Landfill Site

Neighbors of the toxic dump site at Carrs Mill Landfill in Woodbine will get a chance Thursday to question county Public Works Department officials and environmental consultants about the site's cleanup.At least 445 55-gallon drums had been dug up at the site, many of them found to contain toxic industrial solvents. Test results are not yet available for all the drums, which are being stored at the site until they are disposed of."Everyone out there should be concerned," said County Councilman Charles C. Feaga, R-5th, who is sponsoring the meeting along with County Executive Charles I. Ecker.

The Environmental Protection Agency's latest cleanup proposal for Keystone Landfill offers protection for the drinking water of only one Carroll County family, an omission a local group plans to address at a meeting with the agency tonight.Keystone, a closed private landfill in Adams County, Pa., 300 yards from the Carroll County line, was placed on the EPA Superfund cleanup list in 1987.Prodded by citizen activists, EPA has pursued lawsuits against users of the landfill, assessed the extent of contamination beyond the landfill and devised plans to cap the landfill and treat contaminated water on the 35-acre site.

Carroll commissioners disagree about the best place to build a permanent airstrip for model plane enthusiasts -- a Uniontown farm or the old John Owings Landfill.Commissioner Donald I. Dell said he prefers the landfill site. Commissioner Elmer C. Lippy said he likes the farm. Commissioner Julia W. Gouge said she has no preference and would have to look at both sites.The board may vote on the issue at a 2:30 p.m. staff meeting today with Recreation and Parks Department Director Richard J. Soisson.

South Carroll residents own many of the most expensive homes in the county, yet some feel like second-class citizens.They felt dumped upon in the late 1970s when county government pushed through the Hoods Mill Landfill project.And recently, they have become suspicious that county government is out to victimize them again.In the past six months, they battled against the doubling of their water and sewer rates, fought a proposal to create an outdoor shooting range at the landfill site, and opposed aspects of a new development plan for southwest Carroll.

New zoning regulations to limit the size, location and operation of rubble landfills have been proposed by the County Council.The entire council introduced legislation Tuesday that would apply to all rubble landfills that have not yet received operating permits from the state -- including the proposed Gravel Hill rubble landfill located on 55 acres near Havre de Grace.The bill has been proposed as emergency legislation, meaning it would become law the day it is passed. A public hearing on the bill has been scheduled for March 12 at 6:30 p.m. in the council chambers, in the lower level of the courthouse in Bel Air.Said Councilwoman Theresa Pierno, D-District C, "It's a very comprehensive bill and it's not aimed at any particular rubble fill."

Ellicott City residents near the former New Cut Road landfill are fighting road changes they say would bring traffic through their quiet neighborhood to a park planned at the landfill site."

If the Harford County government is forced to clean up a leaking landfill near Abingdon, the project could become a "bottomless pit," sucking up millions of taxpayers' dollars and threatening county services, Council President Jeffrey D. Wilson said."

Hoping to cut the amount of hazardous waste that ends up in the Howard County landfill, the Public Works Department will build a drop-off site for residents' old paint, cleaning solvents and spent bug spray cans.The estimated $110,000 facility at the Alpha Ridge Landfill in Marriottsville will accept a variety of household hazardous waste, probably on a monthly basis. It could be operating by May, officials say."The citizens' solid waste committee urged that this move forward right away, so we're trying to move forward and get it done," said James M. Irvin, public works director.

For two decades, the Army set aside 90 acres at Fort Meade to raise animals for research at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.But when the farm was shut down in 1987, no one bothered to clean up the site. Today, in one area the size of a baseball field, syringes, buckets and an 8-inch can of ringworm medicine sit rusting in the middle of trees and a wetland now part of the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center."This is ridiculous," Zoe B. Draughon said yesterday.She and other members of a Fort Meade citizen advisory board got a firsthand look at the former farm and nine other sites that the federal government designated for cleanup.

Because an indoor shooting range would be too costly and an outdoor range at Hoods Mill Landfill too controversial, the county Recreation and Parks Board agreed Wednesday to explore other sites for an outdoor range."