NCD980602163_19940728_Warren County PCB Landfill_SERB C_Greensboro News & Record - State will test PCB Landfill in Warren to see if it is still toxic-OCR

~ce Will test
!CB. landfill·
iri Watren,to·see· .
. . -. : . . . -... ,'. '.
if 'if· is sti11 ··toxic·:
y Terry Martin
)URNAl RALEIGH eunu..u
AFTON
Twelve years after North Carolina entombed 40,000
Llbic yards of tox:ic dirt in Warren · County, state
.fliclals plan to send ln a drill team today to open up
',e three-acre lnndfill.
They'U be testlng water and soil to see if the concen-
cntlons of polychlorlnated. biphenyls, or PCBs; have·
,roken down nt all from exposure lo natural elemenl.S ·
nd bacteria ..
'"We're got.ng to be· doing a major assessment br::
.-liat \,•e have ·up there ·-and we certainly hope we'·:
.-on't fmd anything,''. said Michael A. Kelly, the deputy>
.irector of the N.C. Division of Solid Waste Managii-
:ient. ·_ _ . · ··_. ·' · · "':
"This will be the fi.rst time we have actunlly"gone In,
nd sampled the tontents of the landfill," Kelly said:·.:
The effort comes after local residents reminded Govi·,.
im Hunt of his promise back in 1982 to have·the·•'
ancer-causlng PCBs cleaned up if a practical' technol•",
?,Y was developed and could be applied. . ·. .,.
State officials announced ln May 1993 'thnt.'more,,
. :an 8 million pounds of water had accumulated on tho.,•
ln.st!c liner at the bottom of the landfill and would--·
nve to be removed. , ,.,.,
/\ pump system is to be lnstAlled'through the borings:,.
)day, 1n preparation for that. · . .,.,,
. : ti:
RESIDENTS AND environmentalists gathered at
:ie entrance to the landfill yesterday to repeat thei,i; ,..
cmands that the landfiU's contents be detoxified ai.
;;e site and not removed. . . . •
"Warren County stands poorer and blacker than It
?d before thnl landllll," snld Dolly BW"Well, who lives.
car the landOll. "l believe that Justice. for .Warren ·
;ounty consists of nothing less that detoxifit:atlon of
·:int landfill. ·
"I don't ";ant to see al1,)1.hlng taken from here·.nnd,:.
ut Into another minority, poor community."·:, · . , ,,..
Deborah Fei-rucdo, a communlty ·organlzer; sn!d,;,;
This ls a disaster over here, folks, and any landfill like,,
: ls a disaster:"· · ' ' . . .' :· · ",',' ·:
. But state offlclals inalntain that the.re·1s no evidence'
:iat the PCBs have leaked from the landfill o·r aifecteq" ·
:iy ground water, · . . ,, ·· · · • · .· '':
Dennis Retzlaff, the county health di.rector, said lhat·::
:,e testing will help residents "to see If indeed this l,\i ·
:ie blight on our community that some say It Is.". · ·.
"lf not, then let's get on with dealing 'with the real ·
eli.lth proble'ins of our community," Retzlaff said. . :
The work scheduled today ls to be done by Geo
: nvtronmelltal Inc. of Charlotte under contract to the·
:ate. '" •
Pauline EMild, tne president of Envtronmental Com:
,Uance Organization Inc., is to make recominenda'. ·
ions on how to clean up the landllll ·u Its contents ·
emaln toxic. ECO ls an · env1ronmenta1 consulting:
roup In Ashland, Va. Ewald said she expects to have a'
cport ready within 10 weeks. ·
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