Public Is Awake And Aware

Paula Bryant

Public Is Awake And Aware

Halifax Town Councilman and Halifax County’s Southside Concerned Citizen (SCC) Chairman Jack Dunavant has brought to our attention what he terms as “the bureaucratic disregard for public safety that is abroad” that he experienced during last week’s meeting of the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors.

According to information provided in the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors’ executive summary for their January 20 meeting, under the topic of discussion, it says, “In July 2008, on one of our closed landfill cells, during an inspection of the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), an area was discovered that appeared to be wet and possibly be releasing leachate.”

The DEQ document beginning on the next page, under Section C, #1 reveals that DEQ staff actually discovered the seep on March 21, 2008.

Jack believes this three-month discrepancy in discovery date “must be corrected for the record.”Also in the DEQ document, under Section C, #4, it says “the seep was indeed landfill leachate, and was contaminated with ‘metals and organic constituents.’”

The Halifax Councilman points out the DEQ must reveal the list of those contaminants by name and percentage.Section C, #5 also mentions “a significant volume of leachate.” How much, exactly? Jack wants to know.

It also states that the “periodic checks” by “facility personnel” – county employees -- “were not sufficient to detect failures of this nature.” According to the SCC chairman, it is incumbent upon the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors to reveal to whom these “facility personnel” reported.

What was in the know about this problem? Section C, #6 said the county replaced the leachate pump impeller, installed leachate flow meters and instituted procedures to check the meters weekly. When was this accomplished?

And how long was the leaching allowed to continue? Section C, #9 says, “County representatives and their environmental consultants met with DEQ staff on July 31, 2008 to discuss the noncompliance issues and the corrective action undertaken to address the same.”

Does this mean that the leaching (which had been ongoing for how long?) was allowed to continue from March 21, 2008 until after July 31, 2008 -- four months -- before any “corrective action” was taken?Approximately how much leachate was released?

That’s the SCC chairman’s prime concern. Although this leaching occurred in Pittsylvania County, Jack wants to know did DEQ test the Banister River to determine how much “metals and organic constituents” seeped into the river that flows downstream into Halifax County?

If so, those test results must be revealed to the public, Jack adamantly believes.

However, the DEQ maintains the seepage did not get into the stream or river.

Will the $1,300 civil charge be paid with county tax dollars, or can county officials and staff be held responsible for picking up the tab? That’s another question that taxpayers in Pittsylvania County should be asking.

According to county staff recommendations, the board of supervisors was asked to authorize the county administrator to sign the consent order and pay the $1,300 civil charge out of the operating budget.

Pittsylvania County’s SCC Chairman Gregg Vickrey finds this latest development “outrageous in light of the potential uranium mining and milling in our area.”

“If the ‘newest’ technology and regulations can’t keep a landfill from leaking, what makes anyone confident, no matter what a ‘study’ shows, that the Coles Hill Uranium Project can be done in such a way as to keep the citizens and natural environments safe?” he asks.

Citizens have the right to know and must demand all the facts regarding this landfill leak, and if the two SCC chairmen are any indication of whose watching, politicians will quickly learn a concerned public is awake and aware