Osceola could end coal ash dumping
Local lawyers are working to end the controversial contract
Consultants for Osceola County told commissioners on Monday that the controversial practice of dumping thousands of tons of coal ash from Puerto Rico into a local landfill could stop as soon as Friday as they work to end a controversial contract.
“We’re going to terminate the agreement,” attorney Brian Accardo told commissioners. “And we’re going to make sure the disposing of waste is being done lawfully.”
Accardo made the comments during an environmental presentation at the commission meeting where about two dozen angry residents voiced their concerns about the impact of disposing the ash from a Puerto Rican power plant that burns coal into the privately owned JED Landfill in Osceola.
The county approved a contract earlier this year that allowed it to charge JED $2 for each ton of ash it receives at its facility in a rural area southeast of St. Cloud. The contract is scheduled to expire by October.
But residents – some wearing white T-shirts that read “No coal ash in my trash” — angrily blasted commissioners for quietly approving such a deal. Many said they worried the toxins could eventually leach into the drinking water and county waterways.
“Would you touch coal ash if I brought it here today?” said Sammy Quinones of Kissimmee. “If not, then why would you want to put it in our drinking water?”
Other residents said they were troubled by large trucks filled with coal ash zooming down Osceola roads toward the landfill and spewing the ash into the air.
“Do you want your children standing by the side of the road [waiting for the school bus], breathing in the coal ash as trucks go by at 70 mph?” a woman asked.
But JED representatives have stated previously that the 15-year-old landfill is of modern design and equipped with up-todate safeguards preventing the ash from leaching into ground. The ash is also covered with about
12 inches of dirt soon after being deposited at the landfill to prevent it from blowing away.
Trucks also are required to cover their loads when transporting the ash, JED representatives said.
However, Osceola Commissioner Peggy Choudhry said she was concerned and wanted to make sure that the trucks are complying with the requirement.
“We need to contact the DOT [state Department of Transportation] to be sure that the trucks are being covered,” she said.
Choudhry also made a motion to have county staff and consultants put together a report on the costs and feasibility of Osceola conducting its own soil and water tests on the outskirts of the landfill to see if any of the toxic metals from the ash is flowing out of the landfill. But the motion failed after no other commissioners supported it. Commission Chairwoman Cheryl Grieb questioned how the soil samples on the outskirts of landfill could be tied to the ash disposal.
“Whatever is found, how do we link it to the landfill or someplace else?” Grieb said.
The ash comes from the AES power plant near Guayama, Puerto Rico. That company, however, has struggled with water pollution issues related to coal ash on the island and in the Dominican Republic.
Three shipments of a combined 100,000 tons of coal ash from Puerto Rico have arrived via ships at Port Manatee in Tampa Bay so far this year. The ash was then trucked to the landfill in Osceola. But last May, months after approving the contract, Osceola commissioners sent a letter to the landfill owner, Waste Connections, “respectfully” requesting that it stop accepting the coal ash from Puerto Rico after residents’ outcry.
Waste Connections later responded that that it had a contract to receive the coal ash through Oct. 1.
“The Commission believes it is in the best interest of the public that the waste not be brought to the County,” according to the letter sent to Waste Connections. “The Commission respectfully requests that Waste Connections cease accepting this material from Puerto Rico immediately.”