Go to History from 1977 to 1982
Go to History from 1988 to 1990
Emelle, Alabama In rural Alabama, one of the country's most impoverished regions, lies Sumter County. One-third of the county's residents live below the poverty level; over 65 percent of the residents are black; over 90 percent of residents near the landfill are black. The average per capita income in Sumter was $9,300 in 1989. (732)
In 1978, the international waste disposal conglomerate Waste Management, Inc., decided to buy a small dump from Resource Industries (RI) in the village of Emelle in the center of Sumter. "It was clearly political ties that allowed RI to bring the plant into the community," one local official remarked. (520) Jim Parsons, one of the original owners of the dump and son-in-law of then Governor George Wallace sold the dump to CWM. "What they said locally was they had found a new use for the Selma chalk ... we had thought it was going to be some kind of liming operation. And lo and behold, the use they found for the Selma chalk was the holding of chemicals." (520) Since acquiring the landfill, WMI has dumped millions of tons of hazardous waste on what was once lush farmland, creating the largest hazardous waste landfill in the United States, and possibly the world. A local county official calls the 2,700-acre landfill (expanded from 340 acres since WMI acquired it) "America's largest pay toilet." The dump sits directly over the Eutaw Aquifer, which supplies water to a large part of Alabama. (509)
In 1989 the Emelle facility received 790,000 tons of waste, about 100 truckloads a day, up 30 percent from 1988. At least 775,000 tons of the waste went into the landfill. (552, 601) Nearly 40 percent of the toxic waste disposed of nationwide between 1984 and 1987 under the federal Superfund removal program ended up at CWM's Emelle landfill. (719) Among the landfill's customers are America's 10 largest companies, 159 military bases, and other federal agencies. Since the dump has begun operating, it has received an estimated total between 5 and 6 million tons of hazardous waste, according to local activist Kaye Kiker. (714)
The company is currently considering applying for a permit to construct a hazardous waste incinerator at Emelle, partially because of recent laws that prohibit landfilling various kinds of waste.
WMI's dump has experienced on-site fires, off-site water contamination, federal penalties for environmental violations, and more. Occasional reports about the unpermitted dumping of radioactive wastes at Emelle raise even more fears about the long-term impact of CWM's toxic waste dump. (441)
While CWM has an interim federal RCRA permit for its Emelle, Alabama, facility, the state permit has been withheld because of various violations, including the unauthorized acceptance of dioxins. (84)
What follows is a partial chronology of problems at WMI's Emelle hazardous waste dump.
Protesters gather at CWM.5 Emelle toxic waste dump-the largest hazardous waste landfill in the United States and possibly the world,
1977
A group of investors and engineers from Tennessee and Alabama acquires theoriginal tract of land and establishes Resource Industries of Alabama. The facility is permitted in April and receives its first load of waste in the summer.
1978 - 1986
The rate of unemployment in Sumter County rises from 5.8 percent in 1978 to 21.1 percent in 1986. (311)
Early 1980s
Alfred Chipley, director of the Alabama State Health Department's Division of Solid and Hazardous Waste, who also made a $5,000 profit on WMI stock, honors CWM's request that waste manifests be kept confidential. The ruling is later overturned by the state's Attorney General. (520)
1982
According to the Fort Lauderdale Times- [Union, CWM's monthly and annual manifest shipment records for the year "show a baffling array of discrepancies." For example, the annual report is missing lists for Florida companies that sent 836 drums, 486,040 pounds, and 1,021 cubic feet of hazardous waste to Emelle. The annual report also lists manifest entries absent in the monthly reports to EPA. The puzzling records may have affected taxes paid to Sumter County. (520)
1982
Former technical manager Edward Brashier, 29, says he resigned piimarily because his superiors had ignored his complaints about inadequate sampling of wastes and other practices he thought were exposing Emelle workers to occupational health hazards. Brashier and another Emelle employee, who insisted on remaining anonymous, alleged that CWM officials were so preoccupied with attaining their sales objectives they frequently cut regulatory corners. "Their emphasis was to hurry up and get it in the hole and cover it up regardless of what it was." (666)
In 1983, over 288,000 tons of hazardous waste were brought to Emelle from 42 states and from U.S.. military bases overseas. Only 25 percent of that waste originated in Alabama. (134)
March 1983
