Gary Stamper attends a meeting regarding Emerald Chemical during a meeting Wednesday morning at the Historic Lewis County Courthouse in Chehalis.
Attendees discuss and draft a letter to Ecology during a meeting regarding Emerald Chemical during a meeting Wednesday morning at the Historic Lewis County Courthouse in Chehalis.
Eric Wantuck Eisenberg, District Prosecuting Attorney, talks to public officials during a meeting regarding Emerald Chemical during a meeting Wednesday morning at the Historic Lewis County Courthouse in Chehalis.
Bill Teitzel, Environmental Services Supervisor at Lewis County Public Health and Social Services, during a meeting regarding Emerald Chemical during a meeting Wednesday morning at the Historic Lewis County Courthouse in Chehalis.
The Lewis County Board of Commissioners will send a letter to the state Department of Ecology expressing their approval of a plan to “delist” hazardous waste stored in Lewis County, provided it is transported to an appropriate landfill outside of Lewis County and that waste “liquids be adequately treated for disposal (also) outside of Lewis County” to ensure public safety and the protection of the surrounding environment.
Ecology is considering a petition to delist, or reclassify hazardous waste stored in Lewis County by Fire Mountain Farms as solid waste, allowing it to be deposited in an approved landfill. The proposal is open for public comment.
Lewis County Commissioners and agency reps discussed a draft of the letter officially commenting on delisting and variance petitions to relocate the approximately 20,000 cubic yards of unwanted waste at a meeting Wednesday at the Historic Courthouse in Chehalis.
Chief Civil Deputy Eric Eisenberg from the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office led the discussion.
“So, the basic idea is that Ecology has asked for public comment on this proposal in two phases: to delist certain waste that Fire Mountain Farms has that they got from Emerald Kalama Chemical as being hazardous waste and instead make it solid waste,” began Eisenberg.
The waste is currently stored at a Burnt Ridge unit in Onalaska, the Newaukum storage unit off Highway 508 south of Chehalis and the Centralia-based Big Hanaford site. Ecology has tentatively approved a request seeking to reclassify the waste from hazardous to solid waste based on the fact that no pollutants were found when the mixed material was tested.
The same claim was supported by Fire Mountain Farms President Robert Thode who recently said no benzene has been detected in his waste in 25 years of analytical testing.
Eisenberg added that contrary to the belief of some local residents, the refuse in question wouldn’t be “land-applied” in Lewis County, which lacks a suitable Class or Subtitle-D landfill for the considerable 20,000 cubic-yard haul.
Eisenberg said both applicants (Fire Mountain Farms and Emerald Kalama Chemical) will be required to submit a draft comprehensive disposal plan within 60 days if and when the petitions are approved
Eisenberg and Public Health and Social Services Environmental Services Supervisor Bill Teitzel speculated that the mixed material be transported to a transfer station in Oregon or to a different municipal landfill facility.
It was also noted that the continued handling, storage and subsequent transport of waste by Fire Mountain Farms under the draft comprehensive disposal plans will compel the biosolids recycler to seek a permit from Public Health and Social Services.
In addition, Eisenberg said that the solid waste removed from the site will be subject to flow control regulations — legal provisions that allow state and local governments to designate the places where municipal solid waste is taken for processing, treatment or disposal, as defined by the EPA (Environmental Protection Department).
Analytical data, said the attorney, will need to be submitted in order to determine an appropriate disposal venue.
