Shelton’s Toxic Landfill Abatement Urgently Needed


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Dear Friend,

Local concerned citizens has been researching the City of Shelton Landfill for over a year and have found that we may have public health risks associated with this historical landfill site. We must take immediate action and need your help.

History:

* The City of Shelton Landfill, at the end of C Street west of Highway 101, began operation in 1928.
* Over the years, all municipal waste was taken, dumped and burned there. This waste included most everything from cars, appliances, medical wastes, paints, chemicals and possible WWII military waste.
* From 1974 through the 1980s, it became the dumping ground of dioxin-laden baghouse ash mixed with sewage sludge from the Shelton Treatment Plant. Of the sites studied in the 1987 EPA Superfund Dioxin Study the Shelton Landfill ended up being the “most concerning”. Many documents have statements regarding ‘public health risks’. Also, dioxins are presently known to be a more cancer causing substance than they were in the 1980s.
* Furthermore, during that period of time, toxic sediment was dredged from Oakland Bay and deposited in this landfill. Oakland Bay sediment contained a great deal of harmful chemicals from historical discharges. Additionally, other debris such as creosote treated logs, and debris from a hardware store fire.
* A great many Public Record Requests, made it clear that the Shelton Landfill was:
1) Never lined
2) Possibly leaching into shallow groundwater
3) Did not have the required Solid Waste permit
4) Never went through formal closure according to WA state law
5) WA state law requires ground water testing and monitoring; no testing and monitoring has occurred at the landfill. It was documented that no water tests were even taken during the EPA Dioxin Study.
6) The landfill parcel was never listed properly in county property records, therefore SEPA permits were granted to a gravel mining operation at the toe of the landfill risking excavating of dioxins and other hazardous materials; possibly spreading them throughout the county.
7) The north fork of Goldsborough Creek may be receiving toxic runoff from the landfill.

How you can help: We need as many community members as possible to request that the Dept. of Ecology’s Toxic Cleanup Program assess, test and rank the Shelton Landfill. A letter is attached to this email with the contact person, an address for snail mail and an email address. Preferably, construct your own letter in your own words, but we have also attached a letter that you may use. Open the attachment, enter the date and type in your name, address and email. Save your changes. Copy and paste this new letter into a new email, and send to the email address given. Printing it and snail mailing is also good. Please do so as soon as possible before 9/23/13.

We need this to be a successful email campaign. Together, our citizen voices will be heard. Thank you for participating. Please send notification of your actions to mwtat@hctc.com to keep track of the letters being sent.

Please send this request on to at least more five people that reside in Mason County and ask them to do the same.

Thanks again.

PS…For those of you that have difficulty opening attachments, I have copied the letter below.

To use: Cut and paste the letter below to an new email message…add date, name, address and email and then email or print and send it to Rebecca Lawson with the Toxics Cleanup Program, Ecology.

____________________________________________________________

DATE

Rebecca S. Lawson, P.E., LHG, Section Manager
Toxics Cleanup Program, Southwest Regional Office
PO Box 47775
rlaw461@ecy.wa.gov
Olympia, WA 98504-7775

RE: Need for Site Hazard Assessment and Ranking for City of Shelton C Street Landfill

There has been recent gravel mining below the old City of Shelton Landfill near a salmon bearing stream. Additionally, a proposed school site abuts this landfill in the Shelton Hills Planned Action Development (see EIS draft – comments due by 9/23/13). This is a non-permitted, unlined, no formal closure municipal landfill, that was active for over sixty years. This now has the attention of the community.

This landfill was the central dumping site for ordinary household materials and appliances, cars and refrigerators, dioxin laden bag house fly-ash, sewage sludge from Shelton Waste Water Treatment Plant, chemicals and debris from Rayonier (before it starting using Goose Lake (a recognized toxic clean-up site on the National Priority List), contaminated sediment dredged from Oakland Bay (everything and anything was dumped into this landfill over the years). It is my understanding that no groundwater or surface water monitoring or testing has been done to determine if contamination from this site has leached into the aquifer and/or Goldsborough Creek.

I believe that this old dumpsite is a risk to public health. I am asking Washington State Department Ecology to immediately conduct an assessment and ranking that includes groundwater and surface water testing.

Thank you for taking action on this landfill site.

Sincerely,

Name
Address
Email

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Opposed to politicians who equivocate about air quality & BioMassacre
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