Podcasts

Documents

NC poised to test what critics call a ‘snowblower blowing garbage juice’

By Matthew Adams, madams@newsobserver.com

August 12, 2017 10:00 AM
BRICKHAVEN

Three North Carolina landfills have the green light to collect liquid that leaks from trash and spray it into the air.

The disposal method has drawn criticism from environmentalists and some neighbors, but it could become more common if the legislature overrides a veto by Gov. Roy Cooper.

The state Department of Environmental Quality approved the spraying process for the three landfills, plus a coal-ash dump in Chatham County. The permits can be used for 90 days.

The bill passed by the legislature and vetoed in June by Cooper would require the department to approve spraying at lined landfills where wastewater is prevented from escaping into the soil. The agency would also be allowed to consider the process for unlined landfills. Certain landfills would be allowed to spray without a permit.

A pumping system takes the water from where it is stored and turns it into mist that fans direct to a contained area of the landfill. The idea is that water will evaporate and the contaminated particles fall back into the landfill.

The process promises to save millions of dollars for waste management companies in disposal costs, but has drawn questions about how the spray will be contained and whether it will drift through the air into surrounding communities.

Bobbie Mendenhall, who lives with her husband less than a quarter-mile from the Brickhaven Mine where coal ash is dumped, worries that contaminants will end up in the air her family breathes.

“I just think it’s ridiculous,” Mendenhall said. “To me they are just spraying toxic stuff into the air and ground.”

read full article

Donate

Please support the work of the Sewage Sludge Action Network. Be as generous as you can. Thank you!


Mailing List

To receive alerts, news and information from the Sewage Sludge Action Network, please join our mailing list.

Suggested Reading


Sludge Tracker: Toxicus ad Infinitum - The Adverse Impact of Land-Disposed Toxic Sewage Sludge on Human & Environmental Health

Paperback
December 8, 2022
380 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0965262154
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0965262156


Science for Sale
How the US Government Uses Powerful Corporations and Leading Universities to Support Government Policies, Silence Top Scientists, Jeopardize Our Health, and Protect Corporate Profits

Hardcover
June 3, 2014
328 pages
ISBN: 1626360715


Only One Chance
How Environmental Pollution Impairs Brain Development -- and How to Protect the Brains of the Next Generation

Hardcover
07 May 2013
232 Pages
ISBN: 9780199985388

Purchase from Oxford University Press

What You Can Do

Contact Us



The title of the page