HURRICANE, W.Va. — Hurricane’s mayor doesn’t want his town to become the dumping ground for Charleston’s problem. Mayor Scott Edwards learned this week trucks loaded with water contaminated with MCHM were being trucked by Freedom Industries to the DSI Landfill in Hurricane for disposal.
“DEP issued a permit to Freedom Industries to transport to the DSI landfill,” said Edwards. “But since the CDC doesn’t list MCHM as hazardous, it must be non-hazardous and they didn’t have to let us know at all.”
Edwards first learned about the dumping which began March 7 through a phone call and mounting reports of the licorice odor in the area.
“Their leachate actually gets piped into the Hurricane wastewater treatment plant,” Edwards said. “We don’t treat for MCHM so all of that gets piped right into Hurricane Creek. I have major concerns for all of this.”
The City of Hurricane and the Putnam County Commission teamed up to sue to stop the dumping. They asked a circuit judge Friday for a temporary injunction to stop the transport and disposal operations immediately and will further seek a permanent injunction.
Edwards said there are widespread concerns about the air quality in the area along with the impact it may have on the aquatic life in Hurricane Creek. The city of Hurricane’s drinking water is safely upstream of the landfill drainage, but that doesn’t comfort Edwards who is angry this was allowed to happen.
“What happened a few months ago in Charleston may have involved negligence, but it was an accident,” said Edwards. “What happened in bringing this to Hurricane was purely negligent.”
Meanwhile, the state DEP issued two Notices of Violation against Diversified Services Friday afternoon for a spill that happened at the company’s headquarters in St. Albans when it was transporting MCHM for Freedom Industries.
The company has until March 26 to file a written response to the violations.