chose one of its unknown entities, Central Virginia Properties LLC, to
seek the Corps of Engineers permit to destroy wetlands for the sake of a mile-long
rail spur. The proposed infrastructure will
My Opinion
▼▼▼
accommodate a 100car train loaded with
municipal garbage
from the likes of New
York City or—worse—
100 cars brimming
with toxic coal ash.
Just as vivid as the
roller-coaster memories are Sunday
school lessons about
the importance of
DINK
trust. One of my faNeSMITH
vorite illustrations is
Chairman
from Luke 16:10
(NIV): “Whoever can be trusted with very
little can also be trusted with much, and
whoever is dishonest with very little will
also be dishonest with much.”
Eleven years ago, our leaders trusted
Republic with its proposed amendments to
the waste management agreement. The
April 19, 2005, authority minutes state:
“John Simmons explained that it has been
ten years since the agreement between
Solid Waste Authority, Republic and
Wayne County Commissioners. Mr. Simmons says just some cleaning up, deleting
clutter and streamlining has been done to
the agreement and that basically nothing
has changed.”
Now, you tell me. Where’s the truth in
“basically nothing has changed?” We may
have been snake-oil snookered in 2005,
but nothing today suggests we trust Republic until—get this—2054. That’s how
long the new “cleaning-up” contract binds
“Whoever can be
trusted with very little can
also be trusted with much, and
whoever is dishonest with very
little will also be dishonest
with much.”
--Luke 16:10 (NIV)
our county. “Deleting clutter,” baloney!
The “streamlining” is really “railroading,”
as in Republic’s we-hope-you-don’t-notice
plan to pollute our community with as
many as 100 railcars of coal ash per day.
And then there’s Republic’s infamous,
don’t-tell-anybody-but-the-EPD leakage of
poisonous metals into our soil and groundwater several years ago. We still wouldn’t
have known about it if a reporter hadn’t
dug through 1,000 pages of EPD reports.
Thanks to Rep. Bill Werkheiser, a law is in
the making to require public notice of future spill/leak mishaps. Next, wouldn’t it
be great if there could be a law to prohibit
out-of-state coal ash from being dumped in
Georgia?
While we were “trusting” Republic, it
was adding another 2,000 acres to its
landfill holdings. Add to that the scheme
to build a railyard and bring coal ash from
anywhere in the country. Until recently,
most people in Wayne County—including
our leadership—were clueless about the
dangers of coal ash. Now, we know. Now,
we have a chance to fight back.
Remember this old joke? “Do you know
the difference between love and herpes?
Herpes is forever.” Republic “loves” Wayne
County enough to inflict us with coal-ash
herpes—forever.
Excuse me.
I think I am going to throw up.
[email protected]
OPINION
Randall isn’t only one who is worried
Randall Aspinwall and I go back to
the glory days of The Pig. Randall and
his parents, Sine and Vada, were on one
side of the counter. I was on the other
side, spinning on one of those tall, rubyred, vinyl-topped stools, closest to the
open pit. It was there my life-long love
affair with hickory-smoked pork began.
I’ve sampled barbecue across America. I
always compare it to my first bite at the
Aspinwalls’ restaurant, a must-stop for
travelers in U.S. 301’s heyday.
And when my cell phone vibrates—
flashing Randall’s number—I’m eager to
hear what my friend has to say. Somewhere in the conversation, The Pig will
get a mention. Before long, we’ll review
what’s happening on the Altamaha. Not
too deep into the visit, we’ll reminisce
about our late football coach, Clint
Madray.
Big Clint put hair on our teenage
chests while teaching us the value of
“having guts.” We played better teams,
but no one outhustled the Yellow Jackets. One of his make-a-man-out-of-you
drills was Blood on the Moon. Players
got into a down stance on either end of
a 12-foot plank. When the whistle
My Opinion
▼▼▼
blew, the two
charged each other.
The object was to
see who could push
whom to the end of
the board. “I don’t
want to see nothing
but elbows and
bleep-holes!” our
coach would growl.
DINK
And if somebody
NeSMITH
didn’t show enough
Chairman
guts, he’d roar,
“Even a dead man
has one more step!”
Recently, Randall called. We warmed
up on barbecue, football and river talk.
Then, his voice shifted to a serious tone.
“What about this coal ash?” he asked.
I’m no scientist, but I told him what I
had read and heard. “I’m having trouble
sleeping, just thinking about how bad
this will be for Wayne County,” he said.
Just as his brothers, Al and Mike,
were, Randall is a gifted craftsman.
Sine and Vada’s boys grew up unafraid
to get their hands dirty. Today, Randall,
a Rayonier retiree, is one of the go-to
men if you want a shallow well. Over
the years, he’s put down hundreds of the
wells.
inexpensive water sources. “Not everyYou can be confident, with the bilbody can afford a $5,000 deep well,” he
lions in resources available to Repubsays. So, people opt for the economical
lic Services, the landfill owner has
solution—a shallow
found a busload of
well.
paid experts to tsk,
“Now, Randall frets
Now, Randall
tsk at Randall’s
frets about the conHe is not
about the contamination worries.
tamination that
