DNREC is considering whether to renew an Invista permit to continue to deposit coal fly ask into an existing UNLINED pit.
The hearing was Nov. 29, 2007 at the Seaford City Hall. Should DNREC renew the permit? NO!
Fly ash disposal sites release toxic chemicals & metals such as arsenic, lead, boron, selenium, cadmium, thallium & other pollutants at levels that pose risks to human health & the environment.
9/18/07 email to DNREC from John Austin of Citizens for Clean Power..."many environmental groups have petitioned that EPA designate coal combustion wastes as hazardous wastes. DNREC should not approve the continued operation of unlined surface impoundments or landfills that have received coal combustion bottom ash or fly ash because of the cancer risks that result from these practices."...
To: avery.dalton@state.de.us
DNREC is considering whether to renew an Invista permit to continue to deposit coal fly ask into an existing UNLINED pit.
The hearing was Nov. 29, 2007 at the Seaford City Hall.Should DNREC renew the permit? NO!
Fly ash disposal sites release toxic chemicals & metals such as arsenic, lead, boron, selenium, cadmium, thallium & other pollutants at levels that pose risks to human health & the environment.
9/18/07 email to DNREC from John Austin of Citizens for Clean Power..."many environmental groups have petitioned that EPA designate coal combustion wastes as hazardous wastes. DNREC should not approve the continued operation of unlined surface impoundments or landfills that have received coal combustion bottom ash or fly ash because of the cancer risks that result from these practices."...
To: avery.dalton@state.de.us
Sent: Tuesday,
Subject: Comment - Invista Seaford Industrial Waste Landfill
The landfill permit renewal application of INVISTA has been brought to my attention. In response to the Public Notice I offer the following comments.
As you are probably aware the US EPA has recently published a Notice of Data availability containing a risk assessment of the management of coal combustion wastes. The conclusions of that notice were:
http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-WASTE/2007/August/Day-29/f17138.htm
Specific findings of the risk assessment, from the
analyses of both lined and unlined units, include:
• The 90th and 50th percentile risks for those units (both
landfill and surface impoundments) that had a composite liner were
below a cancer risk of 10- and an HQ of 1 for all constituents,
waste management scenarios, and exposure pathways modeled in the CCW
risk assessment.
• For humans exposed via the ground water to drinking water
pathway, arsenic and thallium show risks to human health above the risk
criteria for unlined and clay-lined CCW landfills. Arsenic poses a 90th
percentile cancer risk of 5 x 10-4> for unlined units and 2 x -4
for clay-lined units (The 90th percentile arsenic cancer risk from this
risk assessment of land filled CCW falls within the range that EPA
established for the arsenic MCL (i.e., 1 to 6 excess cancers in a
population of 10,000 individuals)). Thallium shows a 90th percentile
non-cancer HQ of 3 for unlined units only. The 50th percentile results
for this pathway are at or below the risk criteria for all
constituents. Other landfill constituents did not show a non-cancer
risk above an HQ of 1 or risk level of 1 chance in 100,000 excess
cancer risk.
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The risk analysis presents the corresponding 50th percentile
results from the
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• Risks are higher for surface impoundments for the
groundwater-to-drinking-water pathway, with a 90th percentile arsenic
cancer risk of 9x10-3 for unlined units and 3x10-
3 for clay-lined units. For unlined units, five additional
constituents have non-cancer HQs ranging from 3 to 5 for the 90th
percentile, including boron, lead, cadmium, cobalt, and molybdenum. Two
constituents (boron (2) and molybdenum (3)) have HQs greater than 1 for
clay-lined surface impoundments. The 50th percentile cancer risk
results for arsenic are 3x10-4 in unlined units and 9x10-
5 in clay lined surface impoundments.
• For arsenic, arrival times of the peak concentrations at a
receptor well are relatively long for CCW landfills, with travel times
ranging from hundreds to thousands of years. Arrival times are much
shorter for surface impoundments, with time to peak concentrations
being less than 100 years for most of the model runs.
• For humans exposed via the groundwater-to-surface-water
(fish consumption) pathway, selenium (HQ = 2) and arsenic (cancer risk
= 2x10-5) show 90th percentile risks for unlined surface
impoundments above the risk criteria. All other waste management
scenarios and all 50th percentile results show risks at or below the
risk criteria for the fish consumption pathway.
• Liners appear to reduce risks from all constituents for
landfills and surface impoundments. The risks from clay-lined units (as
modeled in the risk assessment) were reduced by about half when
compared to unlined units. Composite liners appear to be effective in
mitigating CCW risks from landfills and surface impoundments.
• For ecological receptors exposed via surface water, the
90th percentile risks for unlined and clay-lined landfills exceed an HQ
of 1 for boron (200) and lead (4). For surface impoundments, 90th
percentile risks for six constituents: boron (2000), lead (20), arsenic
(10), selenium (10), cobalt (5), and barium (2) exceed an HQ of 1. The
only exceedance from the 50th percentile risk results is HQ of 4 for
boron in surface impoundments.
• For ecological receptors exposed via sediment, 90th
percentile risks for lead, arsenic, and cadmium exceeded an HQ of 1 for
both landfills (HQs from 2 to 20) and surface impoundments (HQs from 20
to 200). All 50th percentile results show ecological risks at or below
the risk criteria for the sediment pathway.
Based on these finding many environmental groups have petitioned that EPA designate coal combustion wastes as hazardous wastes. DNREC should not approve the continued operation of unlined surface impoundments or landfills that have received coal combustion bottom ash or fly ash because of the cancer risks that result from these practices.
Current hazardous waste regulations have not kept pace with the toxilogical science that now recognizes arsenic as a potent human carcinogen. When the EP and TCLP tests were developed, the safe drinking water level was 0.05 mg/L and the definition of a characteristically hazardous waste was set at 5 mg/L or 100 times the standard. Today the safe drinking water standard is 0.01 mg/L, but for economic costs the standard would be 0.00002 mg/L or 0.02 ug/L the 1 in a million additional cancer level. Thus, materials which leach in excess of 2 ug/L or 0.002 mg/L can potentially result in significant additional cancer risk due to groundwater contamination. Inhalation and ingestion of arsenic containing material are also of concern. To date the hazardous water regulation have not been updated to reflect the increased hazards.
Ash wastes at the Invista site are managed in surface impoundments and then disposed in unlined landfill cells. The very scenarios the EPA modeled. Further action by EPA on coal combustion wastes is anticipated as they reconsider the waste designation of these wastes.
Due to the cancer risks currently poised by continued operation of unlined landfill units, I request that DNREC deny the application of INVISTA and move to designate coal combustion bottom ash and fly ash as a Delaware Hazardous Waste subject to treatment and disposal only in double lined hazardous waste landfills following adequate treatment to prevent leaching of the toxic metal content. To not act now invites additional disposal at the site and a larger future site remediation effort.
Regards, John Austin,