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State Agency Denies Request For Pasco Landfill

Tribune file photo

The proposed landfill sits 1.5 miles from the Green Swamp, which provides drinking water to much of central Florida.

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By STEVE ANDREWS | News Channel 8

Published: February 12, 2009

Updated: 02/12/2009 05:11 pm

DADE CITY - Florida's Department of Environmental Protection denied a request this afternoon for a solid waste permit to build a landfill in Dade City near the Green Swamp.

"It has been determined that the applicant has failed to provide the required reasonable assurance that the proposed facility would be constructed in such a manner to address DEP's concerns regarding the potential for sinkholes at the proposed location," said a statement from Mary Jean Yon, the DEP's waste management director.

The DEP concluded the company wanting to build the landfill, Angelo's Aggregate Materials, failed to provide assurance the landfill would be constructed with the necessary structural support to prevent the negative impacts in the event of a sinkhole opening.

A memo sent to DEP from the Florida Geological Survey today reveals there is evidence of active sinkhole activity in soil boring tests conducted by Agelo's. The memo indicated the probability of sinkhole formation within the site is moderate to high.

The proposed landfill sits about a mile-and-a-half from the Green Swamp and the Withlacoochee River. A portion of the Floridan Aquifer runs beneath it. Four major rivers flow out of the swamp, providing drinking water to much of central Florida.

Opponents worry that as the garbage breaks down into liquid, or leachate, it may leak into the groundwater and contaminate water from Pasco County to Tampa and as far west as Yankeetown. They say the area is sinkhole prone, and that Angelo's plans place the dump over three ancient sinkholes that are dormant.

The company claims the ancient sinkholes, known as relics, are stable and not prone to opening up.

"We have what geologists call relic, paleosinks, but they are quite stable," Project Manager John Arnold said.

But a geologist hired by Bill Blanchard, who owns land near the proposed landfill site, reviewed tests submitted to the state by Angelo's and said there is a chance the sinkholes could become active.

"They are dormant and not moving right now, but that doesn't mean they can't become active again," geologist Cathleen Jonas said.

The sinkhole issue worries opponents of the landfill on two fronts.

Thomas Farkas, a consultant hired by Tampa Bay Water to assess the potential impact on water supplies, wrote in a January 2009 report that if the landfill leaks, the sinkholes beneath could provide a direct pathway for contaminants to reach the Floridan aquifer.

According to Farkas, that would likely carry contamination to Crystal Spring and municipal production wells that belong to Zephyrhills. Crystal Spring also feeds into the Hillsborough River.

Joseph Fluet, a civil engineer, initially reviewed design plans for Angelo's in May 2008. He said he expressed to the company his concerns about design and sinkholes. Fluet and Angelo's had a falling out over compensation, and he now works for Blanchard, the landowner who opposes the project. According to Fluet, a sinkhole opening beneath the landfill could be catastrophic.

"Sinkholes are difficult if not impossible to design around," Fluet said.

Another concern to Fluet is leachate collection pipes that run directly beneath the landfill and will be subjected to enormous loads. According to Fluet, if a pipe carrying leachate leaks, clogs or breaks there is no way to fix it.

"The only way you could fix it would be to dig down and remove all the waste," Fluet said. "You'd literally have to take all of the waste out of the landfill and move it somewhere else."

The leachate removal system is in use at several facilities in Florida, according to Arnold. He said if there is a leak, Angelo's will find it and fix it.

"What we would do is we would go in and figure out what was wrong and then remediate it all the way from ultimately digging up the 15-acre cell if that's what the engineers or regulators deemed necessary," Arnold said.

But according to Fluet, that would take time and and in the meantime he estimated up to 400 gallons of leachate a day could escapel into the ground.

TWO-YEAR DEBATE

Angelo's Recycled Materials applied to the DEP for a permit to construct and operate a solid waste management facility in 2006. On the application it expected to receive between 1,800 and 3,000 tons of household garbage a day.

Arnold said garbage mounds in the landfill will stack 150 feet high on average, placing 12,000 pounds of pressure per square foot on the ground surface.

"In the landfill business it is a very light load,"Arnold said.

The estimated construction cost of the facility is $7.5 million. The application also says the landfill will serve Pasco County and surrounding areas.

But Bruce Kennedy, who operates landfills for Pasco County, is against building another landfill.

"We don't need this landfill to meet our needs," Kennedy said. "Our waste to energy management facility handles our needs quite well."

Arnold disagrees. He said there is a real need today. Angelo's he claimed, offered the county a rate of $27 a ton, which he claims is well below what the county is being charged right now.

"If you look at that over a long period of time it's literally hundreds of millions of dollars of potential savings,"Arnold said.

Arnold said Angelo's Recycled Materials intends to build a highly engineered landfill. Plans call for the bottom to be double lined.

"Anything that got through your primary barrier layer would get into the leak detection system where it would drain out, where it's collected and pumped into tanks," Arnold said.

POLITICAL OPPOSITION

Both sides enlisted the help of well-connected lobbyists and public relations firms.

According to legislative records Angelo's, hired Tallahassee lobbyist Brian Ballard to work on its behalf. Ballard is the brother of DEP Deputy Secretary Bob Ballard. The company recently hired Colleen Castille, former Secretary of the DEP.

Angelo's also hired Tucker-Hall, a public relations and public affairs firm.

Blanchard, who owns nearly 2,000 acres near the site of the proposed landfill, hired Tallahassee attorney Chris Kise. Kise, who's working as a lobbyist, arranged a January meeting in Tallahassee with senior DEP officials as well a meeting with representatives from the governor's office.

Robert Thomas, another large landowner, hired former Gov. Bob Martinez to open doors in Tallahassee. Blanchard also hired the Environmental PR Group, a public relations, marketing and advertising firm.

In July 2007, Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio sent DEP's Deborah Getzoff, the director of the Department's Southwest District Office, a letter expressing her concerns about sinkholes at the site, pollution and contamination of the aquifer, which feeds the Hillsborough River basin.

"This situation would put the City's water supply in harm's way and cause serious consequences to the City's ability to provide water to its citizens," Iorio wrote. In October 2008, Hillsborough State Sen. Ronda Storms sent DEP Secretary Michael Sole a letter requesting the department deny the permit.

"There are too many unanswered questions, lack of public confidence and frankly, too many possible environmental nightmares," Storms said.

The permitting process allows Angelo's to request an administrative hearing, where the department's recommendation this afternoon could be overturned.

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