Environment |
Article published Thursday, November 13, 2003 MSU team says chemicals leaking at Oregon
landfill
Dangerous contaminants are leaking from the
hazardous waste landfill on Otter Creek Road in Oregon, researchers
from Michigan State University said last night during a public
meeting.
Dr. Shu-Guang Li, an associate professor at the
university, used three-dimensional renderings of the Envirosafe
Services of Ohio, Inc., landfill to show where synthetic and organic
chemicals, along with heavy metals, have moved downward from
hazardous waste pits into the upper and lower tills - which are
layers of earth below the dump and above the bedrock.
"The
landfill is leaking pretty badly, especially in some areas," Dr. Li
said. "The contamination is spreading, and it’s moving from the
upper till to the lower till."
The Technical Outreach
Services for Communities program at Michigan State used data
provided by Envirosafe to the Ohio and U.S. environmental protection
agencies to develop their model. There is no evidence that
contaminants have moved into the bedrock aquifer, which could be a
source of drinking water, but Dr. Li said that was a likely
possibility.
"We have quite a deal of lower till
contamination ... very close to the bedrock," Dr. Li
said.
Concentrations of N-Nitrosodi-n-butylamine, toluene,
dieldrin, and polychlorinated biphenyls, were found in very high
levels in the upper till.
The level of
bis(2-Ethylhexyl)phthalate, which is used in the production of
polyvinyl chloride, was detected in the upper till at 9,800 times
the maximum contamination level - the maximum permissible level of a
contaminant in water delivered to any user of a public
system.
High levels of lead and cyanide, along with and low
levels of other heavy metals, were detected in the lower
till.
The presentation, which was observed by about 40 people
at the University of Toledo Lake Erie Center, showed that
contamination is present in very high levels near the facility’s
boundary and in close proximity to the city of Toledo’s water lines,
which run between hazardous waste pits of the landfill.
"If
they reach the bedrock, where the groundwater is, you have a
migration pathway for the contaminants to move off the site, through
the bedrock," said Kirk Riley, also with Michigan State. "If there
is a rupture in the water lines, the resulting flooding of that area
would create transfer of contaminants offsite."
Envirosafe
President Doug Roberts said the researchers are speculating about
the movement of chemicals and metals.
"We disagree with their
determination. There is not movement between the tills," Mr. Roberts
said.
Envirosafe bought the former Fondessy Enterprises
landfill in 1983. Fondessy began burying waste at the site in 1954.
Many of the higher levels of contamination were detected in the
tills below waste pits that are no longer in use.
In 2000,
Envirosafe was ordered to begin testing the soil and groundwater in
and around the dormant Fondessy landfills.
The U.S. and Ohio
environmental protection agencies released a report last month of
about 600 samples taken from the facility. The Michigan State TOSC
used that data to create its model.
The second phase of the
study into Envirosafe is expected to be done in 2005 and will
include more testing and a closer examination of five of the
landfill’s waste pits.
Oregon Mayor Marge Brown, who was at
last night’s meeting, said the city is working on ways to clean up
the site.
"We’ve been discussing this for 16 years, and we
are still battling them," Mayor Brown said.
