Copy of Complaint sent to TCEQ office in Austin, Texas
Dear Sir/Madame,
I am writing to relay my dissatisfaction with the
results of investigations from complaints filed with your Laredo TCEQ
office. My name is Darrell Mills and I am the former Superintendent of
the City of Laredo MSW Landfill. I filed three complaints in October
of 2013 with the Laredo office of the TCEQ, only two of which were
investigated.
The first complaint was about a ware house within the Laredo city
limits, surrounded by a residential area, which the city leased to
store comingled recycling in from July 2013 through the end of October
2013, while the MRF was upgraded. I complained to the TCEQ that the
sheet metal ware house was stuffed from the floor to the ceiling with
recycled material. My observations of the ware house revealed no
ventilation, no discernible fire system, blue bags and other refuse
littering the immediate area outside the ware house, and a putrid
smell emanating from the area creating an environment conducive to
creating health vectors. In short, a public health hazard as the
temperatures outside the ware house exceeded 100 degrees Fahrenheit. I
can only imagine the temperatures inside the ware house without
adequate ventilation.
The results of this investigation, as reported by the Laredo TCEQ
investigator, stated that there were no actions to be taken because
the TCEQ had no jurisdiction over government storage facilities or
they were exempt from the rules. However, I maintain.that this is not
the case because the ware house was leased from a private company and
was not within the boundaries of a permitted area or within the
confines of a registered processing or recycling facility. I believe
this issue needs to be revisited or at least reviewed by another
investigating body.
The second complaint was in reference to water from the facility
truck wash being emptied into the leachate containment area. I
photographed the containment area which had the black water stagnantly
growing dark green algae on its surface. Also, I commented that the
leachate pumps had not pumped water from the liner in at least a
month's time. Further, I complained that the mud from the wash rack
reservoir is taken to dry where the street sweepings dry and are then
taken to be disposed of in the landfill along with the absorb all from
the mechanics shop. My whole complaint, aside from the lack of
leachate pumping, was the high amount of THP's, through the wash rack
water, being introduced to the landfill working phase and most
recently to the leachate containment area, which is not supposed to be
disposed of in any water plant. This wash rack is used to clean refuge
trucks and landfill heavy equipment. The washing of these pieces of
equipment includes the removal of hydraulic oils, transmission fluids,
engine oil, fuel leaks (diesel),and other unknown chemicals from the
solid waste.
In response to my complaint the investigator's findings only
addressed the leachate pumps being inactive and that the landfill was
using the leachate water to mix alternate daily cover as is approved
in the facility's permit. My original complaint of THP laden water
went uninvestigated to my knowledge as indicated by my copy of the
investigator's findings.
Lastly, I would like to address the third complaint which went
uninvestigated. In regard to my complaint about the storage of
recycled material, in the above noted ware house, the city transported
the putrid waste from the above noted ware house to the landfill and
disposed of it in an inactive phase without recording the grid
location in any electronic or manual log; in stead, opting to
fraudulently record that the material was disposed of at the active
working phase from the last week of September 2013 through October
2014.
I hope these issues are revisited, because I do not believe they
were investigated in the spirit of good environmental stewardship, but
in the spirit of appeasing the local municipal government.
sincerely,
Darrell P. Mills
