Tonight's agenda has the Sun Recycling "case" and perhaps there will be a reminder of what they did at our 64 acre property where 47 out of the 65 acres were land-filled. The commission will discuss the former lease and make a determination whether or not Sun Recycling breached its contract with the City of Lake Worth.
At the time, soil was tested and 1/3rd of the tested material found arsenic. Even though arsenic contamination has been considered the largest mass poisoning in mankind’s history, Sun, to this day, has not been concerned nor have they removed one piece of the debris or uttered one apology. The only thing that they have tried to do, subsequent to the dumping on our landfill, was to recently get our roll-off container business and act like they never did anything wrong.
Residents near site complaining about illnesses they
suffered because of the debris dumped on landfill
suffered because of the debris dumped on landfill
In May 2010, the 4 commissioners who were on the dais, Maxwell, Jennings, Golden and Mulvehill, voted to allow the contract to expire. Stanton drew up a demand that Sun honor the agreement and restore our property to its original condition. Later on, the city manager, Susan Stanton, as well as the city commission, changed while this demand process was in effect. The demand that Sun Recycling restore our property was then put on the back burner. Soon after, our city attorney who had been with us for 9 years "disappeared" too and the entire Sun Recycling landfill matter fell through the cracks.
Even though Sun was required to restore our landfill to its original condition per the lease agreement, our city attorney, Christy Goddeau of the Glen J. Torcivia law firm, has recommended against the pursuit because of the cost which also includes attorney fees that we would never recover. Even Stanton at the time said that it might not be to the city's benefit to pursue Sun's contractual obligations. The "bad" guys just keep on winning in this city and we just keep on minimizing everything.
The real tragedy of this was that staff was not doing its job in the oversight of the 6,000 trucks coming onto our property dumping RSM of approximately 105,000 cubic yards all day and night with some of it 3.6 to 3.8 feet thick after it was crushed and mashed. Not one soil test was taken even though the then Public Works director said they were testing on a weekly basis. This declaration proved to be false and he had the nerve to apply for the city manager's position.
CLICK HERE FOR SENTINEL ARTICLE ..."hearing officer termed Sun Recycling's conduct as a "deliberate violation" of county solid waste regulations and charged that it had a "history of noncompliance." According to the case file, Sun Recycling has been cited six other times between 2001 and 2005 for environmental violations. That led the hearing officer to impose the $254,652 fine, saying the company had been undeterred from violating the law. The Department of Environmental Protection alleged that Sun Recycling illegally dumped material at 35 locations across South Florida. Some were lots with no address."
When it comes to campaigns, sometimes moral principles are thrown out the window. Some candidates who have run for Lake Worth public office have taken large campaign contributions from Sun Recycling, knowing what Sun did here and in other cities, the last being our present commissioner for District 4, John Szerdi. I even had one commissioner say, 'What's wrong with Sun Recycling?" Now the city is saying, "not much." History cures all ills and unfortunately most elected officials do not take the time to learn it even though they are all hopped up about Lake Worth's centennial.
Many contaminated brownfield sites sit unused for decades because the cost of cleaning them to safe standards is more than the land would be worth after redevelopment. Tonight we will hear what great shape our landfill is in and how three government agencies have concluded that the City may discontinue ground water monitoring and the long term care at the landfill, as the site is now considered stable. Perhaps we will learn how that all happened. That documentation is not in the backup. We might even be told that Sun Recycling is a good neighbor after all.
BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION FROM LAKE WORTH:
In May 2010, the City notified SRS that it would not renew the lease, and Mock Roos and Associates (MRA) researched the landfill’s condition and reported on the cost to restore the landfill to its previous condition and remove/remediate any hazardous material. MRA estimated the cost of such action by SRS to be over $1.5 Million. SRS responded to the City that it did not have a duty, under the lease, to remove the Recovered Screen Materials and was not responsible for any hazardous material at the landfill.
In 2010, the MRA study revealed that levels of arsenic with 4 of 12 test bores on the land fill were above the allowable residential limits but were below industrial limits. Additionally, the State Department of Health, DEP and MRA concluded that the City may discontinue ground water monitoring and the long term care at the landfill, as the site is now considered stable. Now Mock Roos say that this year marks the completion of the 20 year post-closure monitoring period. Any future use of the site will require approval by the FDEP.
1 comment:
Wow... did we REALLY drop the ball on this one.
Too many mistakes to list. First letting the lease without knowing what was entailed. Then when the trucks started rolling in and dumping who knows what, we should have not stepped, but jumped in and stopped them. Where was the plan?
Complaints from the people most affected were ignored. This whole thing is disgusting. How about a class action against SWS? If our city government won't help us, who will?
I could just spit.
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