Tag Archives: Pollution

From Seven Out in Waycross to CSX to Pecan Row Landfill in Lowndes County

CSX was involved directly in the Seven Out contamination, storing hazardous water that leaked: and then that water was apparently shipped to the Pecan Row Landfill in Lowndes County. This is in addition to the the CSX trichloroethylene groundwater contamination dating back to 2000 and earlier.

According to a letter from Georgia Department of Natural Resources to BCX, Inc. of 20 July 2004, EPA Identification Number: GAR000030007,

  1. Twenty-seven tanks of wastewater were stored at the facility. Four portable tanks were storing the excess capacity of wastewater next door on property owned by CSX Transportation. These portable 10,000-gallon tanks were not labeled to indicate their contents;
  2. According to a BCX representative, one of the portable 10,000-gallon tanks had a gasket failure on the forward manhole which caused the release of an unknown substance onto the ground at the site owned by CSX Transportation;
  3. Dead vegetation was observed in a 15 feet by 30 feet area downgradient of the tank that caused the release;
  4. A yellowish-green substance was observed on the ground between the portable tank that had the release and another portable tank adjacent to it. There was also dead vegetation observed between these two tanks; and

And GA EPD tested the soil and found something the document doesn’t specify, but whatever it was was enough that: Continue reading →

CSX groundwater contamination in Waycross

The MCLG for
trichloroethylene
is zero.
Around the Seven Out and CSX contamination areas in Waycross more than 100 people have gotten sick or died, most since 2000, with groundwater contamination known since 1985, according to Joan Martin McNeal, So the CSX problem long predates the Seven Out problem. Here’s her map of the CSX property (in yellow) and contamination, sickness, and death:


brown stars: known contamination areas
red markers: confirmed deceased or confirmed cases of severe illness mostly cancer (bone, lung, prostate, blood, colon, breast), some severe neurological disorders, some heart failure, with ages ranging from 4 to 85 years.
green markers: likely early stage cases of such problems

According to this February 2000 tricholoroethylene isopleth map, there was already extensive contamination in the CSX railyard by 2000, extending across an internal drainage ditch that goes into the Waycross Canal that become Tebeau Creek, running through downtown Waycross into the Satilla River.

According to U.S. EPA, Trichloroethylene 79-01-6 Hazard Summary-Created in April 1992; Revised in January 2000, Continue reading →

Two Lowndes, two Valdosta variances @ ZBOA 2013-10-01

Today: setbacks and nonconforming use in the county, and setbacks and buffers in the city of Valdosta, at the Valdosta-Lowndes County Zoning Board of Appeals. They start in a few minutes from now at the Valdosta City Annex.

Here’s the agenda.

Valdosta – Lowndes County Zoning Board of Appeals
Matt Martin, Valdosta Planning and Zoning Administrator
300 North Lee Street, Valdosta, Georgia
(229) 259-3563 		Carmella Braswell, Lowndes County Zoning Administrator
327 North Ashley Street, Valdosta, Georgia
(229) 671-2430
AGENDA
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
2:30 p.m.
Continue reading →

Videos: ZBOA approved UHS Pruitt variance at Two Mile Branch on Lee Street @ ZBOA 2013-09-10

The Zoning Board of Appeals approved a variance on stream buffers for the medical expansion across Two Mile Branch, as promised at the Planning Commission and Valdosta City Council.

Here’s the agenda with a few links and notes.

Valdosta – Lowndes County Zoning Board of Appeals
AGENDA
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
2:30 p.m.
  1. Call to Order

CITY OF VALDOSTA CASES:

  1. APP-2013-09 – RREMC Restaurants LLC (Denny’s; 1328 N St Augustine Road)
    Variance to LDR Section 214-7 as it pertains to exterior building materials

    Approved unanimously, plus some after-discussion about sheet metal.

  2. APP-2013-10 — UHS-Pruitt Corporation (Parkwood Developmental Center; 1501 N Lee St.)
    Variance to LDR Section 214-1 Table 2 as it pertains to rear yard setbacks in O-P Zoning and to LDR Section 310-112(A)(1) as it pertains to stream buffers

    Approved with two dissenting votes, by Nancy Hobby and Gretchen Quarterman.

