Published: March 26, 2008 11:14 am      

Opponents trash plans for landfill

VEEDERSBURG, Ind. — NJK Farms, an Indianapolis-based company, explained plans Tuesday night for a landfill in southern Fountain County.

But the 600 people who filled the Southeast Fountain Elementary School gymnasium near Veedersburg, Ind., made their point loud and clear.

They do not want a landfill in Fountain County that could have up to 600 trucks a day dumping garbage from a two-state area.

“We don’t want you,” said Ginger Downs, a resident of the Sugar Mill area. “You say you are only going to use a quarter-mile of our (county) roads. We consider U.S. 41 our road. The only safe way is to never let this landfill come in.”

NJK Farms wants to build a 91-acre municipal solid waste landfill a mile east of U.S. Route 41 and a quarter-mile south of Indiana Route 32. The proposed site has an expected life span of 20 years.

“We have put together what we think is the state-of-art design for this site,” said Ed Copeland, with Arcades Engineering in Indianapolis. “We looked at some of the wells. There are only two households that could have problems. We think it is reasonable that the risk of contaminated wells is very low.”

A synthetic liner is planned with a leachate collection system and offsite disposal.

“We think this is a very good design and application,” he said. “Runoff from this is less a problem than runoff from agriculture fields.”

Donn Wray, attorney for NJK Farms, said groundwater will be monitored quarterly.

“We believe the design is very safe,” he said.

Wray estimated that NJK Farms would pay more than $200,000 in taxes, which would be more than 4 percent of the county’s total taxes.

NJK presented its plan during the first hour of the four-hour meeting, followed by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management public hearing which lasted three hours. Most of the speakers represented the Concerned Citizens of Fountain County, the anti-landfill organization.

“NJK Farms failed to buy enough land for this landfill,” said Chuck Davenport, a farmer in the area. “NJK Farms and IDEM are infringing on our rights. You are jeopardizing our families. We should go to sleep with a clear conscience.”

Lynn Jean, who lives near Sugar Mill Lake, questioned whether her children would be safe to swim in the lake.

“Will they be contaminated from the landfill?” Jean said. “I don’t want your landfill in my back yard. I haven’t heard anything to benefit Fountain County.”

Mick Harrison, one of the lawyers for Concerned Citizens of Fountain County, questioned who is going to operate the landfill.

“That is as important as the owner,” he said. “There are only three scenarios of why we don’t know.”

These are:

--NJK does not have an operator.

--NJK wants to conceal who it is.

--They want to wait until the landfill is built.

“Our children and grandchildren are the most at risk,” she said.

Jim Pairitz, chairman of the Concerned Citizens of Fountain County, expressed concerns for Scott’s Prairie Christian Church and School, which adjoins the proposed landfill.

“We are very concerned for the health and well-being of the children who attend our school,” said Pairitz, who is principal of the school of 4- and 5-year-olds. “We believe that the contamination created by the landfill will extend far beyond its borders into the air and on the road surrounding the church.”

Amy Hartsock, public information officer for IDEM, said after the meeting that the permit is in the completeness review stage.

“Our engineers and geologists are reviewing all the parts of the permit,” she said. They will review the comments made Tuesday night. She didn’t know when IDEM will rule on the permit.

“This is my county,” Commissioner Janet Shoaf said. “We love this place. We don’t want to see it contaminated.”

FAST FACTS

Written comments about the proposed landfill may be sent to: Travis Murphy, Indiana Department of Environmental Management, Office of Land Quality, Solid Waste Permits Section – Mail Code 65-45, 100 N. Senate Ave., Room 1154, Indianapolis, IN 46204-2251; by fax to (317) 232-3403; or by e-mail to tmurphy@idem.in.gov.

The permit application for the proposed landfill is available at the IDEM file room, 11th floor of the Indiana Government Center-North Building, 100 N. Senate Ave., Indianapolis, or at the Covington Public Library, 622 Fifth St., Covington.