Keep out: U.S. EPA expands fence around former Industrial Excess Landfill
LAKE TWP. – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has expanded the fencing around the Industrial Excess Landfill Superfund site after "potentially explosive landfill gas" was detected beyond the previous fenced-in area.
The new chain-link fence installed a couple weeks ago was built about 50 feet beyond the rusted old fence, yet still inside the property line, according to a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency report. The 30-acre property borders Cleveland Avenue NW on its west side.
EPA representatives have not returned calls from The Canton Repository seeking comment.
Originally a licensed sand-and-gravel mining operation in the late 1960s, the property eventually was used for industrial waste. But chemical waste was dumped there, too, according to the township's website. By the mid 1980s, it became a federal Superfund site with ongoing monitoring for groundwater contamination and other potential hazards.
What does the EPA report say?
The EPA's 602-page "Fifth Five-Year Review Report," released earlier this year, noted that the federal agency would "request that the PRPs (potentially responsible parties) extend the fence line to include EPA parcels since potentially explosive landfill gas has been found at select monitoring locations beyond the current fenced boundary and to fully enclose the known limit of waste."
'We warned them about this gas issue.'
For several years, a methane venting system marked by a flare close to the entrance was an indicator that gasses were being burned off at the former Industrial Excess Landfill, 12646 Cleveland Ave. NW.
In 1986, the EPA installed a methane venting system that "prevents off-site migration of landfill gases that might otherwise threaten nearby homes and businesses," according to EPA documents.
The report shows that in 1989, "a plume of groundwater contamination attributable to IEL was observed to extend approximately 1,000 feet west of the site." The plan also called for the expansion of the existing venting system and a fence to be erected around the perimeter of the site.
But in 2005, the flame was out. The venting system was shut off.
"Gasses can still migrate. There are volatile chemicals ...," said Chris Borello, who heads Concerned Citizens of Lake Township.
She wasn't surprised that the gas is an issue all over again.
"They wouldn't keep the flare running," Borello said. "We warned them about this gas issue when they shut it down 16 years ago."
Led by Borello, Concerned Citizens of Lake Township has addressed the danger the site poses to area residents, urging scientists and other professionals to weigh in.
Borello said that the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry had "battled for Uniontown folks to get an expansion of that gas control system, saying the old one was inadequate and there could be significant quantities of gasses leaving the site undetected. Instead of expanding upon it, they turned the system off in 2005. They were basing the monitoring on explosivity for methane and methane only, not carcinogenic and radioactive gasses.
Now that gasses have been detected outside the fence-line, "To say we're bitter after we begged them to follow best practices on the gas issue and they refused? And they didn't afford us due process for the community when they drastically altered that part of the cleanup?"
She said the underground gasses don't stop at the fence-line.
'They also found hunting stands and other signs that people have been trespassing.'
Lake Township Trustee John Arnold said the methane detection wasn't the only issue addressed by the federal agency in its five-year report released in May.
"They also found hunting stands and other signs that people have been trespassing," he said.
According to the report, the stands were found on the EPA-owned property, but not inside the landfill area itself.
The report also noted the discovery of "an old rusted, 55-gallon steal drum," that was found "empty and uncapped." EPA officials have no idea how it got there or when.
Although officials don't believe anyone has been trespassing on the landfill itself anytime recently, "They certainly don't want people walking through the property with a lit cigarette," Arnold said.
For decades, the agency has monitored methane emissions on-site.
"There continues to be a large amount of methane produced," Arnold said, adding that EPA officials have notified the township that "it will probably continue for at least a couple more decades."
Arnold said EPA officials had contacted the township in January, advising that the weekly monitoring of methane vents would be reduced to monthly monitoring. Officials also told trustees that the expanded border fence was necessary because of the methane found outside the line, and they said the agency's fifth five-year report explaining that would be forthcoming.
Arnold said that Robert Thompson, the EPA's regional project manager, advised the township that the EPA has "not found the methane expansion in the ambient air, but only in the subsurface layer of the ground. (Thompson) said it tends to show higher when it is hot outside or when the ground's covered with snow. The snow will trap it and it tends to move a little horizontal."
Arnold said the EPA found the issue was "nothing extreme" and "nothing that seems to be unusual."
This article originally appeared on The Repository: "Potentially explosive landfill gas" found at Industrial Excess Landfill
