Landfill

WESTMINSTER — Carroll County's Department of Public Works, Bureau of Solid Waste, announced this week that Habitat for Humanity will open a ReStore unit at the Northern Landfill Recycling Center in Westminster. ReStore is a nonprofit retail organization that resells new and used building materials, home furnishings and appliances to the public. ReStore sells donated goods to raise funds to build or renovate affordable housing for families in need. Donations gathered at the landfill will be taken to the ReStore Home Improvement Center in Frederick.

The old General Motors Corp. has agreed to pay $2.5 million towards cleanup of a former dump in Rosedale under a nationwide settlement of pollution claims with the federal government. The U.S. attorney's office in Detroit and the Environmental Protection Agency announced a $51.4 million deal with the spin-off of the automaker covering cleanup of 34 sites in 11 states. Old General Motors was split in two when it emerged from bankruptcy protection in July 2009. "Old GM," now called Motors Liquidation Co., got much of GM's debt, closed factory sites and liabilities, while General Motors Co. emerged as the new company making cars and trucks.

State environmental officials approved new coal-ash landfill in southeast Baltimore Tuesday, saying "state-of-the-art" pollution controls there should allay nearby residents' fears that the power plant waste will blow into their neighborhoods and leak into the Patapsco River. After more than a year of deliberation, the Maryland Department of the Environment authorized the disposal of up to 650,000 tons of ash in a specially prepared section of a chemical company landfill at Hawkins Point.

The owner of the steel plant at Sparrows Point has moved to create an industrial-waste landfill on the contaminated Baltimore County peninsula, even as the company takes long-awaited first steps to clean up toxic waste seeping into the outer harbor and tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay. Severstal North America applied last week to the Maryland Department of the Environment to develop a 60-acre landfill adjacent to one of two old waste-disposal mounds...

Pimlico racecourse chose cheap-and-dirty over environmentally-responsible when it came time to "clean up" after the Preakness ("Preakness crowd big, but cleanup goes fast," May 17). I would bet at least 50 percent of the 100 tons of refuse carted off to the incinerator was recyclable. They wanted to get their hourly workers out of there as quickly as possible rather than do the right thing for the environment. As the worker interviewed in the piece said, she wished it had been possible to separate out recyclables.

The Maryland Department of the Environment filed suit Friday against an Atlanta-based power company, alleging that its coal-ash landfill in Prince George's County is polluting groundwater and a nearby creek. The Brandywine landfill operated by Mirant Mid-Atlantic is allowing coal-ash contaminants to seep into the ground and get into Mattaponi Creek, the state agency contends. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, comes 60 days after state environmental officials notified Mirant that it would be sued if it did not agree to clean up pollution from the 300-acre landfill.

In the more than two decades since the fight against a proposed rubble landfill outside Havre de Grace began, some of the most active opponents have died and others have moved, but those who remain in a historic black community are celebrating as the Maryland Court of Appeals ruled Thursday against the project. "Fantastic," said Dolores Walke, who has been near the center of the struggle against Maryland Reclamation Associates Inc., and at one point was among four residents sued by the company for millions of dollars.

It dawned on me last weekend while waiting three hours for a cable TV repairman that for all the talk of this country's transition to a "service" economy, service in this country has never been worse. Corporate cost-cutting and downsizing have taken their toll in most every industry. From airports to shopping malls, you can hear the story from workers at every level: "We have five people to do the work of 10 and so we're overworked, underpaid and fear layoffs are coming." The term "customer service" usually means sending customers to a Web site or a call center half a world away.

In response to the article "Odor Complaints at Millersville landfill on the rise" (Jan. 31), I am writing to further inform readers about the ongoing efforts of the Department of Public Works in regards to our neighbors' concerns. Since January of 2009, during normal operating hours and non-operating hours, the Maryland Department of the Enviornment conducted 30 investigations relating to our neighbors concerns and only detected off-site odors on three occasions. They classified the odors as "very slight."

Frank Marion used to light candles to mask the odor. Marion, who owns a home about 300 feet from the Millersville landfill, has complained since 2008 about the smell of rotten eggs permeating his home on an almost-daily basis. Now, Marion and other neighbors say the odor has gotten progressively worse - stronger and more frequent - and is causing nausea, vomiting and headaches among some residents. "It has totally destroyed my life," Marion said. Last week, about a dozen of the residents met to discuss remedies: They are requesting that Anne Arundel County appoint a third party to monitor emissions from the landfill and to test the air and well water to determine if there are any contaminants.