E.H. Glass Landfill – My Assessment Findings

I made an unexpected speech at tonight’s Greensboro City Council meeting and during that speech something came up that you’ve possibly never heard of. The item in question is the E.H. Glass landfill, located at 1103 Nealtown Rd., which is in very close proximity to the White Street landfill.

I wasn’t going to bring this item up yet, but Councilwoman Trudy Wade mentioned some things tonight that I need to either set straight, or raise awareness so that City employees provide correct information. I do not think the latter is the case.

I read about the E.H. Glass landfill last week and have since been doing research. The article that highlighted this particular landfill did a good job of raising red flags and making it seem like a very bad thing. It got my attention to say the least. I’ve since talked to four people in Raleigh, and those calls started with the states Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

[The purpose of making these calls was to find out if the landfill has been tested to see if it poses a risk to residents in the area. If so my goal would be to find out what needs to be done to get it taken care of.]

I was eventually put in touch with Cheryl Marks with the Pre-Regulator Landfill Unit (State of NC) who informed me of the following:

• This landfill was inspected for the federal Superfund Program and nothing came up that would require it for federal cleanup. To be clear, if this landfill posed health risks it should have been placed on the Superfund Program.
• An assessment could be done to find out the current status of the landfill. Should a cleanup be needed the City, or the property owner could take on the project and be reimbursed by the state if certain guidelines are met.

If you are like me, you might think the second bullet above sounds like a win-win. I then talked with someone with the City that handles environmental issues s and further clarification about the assessment process was given. I was told that the City of Greensboro is not permitted do an assessment on property that is privately owned. If the City were able to take on this project I would have requested at tonight’s council meeting that immediate action be taken to see if it poses any health risks to residents.

As I type this, Trudy Wade is reading a motion to have the City reach out to the DENR and have them assess the landfill. Again, if I understand correctly the City will eventually be contacting the Pre-Regulatory Landfill Unit that I have already spoken with. I will be very surprised if the City Council is given a different response than I was given yesterday.