alone in his worthat could come from the ries. If “money
could come from
the Broadhurst Enbig money
Broadhurst Environmen- talks,”
vironmental Landshouts! I am suspital Landfill. He fears the cious about the apfill. He fears the
coziness of
toxic heavy metals
toxic heavy metals in coal parent
companies such as
in coal ash will find
ash will find a way into
Republic with our
a way into shallowenviwell water, the
shallow-well water, the government’s
ronmental regulawater thousands of
water thousands of
tors. Here’s an exWayne Countians
If I am
drink.
Wayne Countians drink.” ample.
wrong, how did
To understand
toxic coal ash get
how close to the
downgraded to a nonhazardous matersurface the water table is, especially in
areas such as Broadhurst, all you need is ial?
Like Randall, I’m having trouble
a piece of pipe and water gushing from a
garden hose. In fewer minutes than feet sleeping these days. Coal ash is our
“Blood on the Moon,” 50 years later. But
to go down, you can wash down a shaleven when I die, I’ll have one more step
low-well casing in a jiffy. I’m no Aspinto fight for Wayne County.
wall, but even I have accomplished that
[email protected]
in our sandy dirt. That proves whatever
(Visit dinknesmith.com for more comspills into our leaks-like-a-sieve soil
mentaries.)
won’t take long to get into the shallow
A timeline of
Republic Services' rail-yard proposal
1984--The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
of 1976 is updated to include new restrictions on
Subtitle D landfills for disposal of nonhazardous
waste.
1991--Local officials and representatives of Addington Environmental begin negotiating specific terms
for construction and operation of a privately owned
and operated Subtitle D landfill in Wayne County.
2014--The landfill stops accepting coal ash from
Jacksonville.
Jan. 4, 2016--Republic, through its subsidiary Central
Virginia Properties, applies to the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers for a permit to build a rail yard that could
accept whole trainloads not only of household
garbage but also of coal ash. The Corps sets the
deadline to receive public comments as Feb. 3-though the permit application itself is never advertised.
1992--The Wayne County Board of Commissioners,
the Wayne County Solid Waste Authority and Addington Environmental sign a pair of agreements govern- Jan. 13, 2016--The Press-Sentinel breaks the story
ing the operation of a regional landfill near Broadof the permit application.
hurst.
Jan. 30, 2016--The Press-Sentinel reports that the
1994--The newly constructed landfill opens.
Army Corps of Engineers has extended the publiccomment deadline to March 4.
1996--Republic Services buys Addington Resources,
the parent company of Addington Environmental.
Feb. 5, 2016--The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
breaks the story of the leakage, which had never
2002--Republic buys the 902-acre landfill property
been publicly reported by either Republic or the EPD.
from the Solid Waste Authority for $10.
Feb. 10, 2016--In response to news of the leakage,
2004--Republic buys an additional 517 acres in the
State Rep. Bill Werkheiser announces that he will file
landfill area.
legislation to require that such leaks be reported locally.
2005--The County Board of Commissioners, the Solid
Waste Authority and Republic sign amended landfill
Feb. 27, 2016--The Press-Sentinel reports that the
agreements that supersede the 1992 agreements.
Army Corps of Engineers has again extended the
public-comment deadline, this time to April 5.
2006--The landfill begins accepting coal ash from the
Jacksonville Electric Authority.
Feb. 29, 2016--Rep. Werkheiser's bill passes the
House and heads to the Senate.
2008--Republic buys an additional 834 acres in the
landfill area.
March 16, 2016--The Wayne County Board of Commissioners hosts a public meeting on the rail-yard
2011--Leakage of toxic heavy metals is detected at
proposal with representatives of the Army Corps of
the landfill.
Engineers and Republic; EPD representatives are
also scheduled to be present.
2012--The Georgia Department of Natural Resources' Environmental Protection Division becomes April 5, 2016--The public-comment period on the railaware of the leakage and requires a cleanup.
yard permit ends.
OPINION
COAL-ASH/RAIL-SPUR PUBLIC MEETING
March 16 • 7 p.m. at Coastal Pines Technical College Auditorium
This is an opportunity for the community to ask questions regarding the coal-ash issue and the plans for building a rail-spur at the Broadhurst landfill.
Representatives from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Georgia Environmental Protection Division, and Republic Services will be available.
19
COAL-ASH/RAIL-SPUR
COAL-ASH/RAIL-SPUR
PUBLIC
PUBLIC MEETING
MEETING
March 16
7 p.m.
at
1777 W. Cherry St., Jesup
Coastal Pines Technical
College Auditorium
This is an opportunity for the community to
ask questions regarding the coal-ash issue
and the plans for building a rail-spur at the
Broadhurst landfill.
Representatives from the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the
Georgia Environmental Protection Division,
and Republic Services will be available.

Special Report: Coal Ash

Transcription

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