This is a short 19-minute documentary about recycling and waste in the U.S. Base on the book of the same name by Heather Rogers. The film has great facts and funny archive, it exposes the often magical (but false) feeling we get from ‘helping the earth’ by ‘recycling’ It also points out the real problems, over production and industrial pollution. Plus it explains corporate greenwashing and our economic system of ‘built-in obsolescence’.
Tentative Date Set for ILPCB Public Hearing
On June 29th during a status conference Waste Management Inc of Illinois requested more time to prepare for the appeal case filed by a group of DeKalb citizens. Thus the public hearing on the case has been set tentatively for October 18th thru October 20th. The decision will then be handed down by the Illinois Pollution Control Board by December 16th.
The public hearing will be held at a DeKalb County location yet to be named by the ILPCB. During the hearing witnesses will be called and testimony given regarding the fundamental unfairness on the part of DeKalb County Board members and administration in their handling of the process of WMI application for expansion of the existing landfill. The appeal by the Stop the Mega-Dump citizens’ group states that members of the county board were biased, that ex parte contacts were made and citizens did not have ready access to WMI application.
“We want the citizens of DeKalb County to know that this expansion is not a done deal.” Dan Kenney, Chair of the citizens’ group said. “A large majority of the county citizens missed an opportunity to voice their concerns about the proposed landfill expansion at the 1st public hearing in March. In fact most citizens didn’t know about the expansion plan until after the hearing and many are under the false understanding that it is over because the county board voted yes 16 to 8 for the expansion. We want citizens to mark their calendars and plan to attend this hearing. It will be an opportunity for them to voice their frustration with the way the county went about this expansion process and to express their concerns about the planned expansion.”
Now is the time for everyone to write and let the Illinois Pollution Control Board know what you think about the landfill expansion. Specifically your concerns about the hydrogen sulfide, the traffic related issues, the earthquake impact concerns, all that were not adequately addressed in the Waste Management Application. Also let them know if you had an experience related to the first public hearing by the County Board that you feel was not fair, and let them know about any exchanges you had with a county board member about this issue. This can still be stopped. We have an excellent chance of beating this on appeal. We need everyone’s support. Visit our website for the address for sending donations.
Here is a link to the IPCB web site
Here is the address for writing to the IPCB:
IPCB
James Thompson Center
100 W. Randolph Suite 11-500
Chicago IL 60601
Put the case number on your letter: PCB2010-103
Cortland Township Resolution
Jun 28
Cortland Township Resolution
Dale Hoekstra, Director of Operations, as Guest View, June 11, 2010
Waste Management and its Director have no shame! Dale Hoekstra, who in sworn testimony, says he has no knowledge of how hydrogen sulfide behaves and has no chemical background is lecturing concerned citizens as hysteric about measured data. Further, he belittles our intelligence to claim it is all over DeKalb County, but not at the landfill. The company’s statement shows a lack of integrity bordering on falsehood.
1. They testified H2S can be smelled at .001 ppm and it’s odd at 80 times that concentration no one at Cortland School noticed the odor.
2. Methane was not detected because it is many times lighter than air, rising like a helium balloon. H2S is heavier than air and hugs the ground, collecting at night until blown around.
3. The distance from the Cortland School playground to the fence line of the landfill is 1352 feet, ¼ mile. Not ½ mile or 1 mile as claimed in other Chronicle articles.
4. Air does neutralize H2S but it takes 14 hours. It only takes 3 minutes for a pocket of H2S to travel from the 110 foot peak of the fill down to Cortland School.
5. OSHA, the workplace limit, is the law for mature adults and its high limit is all that the company follows. NIOSH, its advisory agency, with lower limits and shorter time is ignored. The CDC with its limit at .030 and some 20 other states with this lower limit is also ignored. They ignore the progress of health science and claim concern of neighbors.
6. At lower concentration the obvious symptoms are lethargy and confusion. As a result in the month of February 2010, alone, 4 landfill workers in the US have been killed at landfills, run over by equipment. They were apparently confused.
Yes, there is fear, but it is Waste Management that fears. It fears real data and real science. The toxicity regulation of H2S was held back by the EPA from enforcement for 16 years until April 27, 2010. At the University of Illinois, Urbana, 3 Schools, covering 5 Departments, have published a report in 2007 showing that H2S is a Genotoxic material. They cite 48 other confirming papers. This is real science. Let us take heed before it is too late.
Dr. Aubrey J. Serewicz
Today the attorney for the Stop the Mega-Dump group filed an appeal with the Illinois Pollution Control Board.
Here is the link to read the appeal: http://www.ipcb.state.il.us/documents/dsweb/Get/Document-68969
Now is an opportunity for everyone to write with your concerns about this landfill expansion to the Illinois Pollution Control Board. Even if you are on record from the March public hearing, it is important to write again. We can beat this expansion on appeal. However, we will need everyone standing up and letting the Pollution Control board know how you feel. If you have concerns about Hydrogen Sulfide and the Cortland Elementary school let them know. If you have concerns about how the DeKalb County Board made it difficult for you to participate in the March public hearing let them know. If you had a problem talking with your county board representative, speak up, write to the Pollution Control Board. If they receive a hundred letters from DeKalb citizens worried about the hydrogen sulfide, and all the others issues they will sit up and take notice. Be part of defeating this expansion.
Send your letter to: Illinois Pollution Control Board
James R. Thompson Center
100 West Randolph Suite 11-500
Chicago IL 60601
Put the case number at the top of your letter: PCB 2010-103
Send a copy to me and we will post it on our website if you like.
