Macon landfill in trouble again with state regulators | Politics | Macon.com

In November 2012, Macon’s city landfill passed state environmental inspection for the first time in years.

Eight months later, the first follow-up inspection dropped the Walker Road Landfill back into noncompliance, with recurring problems garnering a score of 50. A passing score is 80.

On June 20 and 24, environmental specialist Clayton Bristol of the state Environmental Protection Division toured the landfill with coordinators from the city Public Works Department, which oversees the facility. Bristol found that one Public Works employee had made changes in landfill operations without state permission, a “major violation” of the rules, according to a June 26 notice of violation to the city from state Program Manager Scott Henson.

Bristol noted a long list of violations, many of which were repeatedly cited in previous failing reports: inadequate dirt cover, blowing trash, standing water, lots of erosion, and outbreaks of fluid from the decaying garbage.

“Sediment and waste are being washed beyond the landfill boundary,” including into the stream at the dump’s south end, Henson’s letter said. Daily inspection reports from landfill workers didn’t document the consistent problems.

The state asks the city to submit a written explanation and a plan to correct the problems within a “reasonable time frame.”

via Macon landfill in trouble again with state regulators | Politics | Macon.com.