ACWM-leased barge containing 20,000 barrels of rainwater contaminated with hundreds of toxic chemicals strikes a bridge on the Tombigbee River in Alabama. The collision opens a gash in the barge, which was not certified to carry hazardous wastes, according to the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard later penalizes CWM $2,000@ (414)
March 1983
A former CWM site technical manager reveals a series of allegations about the Emelle facility, including charges of burying chemicals without adequate spacing, inadequate testing of wastes received before burying, waste handling procedures that endanger worker health, illegal handling of wastes including solidification of material having PCB concentrations in excess of 500 parts per million, and inadequate mapping of waste locations. (91)
May 1983
Tests on waste water pumped out of a trench at the facility shows levels of radioactivity above natural background levels. (667)
August 1983
An EPA inspection report alleges violations of PCB regulations, including 1) failure to have "organized inspection"; 2) cracks in storage floors; 3) dates missing from containers; and 4) spillage.. EPA later takes CWM's word that all violations have been corrected. (576)
October 1983
Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) fines CWM $150,000 for failure to complete a leachate collection system on time. The failure resulted in illegal disposal of hazardous materials in an unsecured trench. This amount is later adjusted to $50,000 in penalties and a $100,000 settlement. (35)
April 1984
Alabama Secretary of State Don Siegelman calls on Governor George Wallace to investigate allegations of a conflict-of- interest, corruption, and dereliction of duty related to CWM's Emelle operations. (34) The Mobile Press Register reports that a memorandum submitted by Hugh Kaufman of EPA's Hazardous Site Control Division to Courtney Price, assistant administrator for EPA's Enforcement and Compliance Monitoring section, alleges, among other violations, that a company called Holley Electric Co. was found by EPA to be taking PCB- containing capacitors to Emelle for illegal disposal by hiding them in drums labeled dirt. Holley Electric pleaded guilty in a U.S. District Court in Jacksonville, Florida "However, nothing has happened to CWM, as usual .... Apparently CWM had not even conducted the most rudimentary step of opening the drums to be sure that what it was taking was legal .... flow many other companies illegally sent mislabeled drums to CWM that were not inspected?" (43)
June 1984
Cancer-causing PCBs are detected in a drainage ditch and swamp outside the Emelle landfill. (77)
June 1984
Tests of wells by the EPA find indications that chemicals have migrated from the landfill into water supplies. Contaminants migrating off site and into nearby Bodka Creek include PCBs. (57, 80)
July 1984
An Alabama environmental official states that runoff from the landfill is carrying contaminated soil into Bodka Creek, which runs into the Tombigbee River. (57, 80, 77)
October 1984
A memorandum written by an EPA official states, "the company itself had supplied information last spring to the agency's regional office that made it clear that the site was leaking." The EPA official charges that the agency's Southeastern Regional Director is hindering other EPA inspectors from checking groundwater below Emelle. (14, 44)
October 1984
An accident at Emelle produces a reddish- brown cloud of acidic vapor containing sodium hydroxide. The cloud floats a half mile off site. (125)
December 1984
EPA and ADEM enter into a consent agreement with CWM, which includes penalties of $600,000 for illegal storage of nearly 3,000,000 gallons of cancer- causing PCBs at Emelle. The consent agreement also revokes an earlier prohibition against PCB storage, a decision that two EPA officials claim could be worth "tens of millions of dollars to CWM." (414, 10, 44)
December 1984
Laboratory tests show presence of up to 52 parts per billion of the deadly chemical dioxin at Emelle. CWM officials claim they are "surprised." There are no facilities in the [U.S. permitted to receive dioxin at this time. (68) December 1984 EPA database figures show that CWM's Emelle site has received waste from 38 Superfund sites through the end of 1984. Between 1983 and 1984, six off-site spills occurred, including four involving PCBs, and 12 onsite spills occurred, including four involving PCBs. (640)
A fire at Emelle prompts evacuation of 180 workers and visitors. (82)
June 1985
Workers at Emelle attempt to form a union after CWM asks them to endure 60-70 hour work weeks and begins to penalize those who are late for work. (217)
August 1985
A pipe bursts at Emelle, sending liquid waste onto adjacent property. Alabama charges CWM with failure to notify state officials of a hazardous waste spill and failure to implement a contingency plan. (414)
December 1985
CBS's 60 Minutes reports on the nearly $30 million likely to have been earned by James Parsons, son-in-law of George Wallace, for involvement in the original sale of the Emelle landfill property to CWM.
