Ivy Landfill is leaking toxins (sorta off topic, long)
Old Man Kensey
I think Berry, Buck, Mills, and Stipe would be proud. :)
In article <DGput...@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU>,
K-Funk <kr...@darwin.clas.Virginia.EDU> wrote:
>Student Environmental Action
>University of Virginia, Charlottesville
>
>
>Hello everyone,
>
> last night, Wednesday night, members of SEA attended a meeting of the Ivy
>Steering Committee in Ivy. This is the citizen group that is concerned about
>the landfill and trying to clean it up and shut it down. We really need to
>work together as a community on this issue, as it concerns all of us.
>The meeting was very informative, and we learned some stuff that everyone in
>Charlottesville and Albemarle County need to know.
>
>
> Ivy Landfill was opened in 1970 as a temporary solution the the solid waste
>problem when the Avon Street Dump closed. Citizens of Ivy were told that the
>"dump", as it was then, would close in 6 months.
>Ivy Landfill has been accepting solid waste from Albemarle County and
>Charlottesville for 25 years now.
> In the 1970's, local companies dumped hazardous chemicals into an unlined
>pit in the heart of the landfill. This pit is called the "paint pit".
>It contains three million gallons of hazardous waste.
> These chemicals are leaching into the groundwater at the landfill. They
>are directly threatening the communities adjacent to the landfill, including
>the Peacock Hill community, where citizens rely on groundwater from wells.
>A monitoring well shows significant contamination 1,000 yards upstream from
>some of the wells that provide water to families in Peacock Hill.
>Rivanna Solid Waste Authority, which operates the Landfill, has not tested the
>water outside of the landfill, but the water on the landfill property
>is significantly above levels of contamination allowed by the EPA. The
>landfill sits in the headwaters of the Rivanna Reservoir, so groundwater in
>the landfill property seeps into streams and rivers which feed into our water
>supply. The contaminants are colorless and odorless substances, including
>benzene and vinyl chloride, which are known carcinogens.
> Toxic chemicals also are released from landfills into the air at ground
>level. Methane from decomposing waste acts as a carrier to disperse other gas
>emissions more widely. These gases, such as benzene, trichloroethylene, and
>dichloroethylene, pose a health risks to residents withing a 5-mile radius of
>landfills. (Dr. Donald Gill, University of Maryland School of medicine)
> RSWA inspects ONE TRUCK A MONTH to ensure that hazardous waste is not
>being dumped at Ivy. Approximately 5,000 trucks dump there monthly.
> RSWA has actually proposed to EXPAND Ivy Landfill to an elevation of 820
>feet, covering 300+ acres! This size is comparable to Monticello Mountain,
>or the University of Virginia hospital. A mountain of trash would be piled
>ON TOP OF an unlined cell, which is leaking toxic chemicals
>into streams at the periphery of the landfill that feed into the Mechums
>River, and ultimately into the Rivanna Reservoir. The horizontal expansion
>of the landfill would take place withing the 100-year flood plain.
> The possibility of accepting solid waste from other communities in the
>region has been discussed at the meeting of the Albemarle County Board of
>Supervisors. Virginia is number 4 in importing solid waste from out of state.
>We import trash from New York and New Jersey. This is a dirty business!
> We need to empower ourselves and our communities to compel our
>government structures to get out of a dirty business and uphold our values of
>sustainability and health. The EPA and Virginia's Department of Environmental
>Quality (which gave Ivy a poor grade for safety) rate the landfill method at
>the bottom of the list of viable waste disposal methods.
> We need to work together to compel the Board of Supervisors of Albemarle
>County and the City Council of Charlottesville to
>
> -CLOSE IVY LANDFILL
> -CLEAN UP THE HAZARDOUS WASTE
> -FIND A VIABLE ALTERNATIVE TO WASTE DISPOSAL
>
> We do not have to dump our waste into the headwaters of our water supply.
>We cannot stand by while our communities succumb to cancer and other health
>problems. We can set an important precedent for communities around the nation
>and the world: CLEAN WATER IS A BASIC HUMAN RIGHT!
>
>WHAT SEA IS DOING
>
> We are attending meetings of the Ivy Steering Committee, which is working
>on this issue. We have fact sheets and petitions, and are going to make a
>world wide web page. On Wednesday we will attend a meeting of the Thomas
>Jefferson Planning Commission in solidarity with the Ivy Steering Committee.
>This meeting is 7-9 at the Planning Commission headquarters, which is at the
>Nations Bank Building on the Downtown mall.
>We are encouraging people to write letters to the Board of Supervisors, the
>City Council, the Planning Commission, and the Solid Waste Authority.
>We are disseminating information by email, and searching the internet and
>other resources for viable alternatives to the landfill.
>If anyone would like to get involved, please contact Kirsten Randall
>118 N Baker St Charlottesville, VA 22903 (804) 979-0656
>kh...@ecosys.drdr.virginia.edu
>The contact for the Ivy Steering Committee is Edwin Strange
>PO Box 6084 Charlottesville, VA 22906-6084 sjr...@prodigy.com
>
>SEA meets at 7 pm Thurdays at the steps of Old Cabell Hall on the Lower Lawn,
>University of Virginia Grounds.
>
>Please help us protect our communities and ourselves!
>
>--
> " If I stand and holler... will I stand alone? "
>
> -Michael Stipe, "Kahoutek"
--
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