Thanks. Together we can stop this expansion.
Dan Kenney
Measurable amounts of hydrogen sulfide were found at Cortland Elementary school a testing company reported at the Tuesday night District 428 School Board meeting. One location tested within the building measured at the top of the level acceptable by the Illinois Department of Health for in-doors. The amount outside of the school, on a day when the wind was blowing from the north toward the landfill, measured 0.82 pp million, ten times the amount inside the building.
This report once again provides further example of how the county is at danger if they are going to trust the reports of Waste Management Inc. The measures found by Carnow and Conibear, hired by the school district to test at the Cortland elementary school site, were much higher than those reported by Waste Management. Once again it is clear that we can not trust the assurances given by Waste Management nor the assurances given by the DeKalb County Board.
More testing is going to be conducted inside and outside of the school, for a longer period of time, under various weather conditions, times of day, and different wind speeds from other directions. After further testing Mr. Rod Harvey of Carnow and Conibear said he would be able to offer a professional opinion on whether the H2S is coming from the landfill or not. Members of the school board wisely said they did not trust Waste Management and that they also wanted the soil tested as well as the water.
According to Dr. Carman, former Texas environmental official and clean air director of the Texas Sierra Club, “The effects of toxic pollution such as H2S on growing children is recognized by experts as particularly severe.”
The fact that the outdoor amount of H2S is 0.82 pp million is especially worrisome because as Dr. Carmen explains, “Children are more vulnerable than adults to hydrogen sulfide, first because they breathe more rapidly, taking in significantly more pollution per pound of body weight than do adults. Second, national data show that children spend an average of 50% more time outdoors than adults.” The reading of H2S was taken on the south side of Cortland Elementary where the playground is located and where the children have their outdoor recess. Also the state of Illinois requires 40% of the air in a classroom to be outside air brought in through univents.
Dr. Carmen also points to a third reason why H2S is more dangerous for children, “Third, children are three times more active outdoors (than adults.) This increased activity raises breathing rates and significantly increases inhalations and in some cases swallowing of pollutants.”
As if this were not enough to convince anyone that there is no reason to expose our children to this risk Dr. Carmen also adds this information, “Fourth, children are particularly vulnerable to toxic substances because their bodies are immature and rapidly growing. Fifth, children in their prime learning years and H2S exposure causes brain damage. The impairment of mental faculties in a child amounts to a lifetime of harm.”
Although it is good that the school district is having further testing done at the Cortland Elementary school it is already clear that the children there are at more risk than children located far from the landfill.
Again Dr. Carmen points out, “ Public health scientists now recognize that hydrogen sulfide is a potent neurotoxin, and that chronic exposure to even low ambient levels causes irreversible damage to the brain and central nervous system. Children are among the most susceptible to this poison gas. It is unacceptable for communities to have to continue suffering the ill effects of H2S when the technology to control H2S emissions is available and affordable.”
It is also unacceptable that the governmental officials of DeKalb County Board and the city of Cortland turn their backs on the children of the county and vote to put them at risk. Shame on the County Board members for voting yes to this dangerous expansion. We can only imagine how much H2S will be in the air if 2,000 tons per day start to go in across the field from the playground.
The Stop the DeKalb mega-Dump group encourages everyone to stay involved and engaged. Prepare to defend our children before the Illinois Pollution Control Board at the public hearing in August. We can still stop this mistake from going any further.
Dan Kenney
Chair of the
Stop the Mega-Dump
Dan Kenney
Chair of Stop the Mega-Dump
5/20/10
We met with the attorney, George Mueller, on 5/20/10. We have some important facts about the process to share with you and we have some very hopeful information to share as well.
First of all Mr. Mueller told us the last two cases in which he represented a citizens’ group before the Illinois Pollution Board both case were won on the issue of fundamental fairness. He said the 5 member Illinois Pollution Control board is very sensitive to issues where the citizens have not been treated fairly in the process. He said that the proof of unfairness is “built one brick at a time” meaning that many examples of how the public was kept from the process or where the citizens were hindered in any way is considered unfairness.
He said he will file the appeal around June 10th. The hearing with the hearing officer from the Illinois Pollution Control board will be held here in DeKalb County probably in early August.
What we need from you to help win this appeal.
1) If you tried to get a copy of the WMI application please write up about what that experience was like for you. Also let us know if you talked with a CB member about the expansion. Please contact us with any other information related to access problems or instances when you felt the county had already made up its mind. When you felt it was a “done deal.”
2) KEEP THE SIGNS UP! Continue to spread the word. The hearing with the hearing officer is a public hearing. Everyone will have at some point a time to talk about issues related to the application process and to the first public hearing.
3) We want to pack the hearing room, so start spreading the word. We would like to get over 200 out for the hearing. Mr. Mueller said that large numbers of citizens upset about this will get back to the board. It does make a difference.
4) Thank you to everyone who has made a financial contribution. Please consider making a contribution if you haven’t made on yet. And pass the word to others as well.
Together lets make this the summer we beat Waste management and averted an ecological disaster for our county and for our children.
We’re now on YouTube!
May 20
Stop the Mega-Dump now has a YouTube Channel. Subscribe to our channel to get videos of the meetings, rallies, and events around our efforts to stop the DeKalb County Board and Waste Management.
A Landfill Postscript – Letter to the Editor of the Daily Chronicle
Jul 5
Posted by admin in Public Comments | 1 Comment
In this letter to the Editor of the Daily Chronicle, Ralph Boesche, DeKalb County Soil and Water Conservation District, Director writes to express his concerns.
You can read the letter here at the Daily-Chronicle.