1986
The mayor of Emelle has his house appraised for the second time in three years and finds that it has depreciated to $15,000 from $50,000-$60,000 in 1984 because he lives near the landfill. (617)
Summer 1986
Two separate samples taken from a monitoring well below the Emelle landfill show presence of the cancer-causing solvent, dichloroethane. CWM attributes the solvent's presence to material used in the construction of the well. (382) November 1986 An EPA hearing is held in Livingston, Alabama, for one of the world's largest hazardous waste incinerators proposed by CWM for Emelle.
December 1986
Sumter County residents file a $150 million lawsuit against CWM, claiming that 10,000 residents in five Alabama counties have been contaminated by toxic materials leaking from the Emelle landfill. An independent lab finds PCBs substantially above normal background levels in 20 people living near the dump. The case is later dismissed by a judge for lack of evidence.
An Alabama state appeals court rules that CWM must pay property taxes on the Emelle landfill. The court rejected CWM claims that it qualified for tax-exempt status because the primary purpose of the Emelle landfill is pollution control, not profit. (257)
April 1987
The United Church of Christ's Commission for Racial Justice releases a survey of toxic waste dump sites in the U.S. The Commission finds a pattern of environmental racism, i.e., toxic dump sites in areas populated by people of color, citing Emelle as an example. CWM rebuts the charge by claiming they picked the site for its "secure geology," not for its poor black population, although by this time EPA officials have stated that the site is leaking. (220)
May 1987
Alabamians for a Clean Environment, the Alabama chapter of the Sierra Club, the Alabama Conservancy and Greenpeace file a federal lawsuit to prevent state and federal agencies from permitting the construction of the world's largest hazardous waste incinerator at Emelle. The suit follows official U.S. EPA approval of the incinerator. (216)
July 1987
CWM is cited by ADEM for failing to properly analyze 14 drums of dioxin- contaminated herbicide wastes. CWM agrees to pay $20,000 in reimbursement and settlement costs. ADEM also orders CWM to ship the herbicides out of state within 20 days. ADEM reports that dioxin concentrations in the drums of wastes tested as high as 102 parts per billion. (245,414) The state of Alabama postpones any granting of a hazardous waste incinerator permit to CWM pending further results from this investigation.
September 27, 1987
The Birmingham News reports that CWM had stored seven barrels of dioxin-laced herbicidal wastes in a rental storage cubicle at a warehouse belonging to "David Min-U-Storage" in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. CWM stored the wastes in the warehouse for 17 months between 1985 and 1987. A Birmingham News article reports that "only a thin steel barrier separated the dioxin wastes from people who came to store household goods." CVVM later pays $20,000 in settlement costs to ADEM. (245, 472) After a warehouse employee discovered the barrels in the storage cubicle, she asked CWM officials if the barrels contained toxic wastes and reports "they told me no." (245)
October 1987
A state legislator calls for the removal of low-level radioactive waste from Emelle; earlier in 1987 three truckloads of furnace dust containing 137cesium were dumped. A radiological officer with the Public Heath Department said the company's tests of the dust were so inadequate that they were virtually meaningless. (239,441,447) CWM previously was also ordered to remove a drum of radioactive laboratory waste received from the University of Chicago.
November 1987
ADEM reports that several toxic chemicals were found in samples taken from monitoring wells. (246) An EPA official criticizes CWM's for repeated reports of contamination at Emelle, saying that the "persistent problem" of contamination cannot he explained as "random hits." (247)
November 1987
Hundreds of Alabamians and others join a funeral motorcade from the state capitol in Montgomery through Selma to Emelle in a two-day rally against the "Toxic Trail of Tears." Over a dozen people are arrested after blocking the entrance to the landfill for more than eight hours.
