NCD980602163_19830106_Warren County PCB Landfill_SERB C_Durham Morning Herald article on Bulge in Liner-OCR

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Gas Is Creating
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Bulge In Liner
At PCB Landfill
By ELEANOR LEE
Herald Staff Writer
AFTON - A large pocket of gas has
formed under the liner of the PCB land-
fill, but state engineers say the bulge is
not a threat to the landfill.
Local residents, however, say that
they're not so sure the bulge in the liner
isn't a hazard.
Bill Meyer, an engineer with the
state's Solid and Hazardous Waste divi-
sion, said this week that the gas pocket
at the site is the result of routine de-
composition of vegetation in the soil.
ALTHOUGH A VENT pipe was
placed in the landfill to allow the gas to
escape, a buildup occurred because of re-
cent soil erosion, Meyer said.
pipe in the 10-to 15-foot-wide bulge to·
temporarily release the gas until topsoil
can be replaced.
MEYER SAID there really wasn't
much pressure, that the liner was so thin
it would bulge under a fair amount of
pressure. . .
There are no holes in the liner, Meyer
said. Uniform pressure on the liner will not
be possible, he said, until the weather
dries out and contractors are able to re-
place the topsoil.
"I don't believe they [the state] can
say they don't have a problem," said
Henry Rooker, a member of Warren
County Citizens Concerned About PCB.
"They've put another pipe in, but it's a
cover-up, a cosmetic treatment to pacify
the people who go look at the landfill."
ROOKER SAID he had heard talk
that the state "may have to use shovels
instead of heavy machinery to keep the
landfill from eroding away."
The top layer of soil was placed on the
landfill to apply even amounts of pres-
sure to the gases, which would force
them through the central vent pipe,
Meyer said. However, rainy weather has
caused erosion of the topsoil, uncovering
the plastic liner and allowing the sub-
sequent gas buildup.
Ti:ngineers have placed a one-inch vent Rooker said he has been regularly
watching the landfill, and has seen ero-
sion for some time. He said there was a
\: one gulley "five to six feet deep."
When capping the landfill, contractors
had put a layer of red clay over the liner.
;-"And the dirt just doesn't have any
consistency, it doesn't stick together,"
Rooker said.
"IT'S REALLY coming apart a cubic
yard at a time. It's falling away in
, chunks," Rooker said. "This has been
one of our complaints all along. We've
. said the soil is just not suited for this
1 kind of thing. It looks to me that the
project is under way as a failure. It's
going to take a lot of dry weather to keep
it from being a failure."
Rooker, who has cancer and is not
working, said he is spending most of bis
time these days carrying on the PCB
protest movement.
Ken Ferruccio, president of the War-
ren Citizens Concerned About PCB, said a community meeting about the gas
bulge has been scheduled for 7:30 p.m .
. Wednesday, Jan. 12, in the Warren
County Courthouse.