OTHER BUSINESS:

Continue reading →

Divest VSU of fossil fuels –petition

The divestment movement has come to VSU, thanks to Danielle Jordan and SAVE! -jsq

Petition: Divest Valdosta State From Fossil Fuels

To: VSU Administration and VSU Board of Trustees

We are asking Valdosta State University to:

  1. Disclose information on its investments
  2. To divest its holdings from fossil fuels within 5 years
  3. Freeze any new investments in the fossil fuel industry immediately

Why is this important?

As climate change progresses, we become more aware of the hazardous consequences that manifest in relation to a warming planet. We understand that in order to combat the issue, we have to alter our daily practices. However. the lobbying power of the major fuel companies has diminished the voices and power of individuals within our political system. Subsequently, policy has been written to favor the interests of the companies benefiting from the exploitation of our environment.

We are asking Valdosta State to distance itself from this industry and pursue alternatives, knowing that if we wish to address climate change, a collaborative effort must be made. By joining this movement, we can create a more ethical campus and move in the direction of sustainability.

Waste from Superfund site in Waycross went to Lowndes County landfill

What was in that waste water that went into landfill in an aquifer recharge zone, with surface runoff into the Withlacoochee River? The 44 shipments from the toxic waste site in Waycross to the Pecan Row landfill in Lowndes County were “Non RCRA Regulated Liquids”, but “PCBs are not defined as hazardous wastes” and according to the U.S. Department of Energy, “To be a hazardous waste, a material must first be a solid waste.” So “Non RCRA Regulated Liquids” apparently says nothing about hazard or toxicity.

Cover 44 shipments went from the “7 Out Site” to “Pecan Row, Valdosta, GA” for $59,495.00 total of your federal tax dollars paid to Veolia, according to pages 12 and 13 of Final Report, Task Order # F-0032, Seven Out LLC Tank Site, Waycross, Georgia, Contract No. 68S4-02-06 for Emergency and Rapid Response Services, EPA Region 4, Prepared By WRS Infrastructure & Environment, Inc., 5555 Oakbrook Pkwy, Suite 175, Norcross, Georgia 30093, May 2, 2006.

Is this where those PCBs in the landfill came from? EPA itself says, Are polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) regulated under RCRA as a hazardous waste?

PCBs are not defined as hazardous wastes (Memo, Weddle to Verde; May 18, 1984 (RCRA Online #12235)). However, it is possible that PCBs may be incidental contaminants in listed hazardous waste (e.g., solvent used to remove PCBs from transformers) or may be present in wastes that are characteristically hazardous. In these cases, wastes that otherwise meet a listing criteria or are characteristically hazardous are still subject to RCRA regulation regardless of PCB content.

Pecan Row, Valdosta, GA page 1 However, to avoid duplicative regulation with Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), certain PCB containing wastes that exhibit the toxicity characteristic are exempt from regulation under RCRA (Monthly Call Center Report Question; September 1996 (RCRA Online #14014)). Section 261.8 exempts from RCRA Subtitle C regulation PCB-containing dielectric fluid and the electric equipment which holds such fluid if they satisfy two criteria. First, these PCB wastes must be regulated under the TSCA standards of Part 761. Second, only the PCB wastes which exhibit the toxicity characteristic for an organic constituent (waste codes D018-43) may qualify for the exemption (§261.8).

Apparently any liquid wastes from a Superfund site would be “Non RCRA Regulated Liquids”, according to U.S. DoE EH-231-034/0593 (May 1993), Exclusions and Exemptions from RCRA Hazardous Waste Regulation,

Pecan Row, Valdosta, GA page 2
  • any solid or dissolved material introduced by a source into a federally owned treatment work (FOTW) if certain conditions, described in Sect. 108 of the FFCA of 1992, are met;
  • industrial wastewater discharges that are point source discharges regulated under section 402 of the Clean Water Act [§261.4(a)(2)]

If a Superfund site is not a federally owned treatment work, what is? And if the Seven Out site was not an industrial wastewater point source, what is?

Sample waste manifest, Onyx Pecan Row, Valdosta, GA The Onyx Waste Manifests on pages 75-120 say the materials were “Non-Hazardous Non-Regulated Waste water”. (Onyx became Veolia Environmental Services in 2005, according to Veolia.) As we’ve seen, “Non-Regulated” apparently means little. We don’t know what was in that waste water that went into a landfill in a recharge zone for the Floridan Aquifer, the source of our drinking water, and with surface runoff into the Withlacoochee River.

