Anita Wadhwani reports for the Nashville Tennessean
Looming at the dead end of “Landfill Lane” in the small western Tennessee community of Bath Springs sits a vast mound of dirt-covered waste generating a toxic ooze.
The constant flow of contaminated liquid, known as leachate, simmers at the heart of a long-running legal battle between local officials and Waste Industries, a North Carolina corporation that agreed in 1999 to take over day-to-day operations of the Decatur County Landfill.
When the county operated the landfill, it served as the local dump for small towns and rural communities in Decatur County.
But under new management, Waste Industries’ subsidiary Waste Services of Decatur, the landfill began accepting “special wastes” – defined as “difficult or dangerous” to manage.
The industrial waste comes with higher “tipping fees” for the landfill company than household trash, making the landfill more profitable.
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That special waste, accumulated over the years, created a costly toxic challenge: Mixed with rainfall, hundreds of gallons of harmful leachate must be hauled from the site for treatment.
Waste Industries claims it costs them $1 million each year to treat the leachate.
‘A lot of the damage has already been done’
For the past two years, the company has tried to walk away from the landfill, claiming it is no longer their responsibility. In a lawsuit against the county, they sought about $8 million. The county’s annual budget is $12 million.
A federal judge ruled against them. And, in March, the judge ruled the county can go forward with a lawsuit against the company that claims it violated federal environmental rules.
The dispute could prove a harbinger for other communities that have, on their own or through outsourced landfill operators, accepted special waste.
Altogether, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) has approved 3,885 permits for special waste to be deposited in 85 Tennessee landfills in the past three years.
They include contaminated soils from acid leaks, nuclear plant auxiliary building basement sump water, asbestos floor tiles and coal ash that combine with garbage hauled from local households.
In Decatur County, Waste Industries accepted approximately 640,000 tons of smelting waste from aluminum companies seeking to dispose of industrial byproducts, according to legal filings.
