IDEM: CLean up Starke County landfill now or be fi
By JOHN REED
The Indiana Department of Environmental Management last week threatened county officials with fines and enforcement actions unless testing of the long-closed county landfill begins quickly.
Local officials, and some residents, disagree with IDEM over the urgency of the situation and with the condition of the landfill itself.
On June 10, IDEM�s Thomas Brown threatened to immediately turn the matter over to IDEM�s enforcement division if the County Council did not approve funding for testing.
Fines would then be levied immediately, he said. However, the matter not only was not on the council agenda, but County Commissioners have not even prepared a funding request for the council.
�Do I get something here tonight, or do I go to enforcement?� Brown asked.
The 22-acre landfill, on County Road 750 East about a quarter mile north of Ind. 10, was closed in 1991 - there is some question as to the exact year - and testing established. Current county officials assumed the site was closed and testing complete.
They were, that is, until March of last year. Brown showed up unexpectedly for a county Plan Commission meeting which was to discuss a subdivision planned south of the landfill on Ind. 10.
County Commissioner Dan Bau said no one had heard anything about the landfill, or complaints, for years until Brown appeared at that meeting.
Brown said concerned residents contacted him and said the landfill was leaking. He did not indicate how many residents, or whether their property connects to the landfill, which the county owns.
The county needs to take samples semi-annually for four years, Brown said. Testing was originally started in 1991, but reportedly never completed.
�There were statistical increases when it was being monitored. Basically, the monitoring stopped before it was supposed to,� Brown said.
Later, he added, �There may never have been a leak there.�
At a recent county commissioners� meeting, Health Department Sanitarian Dave Singleton said the testing is not within his office�s capabilities. A private firm would need to be hired.
Sam Sirhan of Superior Environmental was at both the commissioners and council meetings, and assured the county he could do all the testing and monitoring.
Sirhan said his firm would charge $1,634 monthly. The bill for four years would by almost $20,000. Drilling a new test well is estimated to cost $4,000.
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