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Citing Sinkhole Threat, State Turns Down Pasco Landfill

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By STEVE ANDREWS

sandrews@wfla.com

Published: February 13, 2009

Updated: 02/13/2009 12:45 am

TAMPA - State regulators on Thursday denied a company's request to build a landfill near the environmentally sensitive Green Swamp.

In turning down the request for a solid waste permit, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection said the company wanting to build the landfill, Angelo's Aggregate Materials, had not given enough assurances that the necessary structural support would be in place to prevent groundwater contamination if a sinkhole formed.

"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," Mary Jean Yon, the DEP's waste management director, said in a statement.

Angelo's project manager, John Arnold, said the company had not decided Thursday whether to seek a hearing before an administrative law judge to try and overturn the recommendation.

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

The proposed landfill is in Dade City 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 north as Yankeetown. They say the area is sinkhole-prone, and that Angelo's plans place the dump over three dormant sinkholes.

The company claims the ancient sinkholes, known as relics, are stable.

"We have what geologists call relic, paleosinks, but they are quite stable," 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.

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. He said he expressed to the company his concerns about design and sinkholes. Fluet and Angelo's had a falling-out over compensation; he now works for Blanchard, the landowner who opposes the project.

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

Another concern to Fluet are collection pipes beneath the landfill. According to Fluet, if a pipe carrying leachate leaks, clogs or breaks there is no way to fix it. "You'd literally have to take all of the waste out of the landfill and move it somewhere else," he said.

But the leachate removal system is in use at several facilities in Florida, Arnold said. If there is a leak, he said, 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.

Angelo's applied for the permit in 2006. It estimated the landfill construction costs at $7.5 million and said it would receive between 1,800 and 3,000 tons of household garbage a day.

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