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Residents say old landfill is creating a big stink November 7, 2004 - The Capital Bishop James Wallace, who runs a little church in Waysons Corner, was so sure its propane gas tanks had been leaking that he had the supplier come out three times to check. But he learned recently that the culprit is a half-mile away: methane gas venting from the former PST Landfill off Sands Road. "The smell is so bad I can't sleep. I have to keep something for my throat next to my bed," he said from his Harwood home. Residents described it in even worse terms at a meeting Wednesday night with Maryland Department of the Environment officials on renewing a water discharge permit for the landfill. Decomposing debris hauled to the site from 1991 to 2001 is emitting a foul, some fear health-damaging, methane gas from vents set into the 80-acre dump off Bayard and Sands roads. Fed-up residents charge that the state agency has been too slow to respond to complaints from the predominately African-American, moderate income community. "We complained in April and did not get a phone call returned. That was six months ago and we are only now getting something done?" Thomas Hanley said during the often-rancorous meeting. Many demanded action now. Others seemed more hospitable and offered to have MDE officials come stay with them for a weekend. "Come on, I'll feed you, too. But you won't want to go outside," one woman said. Waste Management Inc., the nation's largest trash hauler, owns the site. Two weeks ago, at the behest of the MDE, it installed four flare devices to burn off the gas and has pledged to do better. "I am saddened to hear so many of you are affected. And we are
going to do something about it," said Christopher He said the company has placed orders for 12 more flares. The state has no specific jurisdiction over gas emissions from the site, but general language in MDE rules about a dump causing a nuisance allows the agency to act. "We have our inspector out there in response to several complaints, noticed the odor and we asked Waste Management to take some remedial action, and they have complied," said MDE's Martha Hynson. County Councilman Ed Reilly, R-Crofton, attended the meeting and told MDE officials he did not think they had moved fast enough or provided enough answers. "Commitments have been made tonight, and if they are not kept, you better send somebody else to the next meeting," he told MDE officials. He is also prepared to offer an amendment to zoning legislation now before the council to remove landfills as a permitted use in anywhere in the county. Meanwhile, the water discharge permit will move forward. A final permit will be fashioned by MDE and a hearing will be held to discuss it. The rural community has been besieged with problems from sand and gravel pits and landfills for years, truck traffic, dust, noise, impacted water wells and now stench. "There were none of those when we built this house in 1961," Bishop Wallace said. ---
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