-jsq

ZBOA considers UHS Pruitt variance at Two Mile Branch on Lee Street @ ZBOA 2013-09-10

Right about now the Zoning Board of Appeals is considering a variance on stream buffers for the medical expansion across Two Mile Branch, as promised at the Planning Commission and Valdosta City Council. It never flooded there before, right? Nevermind that flood control measures encourage settling too close and provoke severe flooding events and just yesterday I heard people complaining about water running over Lee Street just downstream from the subject location. How will adding more impervious cover right next to the creek help that flooding?

Here’s the agenda.

Valdosta – Lowndes County Zoning Board of Appeals
AGENDA
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
2:30 p.m.
  1. Call to Order

CITY OF VALDOSTA CASES:

  1. APP-2013-09 – RREMC Restaurants LLC (Denny’s; 1328 N St Augustine Road)
    Variance to LDR Section 214-7 as it pertains to exterior building materials
  2. APP-2013-10 — UHS-Pruitt Corporation (Parkwood Developmental Center; 1501 N Lee St.)
    Variance to LDR Section 214-1 Table 2 as it pertains to rear yard setbacks in O-P Zoning and to LDR Section 310-112(A)(1) as it pertains to stream buffers

OTHER BUSINESS:

  1. Attendance Policy
  2. Approval of Minutes:
    • August 6, 2013
    • July 9, 2013 (revised to correct Case # scriveners errors)
  3. Adjournment

-jsq

Flood control measures encourage settling too close and provoke severe flooding events

Flood control to keep water out of houses seems like a good idea, but it turns out that it causes the flood control measures to keep needing to be raised higher, and it encourages people to build too close to flooding areas, plus “rare and catastrophic events take place”. Like the 2009 “700 year flood” and the four or more floods this year that have overflowed the Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant. In our case, there are also the issues of widespread clearcutting and buildings and streets with impervious cover. The local runoff containment requirements in the various local government zoning codes may be like levees: “flood control structures might even increase flood risk as protection from frequent flooding reduces perceptions of risk”.

This encourages human settlements in floodplain areas, which are then vulnerable to high-consequence and low-probability events.
Much simpler just not to give out building permits for flood zones. Or we could put medical buildings right next to a creek, assuming because it’s never flooded it never will….

Socio-hydrology: conceptualising human-flood interactions, G. Di Baldassarre, A. Viglione, G. Carr, L. Kuil, J. L. Salinas, and G. Bloschl, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 3295–3303, 2013 doi:10.5194/hess-17-3295-2013, © Author(s) 2013. CC Attribution 3.0 License.

Abstract. Over history, humankind has tended to settle near streams Continue reading →

Aquifer recharge and drainage from Seven Out Superfund site, Mary Street, Waycross, GA

The Seven Out Superfund site is not in any of the severe aquifer recharge zones in Ware County, fortunately, but drainage from it goes right across Waycross into the Satilla River, carrying who-knows-what pollution with it. It’s time to find out what pollution, where it comes from, and what plume of toxic chemicals it is making underground. Continue reading →

Aquifer and well contamination miles from Waycross Seven Out Superfund Site

At the Waycross Seven Out Superfund Site meeting, caller Anthony Samsel said (42 minutes and 10 seconds into the video) of a site in Massachusetts:

I was the first person to track contamination of the ground to aquifers that travel several miles; plastics, formaldehyde, from a plastics manufacturing plant, and there was contamination of city wells with a lot of cancer clusters and a lot of sick, dead, and dying people.

He was talking about the Wells G & H Superfund Site in Woburn, MA, where, according to EPA,

The groundwater was contaminated with industrial solvents, called volatile organic compounds (VOCs), such as trichloroethylene (TCE) and tetrachloroethylene (PCE). Soil on the five properties was contaminated with VOCs, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and pesticides. Sediments in the Aberjona River were contaminated with PAHs and heavy metals such as chromium, zinc, mercury and arsenic.

Thirty years later, that one is still toxic.

In a 29 September 2011 coment Samsel said Continue reading →