December 11, 1987
reports that soil samples taken from the landfill indicate toxicchemicals-including dichloroethane, dichloropropane, benzene, and toluene-in soils near older trenches on site at Emelle. (246,254)
December 16,1987
The Attorney General of Alabama, Don Siegelman, proposes legislation limiting the importation of hazardous wastes, The Attorney General would limit the flow of wastes into state hazardous waste facilities to 400,000 tons a year- Emelle's 1987 annual rate of waste disposal. (250)
December 20,1987
EPA announces that it will hire an independent testing firm to determine the source of contaminated samples taken at the Emelle landfill. The announcement comes after CWM claims samples indicating contamination in soil near the oldest disposal area resulted from accidental contamination and have nothing to do with leakage from the dump. (249)
December 21, 1987
Two Alabama state legislators announce that they will introduce legislation that would prohibit ADEM employees from working for companies they formerly regulated. (248) The legislation arises from reports that Russell Zora, a former ADEM official who oversaw inspections at Emelle, subsequently went to work for CWM in Carlyss, Louisiana. Similarly, Craig Brown, a former EPA official who led a review of CWM's Emelle landfill permit, began working for WMI's subsidiary Georgia Waste Systems in December 1987. (247)
EPA orders CWM to submit a plan for expanding groundwater and soil testing around the oldest hazardous waste trenches at Emelle within 30 days. Since May 1987, repeated tests have found levels of toxic organic chemicals outside six trenches. None of the trenches are lined to prevent leakage, federal officials note. ADEM officials say no evidence of hazardous chemicals was found in the area's aquifer, 700 feet below the surface. But they say the state discontinued testing shallow wells in the area in 1982. (301) CWM estimates the order will cost the company up to $1,000,000. (308)
May 1988
Kaye Kiker, co-chair of Alabamians for a Clean Environment and longterm CWM opponent, is given a Presidential Medal for outstanding service to her country.
September 1988
Local papers report that CWM gave $2,500 to members of a state House Committee that killed toxic waste measures opposed by CWM. (366)
September 19,1988
CWM enters a Consent Agreement and Final Order with ADEM, settling alleged RCRA violations. As a result of the violations (disposal of unauthorized wastes, specifically acrylic fiber production wastes, in a landfill), CWM also agrees to pay a civil penalty of $150,000. In so doing, CWM avoids a ban on receiving Superfund wastes, as the EPA originally proposed. (320, 414)
July 1989
Seven hundred and forty safety violations are found during the inspection of 312 CWM waste-hauling trucks by state troopers, Eighty-three of the 312 trucks were transporting PCB-containing dirt. Fifty- one of the 312 were not allowed to continue their trip, (519)
December 1989
A federal court upholds Alabama's new law restricting out-of- state imports to the Emelle dump. CWM continues to appeal. CWM's southeast regional manager, Thomas Noel, says at a press conference that because of the ban, states in the southeast are under pressure to develop their own facilities. This is creating "tremendous long-term opportunities" for CWM, according to Noel. (552)
February 22,1990
CWM proposes building a plant in Mississippi to recycle toxic dust generated by arc furnaces in steel mills. By permitting the proposed facility, Mississippi, which has no other hazardous waste disposal capacity, should be able to escape Alabama's blacklist and continue sending waste to Emelle (552) The group Citizens for Clean Air and Water forms in response to the proposal (see Appendix J).
1990
Company officials are concerned about the impact of a new proposal to raise the Alabama state tax on waste disposal from $22 to $116 per ton for out-of-state wastes and $40 per ton for in-state wastes. The plan, sponsored by Governor Guy Hunt, becomes law in April. "Alabama has been the hazardous waste dumping ground of the nation," Hunt says. The tax hike comes after a state law blocking hazardous waste shipments from some states is ruled unconstitutional by the I 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. (552)
July 5,1990
'CWM pays $123,000 for five violations at Emelle related to land disposal of hazardous electroplating sludges without required treatment. (733)
July 19,1990
A truck carrying contaminated soil overturns 10 miles from the Emelle facility, spilling 20 tons of contaminated dirt. (734) (Also 10, 14, 17, 27, 28, 33, 40, 43, 44, 48, 50, 52, 54, 57, 65, 67, 70, 77, 79, 80, 84, 102, 104,