Montana Voters Can Determine Fate of Park County Incinerator
Montana's attorney general has determined that Park County voters have the right to decide whether the county can shutter its incinerator or pay to have it upgraded. A citizens group opposed the county's plans to close the incinerator and send its waste to another county. The state Department of Environmental Quality has mandated that the facility be either upgraded or shut down by May 2005, and the county sought to avoid the added upgrade costs...Read More »
Engineers Challenge Stability of Pennsylvania Landfill Liner
An engineering report on the Grand Central Landfill in Plainfield Township, Pennsylvania has determined that a liner system for a proposed expansion of the facility "will not survive" as designed. Waste Management officials have proposed expanding the facility by 43 acres, and 17 acres of that would be atop a closed landfill. The question is how well the liner over the old waste would hold up if a depression opens in the waste underneath it. Landfill officials have said the liner is designed to state standards and will hold up well...Read More »
L.A., BFI Remain At Odds Over Landfill Operation
Los Angeles city officials and Browning-Ferris Industries are facing off over the operation of the Sunshine Canyon landfill. BFI has asked the city to negotiate a new 10-year contract renewal or face significant rate hikes. But city officials contend that the company does not have the right to take either action. The current dumping contract expires in June 2006, at which time Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn has said he intends to stop dumping at the landfill...Read More »
Rubber Companies Reach Settlement on Ohio Cleanup Work
Five rubber companies-Goodyear, Goodyear Aerospace (www.goodyear.com), Bridgestone/Firestone (www.bridgestone-firestone.com), B.F. Goodrich (www.bfgoodrichtires.com) and GenCorp (www.gencorp.com) have agreed to pay a total of $18 million to reimburse the federal government for the cleanup of the Industrial Excess Landfill near Canton, Ohio. The settlement brings to a close 14 years of legal disputes over the remediation of the industrial waste landfill...Read More »
Tennessee's Waste Reduction Rate Slips
The state of Tennessee has reduced the amount of solid waste it dumps in landfills, but lost some ground in 2002, according to the state Comptroller's Office of Research. Solid waste fell from 1995 baseline levels by 22.6 percent in 2000 and 24 percent in 2001, but the reduction rate fell to 20.3 percent in 2002. Figures for 2003 are not yet available. Statewide, the number of recycling facilities rose from 160 in 1992 to 580 in 2002...Read More »
Padres Step Up To The Plate For Recycling
The San Diego Padres baseball club (www.padres.com) is working to figure ways to reduce the waste generated by its 42,000 fans per game. The city's Miramar Landfill is expected to reach capacity by 2012, and San Diego is working to extend that lifespan. The Padres have installed a second trash compactor and plans to launch a promotional campaign to educate fans about recycling...Read More »
NorthWestern Reaches Montana Superfund Settlement
NorthWestern Corp. (www.northwestern.com) will pay $11.4 million toward the cleanup of the Superfund site at Milltown Reservoir near Missoula, Mont. The decision now allows the state and federal governments to negotiate a settlement between NorthWestern, Atlantic Richfield Co. (www.arco.com), and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (www.cskt.org). About 6.6 million cubic yards of contaminated mine tailings that washed into the Clark Fork River from mining and smelting operations in Butte and Anaconda is now resting behind a dam at the reservoir...Read More »
EPA Ombudsman Signs Off On Florida Cleanup
The federal EPA's ombudsman has approved a controversial plan to clean toxic waste at the former Stauffer Chemical Co. plant in Tarpon Springs, Florida. The approval comes four years after a previous ombudsman challenged the plan, leading to more studies of the site. The current ombudsman announced that a plan to pile and cap contaminated soil at the site is sufficiently "protective of human health and the environment." The 130-acre site was closed in 1981 and declared a Superfund site in 1994...Read More »
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