Charleston Council has questions about MCHM dumping
Charleston Gazette
Some members of Charleston City Council have questions about a potential deal to dump about 800 tons of MCHM-contaminated soil in the city landfill.
In a conversation during Monday night’s City Council Finance Committee meeting, Mayor Danny Jones told Councilman Jerry Ware he should take his questions to the state Department of Environmental Protection.
“I had pulled up the data sheet and was looking at the data sheet for MCHM, and I sent him questions asking him specifically what was out there,” Ware said.
Jones didn’t respond to the message, because he didn’t have the answers.
“I’m not qualified to answer your questions. I’m not an environmental expert,” Jones said.
Jones said putting the contaminated soil in the landfill could save about $350,000, “which would go to the people that made the claim instead of putting it on trucks and taking it somewhere not in West Virginia.”
Taking the contaminated material to the landfill would save Freedom, which is going through liquidation in bankruptcy court, the cost of transporting the soil, officials have said.
Councilman Cubert Smith asked from the floor of Council chambers if it would be possible to arrange for a member of the DEP to speak about the issue at an Environment and Recycling Committee meeting.
“I didn’t know we were in the business of cutting Freedom a break when they knew there was a leak in the container out there, but they kept giving us poison water. So why would we care if they had to pay [$350,000],” Smith asked. (emphasis added)
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http://www.wvgazette.com/article/20150504/GZ01/150509672/1453
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