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HomeMy WebLinkAboutNCD980602163_19820928_Warren County PCB Landfill_SERB C_PCB Landfill Fact Sheet-OCR, . PCB LANDFILL FACT SHEET September 28, 1982 The following i ■ a list of the most often asked que ■tions about the PCB landfill under construction in Warren County. The state has tried to answer the ■~ questions in as accurate and thorough a manner as possible. (1) WHY WAS WARREN COUNTY PICKEDrAS THE SITE FOR A PCB LANDFILL? The decision to ■ite the landfill in Warren County was made strictly on the basis of technical criteria for sound waste manage- ment. The site is designed and engineered to protect the health and safety of citizens who live in the area and will be carefully protected and monitored to guarantee the integrity of the site. Charges that the Warren County site was selected because the county is poor and predominately black are ridiculous. The state examined about 100 sites, including a number of tracts already owned by the ■tate, in its search for a good location for a specially designed landfill for the PCB. Of these 100 sites, most of which were located in the 14-county area where the spills occurred, six were considered potentially acceptable locations for a PCB landfill. After an evaluation of the soils at the six locations the Environmental Protection Agency determined that all the sites ' under final consideration were essentially equal from a soils standpoint. The state's ranking of the top six sites placed a tract of land in Person County as the most acceptable from a soils stand- point, with the Afton site in Warren County second. The two sites were considered approximately equivalent with respect to the type soils, and were technically more suitable than the other sites under consideration. The Person County site, however, was in closer proximity to populated areas. It had a groundwater table that was closer to the surface, and that fluctuated as much as 9~ feet during a 24- hour period. In addition, the site was n~t hydraulically isolated, and there was the possibility that groundwater from the site could come in contact with homes in the immediate area. The Warren County aite, on the other hand, was located in an area where the geology 9reatly reduced the possibility that groundwater from the site could come in contact with the water ■upplies of area residents. Based on this information, aore extensive soil permeability tests were conducted at the Warren County ■ite, where the soil was found to be eight times less likely to allow liquids to pass through it than the federal standards require. -more- One aite in Wake County was on the liat of the best aix sites, but the Wake aite ranked lower than the Warren County aite on both the EPA and atate lists. All aix aitea were extensively tested to determine if they met EPA ■oil ■tandards. :. . (2) IS THE PCB LANDFILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION IN WARREN COUNTY SAFE? The PCB landfill now under construction in Warren County is one of the newest and best designed landfill• in the country. It has been called the cadillac of PCB landfill•. The PCB contaminated aoil that is placed in the facility will be completely enclosed · by clay and artificial liners. The bottom of the landfill cosists of a five foot thick clay liner that closely resembles brick, an artificial plaatic liner, and dual. leachate detection and control aystems. In the unlikely event that water aeeps into the landfill, it will be pumped out by sump pumps before it has an opportunity to permeate either of the landfill liners. The facility is a safe and environmentally sound method of handling a problem that has plaqued the ■tate and its citizens for more than four years, (3) WILL THE PCB LANDFILL IN WARREN COUNTY BE USED FOR THE STORAGE OF OTHER HAZARDOUS WASTES NOW OR AT A LATER DATE? The answer is no, absolutely not. The PCB landfill, with a maximum capacity of 40,000 cubic yards, is designed to handle only the PCB contaminated soil in 14 North Carolina counties. This soil was contaminated with PCB laced transformer oil illegally dumped along more than 200 miles of rural roads during the summer of 1978. More than 20 miles of these roads are located in Warren County. Once the contaminated soil is put into the landfill, the facility will be capped with artificial and clay liners, and monitored regularly to guarantee that the facility poses no threat to any of the citizens of Warren County. It should be emphasized that only the PCB laced soil from the 1978 apill will go into the landfill. Removal of the cap once it is in place so that additional soil or other materials can be placed into the landfill is explicity prohibited by federal law. (4) WHO wILL MAINTAIN CONTROL OF THE LANDFILL AND SURROUNDING PROPERTY AFTER THE PCB PROJECT IS COMPLETED? The state of North Carolina will maintain control of the five- acre landfill and about 15 acres that surround the facility which contain several monitoring wells, The remaining 120 acres of land, which make up a buffer zone around the aite, have been deeded by the atate to Warren County to guarantee to the people of the county that the acreage will not be used for any other type waste facility. It should be pointed out that, in deeding the property to the county, the atate place~ several restrictions in the deed to prohibit the buffer zone from bein9 used by the county for almost any purpose that would involve human activity (the construction of schools or recreation facilities, for instance). Plainly speaking, the county owns the buffer zone and can prohibit the state from building any- thing on the 120-acre plot. The atate, on the the other hand, can -more- • be assured that the county will not use the property for any • purpose that would be incompatible with a buffer zone. Federal and atate regulations, and the deed itself, prohibit the 20 acre• under atate control from being used for anything other than the disposal of the PCB contaminated aoil resulting from the 1978 apill. (5) WILL THE LOCATION OF THE PCB LANDFILL IN WARREN COUNTY OPEN THE DOOR TO OTHER LANDFILLS? WILL WARREN COUNTY BECOME A DUMPING GROUND . FOR HAZARD_OUS WASTES FROM NORTH CAROLINA AND OTHER STATES? Any proposals for future hazardous waste facilities in North Carolina will have to be approved by the atate•s Solid and Hazardous Waste Management Branch, with the guidance of the Environmental Protection Agency, based on very stringent federal and state regulations. It would be impossible to guarantee that private enterprise would never look for areas in Warren County, or any other county, to locate waste management facilities. But the state's current approval from EPA, and its current agreement with the county, preclude