Bob Mount: State doesn't have to be garbage dump

A front-page article in the Jan. 17 edition of the Mobile Press-Register, written by Ben Raines, caught my attention. It was captioned, “State is popular garbage dump.”

It begins, “Alabama is gaining a reputation as one of the best places in the nation to dump garbage.” Raines states that according the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) has issued permits allowing nearly 19 million tons of garbage, about 7.5 percent of the garbage generated nationwide. Alabamians constitute only 1.6 percent of the nation’s population and produce about 1.6 percent of the amount deposited in the landfills.

Some other facts contained in the article are as follows: A Perry County landfill, owned by a Georgia company can accept up to 15,000 tons of garbage a day, and can draw from 16 states. A landfill near Brundidge owned by a New Jersey company can accept 7,500 tons per day from a service area that includes Louisiana and the 26 states east of the Mississippi River.

Nine Alabama landfills accept garbage from more than one state; one is the Salem landfill in Lee County, which, as nearly as I can determine, can accept garbage from at least three Georgia counties, Harris, Troup and Muscogee, within which Columbus is located.

Conecuh Woods, in Repton, is attempting to site a landfill five miles north of the city. It would accept 10,000 tons of garbage a day from any of the 48 contiguous states in the nation. Timberlands Landfill is situated 12 miles south of Repton in adjoining Escambia County. The mayor of Repton, Terri Carter, opposes the Conecuh Woods proposal, stating, according to Raines, “We are being surrounded by other people’s garbage.”

All landfills must have a liner designed to prevent leakage into the groundwater. Raines writes, “As early as 1981, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had concluded that all landfill liners will ultimately leak, a fact repeated time and time again in federal documents,” and that “data collected by ADEM has shown that the Timberlands Sanitary Landfill in Escambia County, which opened in 1995, is leaking mercury and other contaminants ...”

One of the reasons that Alabama and other southern states are favored as good places to dump garbage by waste disposal companies is the low tippage fees charged. For example, the landfill in Coffee County charges $18.55 per ton, whereas in some northeastern states, fees may be $100 or more per ton. And, according to Raines, a 2005 analysis by the state of Georgia concluded that Alabama landfills charge less than any other state.

I wonder, how many of our state’s elected officials are aware of Alabama’s reputation as the nation’s favorite place to dump garbage?
In Lee County, at the mouth of Halawakee Creek is Opelika’s water treatment plant. In the watershed of the creek is the Salem landfill. Is anyone concerned?

Bob Mount is emeritus professor of zoology and entomology at Auburn University and writes a weekly column for the Opelika-Auburn News.