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Uncertainties Should Sink Proposed Pasco Landfill

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 9, 2009

State environmental regulars must have their heads stuck in clay. More than two years after private developers filed an application for a permit to develop a large garbage landfill on the edge of the Green Swamp in east Pasco County, the project, incredibly, remains a possibility.

Risking possible contamination to drinking water supplies for millions of Central and West-Central Florida residents, including the people of Tampa, should have been reason enough to swiftly reject the proposal by Angelo's Recycled Materials.

The targeted location is about a mile from the Green Swamp, the most environmentally significant part of the region, home to the headwaters of four major rivers, including the Hillsborough. The swamp is Central Florida's "liquid heart" for this reason and warrants strong protection.

It's inconceivable to us that a state agency charged with protecting the environment would consider approving such an outlandish proposal. But the agency has spent more than two years on its review and at one point even drafted a proposed permit approving it.

The agency's final decision, which can be subjected to an administrative challenge, is expected this week.

If regulators need more evidence to strike down the application, it's available.

Findings by consultants hired by a private landowner should leave no doubt that this project is inappropriate.

A geologist hired by landowner Bill Blanchard, who opposes the project, found the site off Old Lakeland Highway near Dade City contains three old sinkholes, as News Channel 8 reporter Steve Andrews reported this week. The features are dormant now, but could become active.

Clearly, allowing a landfill there is risky. Drinking water could be exposed to pollution if more sinkhole activity were to occur - no matter the ground liners and other protections Angelo's promises to install.

In addition, another Blanchard consultant - who used to work for Angelo's - has raised questions about the project's design that DEP should review. Joseph Fluet reports that leachate removal lines would be beneath the landfill's surface. This raises concerns about what would happen should a pipe break due to the weight of garbage.

Angelo's response that any "cell" in question could be dug up isn't comforting and doesn't seem practical either.

In addition, DEP shouldn't lose sight of the potential size of the facility. It would begin at about 90 acres but could grow to 775. This greatly increases the dangers. DEP also shouldn't ignore the overwhelming opposition to the project in east Pasco communities and municipalities and from the city of Tampa.

But the facts themselves are overwhelming. To permit a massive landfill in such a sensitive area should be unthinkable.

DEP needs to do its job and stop this environmental threat.

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