Neighbors charge landfill is threat to community’s health

CAMDEN, Tenn. — Neighbors of a landfill in Benton County say the 42-acre site is a threat to the community’s health.

The Tennessean reports the Environmental Waste Solutions landfill in Camden about 90 miles west of Nashville has prompted complaints that its contents have caused a sickening smell, left dusty residues on cars, tainted swimming pools and prompted small explosions from the combustion of heavy metals mixing with moisture.

The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation has approved more than a dozen requests for the deposit of “special wastes” in the landfill from aluminum, coal and railroad industries, along with diesel fuel from a Superfund site. The landfill originally was granted a permit to accept shredded tires and demolition waste.

The TDEC told Environmental Waste Solutions in a letter in August that the landfill had been designated as a “large quantity generator of hazardous waste.” Routine tests found special waste deposited at the landfill had created a toxic stream that met federal hazardous waste standards.

Camden officials have asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to investigate the state’s permitting process and are awaiting a response.

Camden Mayor Roger Pafford also said the city can’t afford the landfill’s request to move its water line at an estimated cost of $600,000.

Cindy Wheatley blames the landfill for a problem with her swimming pool. She said a few years ago, she climbed into her pool and felt a burning sensation. Her husband, Johnny, took a water sample to a pool company for testing.

“The pH was so high he couldn’t register it,” she said.

Tanks containing 123,000 gallons of hazardous waste are located 250 yards from Wheatley’s bedroom window.

Truck driver Mike Melton said he has seen property values in his neighborhood next to the landfill plummet and he has limited visits from his grandchildren out of concern for their health.

Melton said he doesn’t consider himself an environmentalist but has since joined the Sierra Club to try to influence the group to focus on communities like his.

“They’re all worked up about fracking and all of this, but average people are not worried about fracking in Colorado or the gray wolves in Montana,” Melton said.