the use of the Afton site for anything other than the PCB landfill. (6) WHAT ABOUT STATE ROAD 1604? TRUCKS BRINGING MATERIAL INTO THE LANDFILL WILL TEAR IT UP. WILL IT BE RESTORED? State Road 1604 will be restored to its previous condition aftir the landfill is closed. Several thousand truckloads of material will be hauled over this road during the building of the landfill and it will be impossible to maintain it while this is going on. However when the landfill is capped, the road will be restored to its previous condition. (7) WHAT HAPPENED TO THE PARTIES RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ILLEGAL DUMPING OF THE PCB ALONG NORTH CAROLINA'S ROADSIDES? Not long after the PCB was illegally dumped in North Carolina, Robert J. Burns and his two sons, Timothy and Randy, were charged with performing the actual dumping by driving a tanker truck loaded with PCB contaminated transformer oil into sparsely settled North Carolina areas and spraying the oil along the roadsides. On April 23, 1982, Robert J. Burns was sentenced by North Carolina Superior Court Judge Donald L. Smith of Raleigh to a 3-5 year prison term for his connection with the dumping. Burns also received an 18-month sentence on federal charges, Burns is now in a state prison unit. Timothy and Randy Burns were sentenced by Judge Smith to a prison term of ,18 111onths to. three years, The active sentence was suspended and the Burns brothers were placed on probation for four years, fined $500 and ordered not to return to North Carolina except to visit their father. They also are on five years probation stemming from the federal charges against them. -more- The Burn•'• teatified in the federal trial that the PCB- laced oil came from Ward'• Transformer Company in Raleigh, one of the largest tranaformer repair companies in the nation. Robert E. Ward, Jr., of Ward Transformer Company, was acquitted of atate charges in connection with the PCB contamination of the atate roadside ■, but h~-vas convicted of violating the federal Toxic Substances Control Act, aentenced to 18 month ■ in prison and fined $200,000 on that charge. He currently is appealing that conviction. North Carolina has aued Ward and the Burns'• for $2.5 million in actual damages and $10 million in punitive damages. The case · is on the trial calendar in Wake County Superior Court for late this fall. • ELEMENT 1. Size 2. Isolation (human population) 3. Relief (scope of land) 4. Soils Type Amount STANDARDS Large enough to construct and protect disposal area. Minimum -16-20 acres. Maximum -dependent upon land available and layout of land. need for extended buffers: Number of homes within one mile. Transportation routes with respect to population density. Low to moderate. 5 to 20% slope. avoid areas that can cause slumping or sliding and increase erosion. High silt and clay content. Maximum rate of water infiltration less than 0.1 inch per year. More than 30% silt and clay (fine soil particles). The silt a~d clay must hold at least 30% moisture without flowing in order to meet liner construction standards. The silt and clay must have a 15% moisture range or flexibility to meet liner construction standards. Sufficient soils on site to construct all required protection structures (liners. berms, dikes, and topsoil). ELEMENT Surface Water Protection Groundwater Protection Topographic Position STANDARDS No direct connection to streams or springs above 100-yr. floodplain. No direct runoff to surface drinking water supply. Minimum of½ mile from All stream (stream that may .be future surface water supply}. Not located in public water supply watershed. Maximum practical separation, 10' minimum (from waste}. No private well within 500'. Location in area of minimum potential rainfall infiltration and movement to groundwater. Isolation of recharge area -location such that rainwater and groundwater that occurs off-site does not pass through site for groundwater fluctuation control. Isolation of direction of discharge of groundwater so that it cannot impact water supplies. Predict maximum upward fluctuation to give minimum of 10' separation. Priority: Flat -lowest Side slopes -better Hill or ridge -best ,. 1 .. ,. Access Nearest paved road • Existing road to disposal area. Ease of constructing road to disposal area. Ownership of access property to disposal site. SITE SELECTION FOR PCB LANDFILL The Department of Human Resources' Solid and Hazardous Waste Management Branch had considerable field expertise in evaluating potential landfill sites. The Branch was directed by the Department of Crime Control and Public Safety to locate potential PCB landfill sites. A procedure was established to locate and evaluate potential sites. The procedure establishedincludedPCB landfill regulations for site criteria and knowledge gained from past experience with locating landfills. These procedures included: PCB LANDFILL DESIGN The PCB landfill .has a double bottom liner system. The lower most liner is composed of 30 mil. PVC plastic and is impermeable to liquid movement through it. Immediately above the PVC liner is the clay liner. This liner consists of a carefullf·recompacted clay layer five feet thick. It is estimated that the clay liner will hold liquid migration to between .1 and .01 feet per year, if liquid were to get into the landfill. To prevent any liquids from migrating into the liners, a leachate collection system was installed on top of the clay liner. Any liquids found in this collection system will be removed immediately before they can migrate through the liners. A leachate collection system also was constructed beneath the lower most PVC liner. Any liquid that is not collected in the upper leachate collection system and that migrates through both liners would be pumped out here before it has a chance to enter the soil beneath the landfill. Both leachate collection systems will be checked monthly and, if necessary, pumped dry. Any contaminated liquids will be disposed of at a facility out of state. -2- The landfill cover cap is designed to prevent normal rainfall from mixing with the contaminated soil. The cover is made up of a PVC liner material and a two-foot thick carefully recompacted clay layer. The cap will be graded to force rain- . fall to run off the top, instead of penetrating the landfill, and it will be covered with top soil and seeded with grass to prevent erosion. The cap will be inspected monthly to be sure that it is not disturbed. Groundwater mohitoring wells are installed and will be sampled routinely. Surface water sampling points have been established in nearby streams. Surface water and stream sediment samples will be collected at these locations on the same schedule that the monitoring wells are checked.