Responsibility for contaminated wells denied by Modern
Modern Landfill first applied for an operating Permit from PA Department of Environmental Resources (DER,) the forerunner of DEP, in 1971. During 1976 to 1979, Modern dumped residual waste including hazardous materials into the then 66 acre unlined landfill. In 1981, DER found the same hazardous materials in the groundwater under the site. Here is a list of the known hazmat in the 66 acres [Click to Read Document]. The next year, plumes of contaminated groundwater were detected leaving the landfill. In ensuing years, Modern put a cover over the site to slow the percolation of rain water through the trash and into the aquifer, and a “pump and treat” extraction system [Click to Read about Pump and Treat] was installed to lower the level of groundwater in the vicinity, but the source of contamination was never removed. This ensures that when the cap leaks or the pumping is halted, both of which will eventually occur, that high levels of contamination of the ground water will reoccur, and in the meantime, low levels will continue.
The site was put on the National Priority List of Superfund sites in 1986 and has remained there in the 38 ensuing years because the groundwater under the site has not been cleaned up to EPA’s satisfaction. Ironically, Modern’s lawyers argued in 1991 that EPA must greatly lower their standards for what “cleaned up” means because “pump and treat” has never been shown to lower groundwater contamination level to “background.” Actually, it has when it is used properly, for instance when the offending source is removed first. The standards were eventually lowered in 2015, though they still haven’t been met as of the 2020 report and likely won’t be for years if ever.
In the late 1980’s, four residential wells along Gun Club Rd. were discovered to be contaminated with dangerous chemicals that were known to be in the Superfund site. A monitoring well between the Superfund site and the resident’s wells also showed the same contamination. The township hired an environmental lawyer and supported the aggrieved residents in an environmental hearing board held by Pennsylvania’s DEP. Modern steadfastly refused to admit they were responsible for the industrial chemicals found in the wells and at one point claimed that children playing with solvents were to blame. Expert witnesses were provided by the township. One expert witness, Dr. Timothy D. Bechtel, provided testimony in opposition to Modern’s argument that hydrogeological features prevented the Gun Club Road wells from being contaminated from the Superfund site. Bechtel showed that highly permeable saprolite zones and a geological fault line along Gun Club Road, the existence of which was denied by Modern Landfill, would be expected to carry contaminants from the Superfund site Eastward in the direction of the residential wells. Bechtel also modeled the effectiveness of the extraction wells maintained by Modern to isolate the Superfund site from the natural aquifer and demonstrated that they would be ineffective in preventing the South to North flowing aquifer from traveling off site, spreading the contamination to groundwater North of the landfill [Click to Read Bechtel’s Report – Bechtel Report of Well Contamination]. While Modern eventually agreed to pay for the extension of a municipal water system to part of Gun Club Road in exchange for the township’s agreement not to oppose an expansion, they never took responsibility for the damage they caused to the health and well-being of the residents or to the environment in general.
Years after DEP’s hearing, wells can still be contaminated. A resident relates:
My wife and I live North of the currently permitted landfill site. The original well sunk by my grandfather in 1930 was shallow and couldn’t keep up with the demands of a modern family, so a few years ago we drilled to the depth of the natural aquifer under our house. That well is contaminated by leachate from Modern Landfill, and evidence suggests that at least some of it comes from the Superfund portion. It contains Methylene Chloride (MeCl) at 40% above the EPA standard for drinking water and for groundwater below the Superfund site. MeCl is on the list of hazmat known to have been dumped into the 66 acre Superfund section. It targets the central nervous system and is a probable carcinogen. The lab returned significant findings for other industrial reagents, even though we hadn’t paid them to include their class in the analysis. These include MethylEthylKetone (MEK) and TetraHydroFuran (THF). THF targets the kidneys, liver, respiratory system, eyes, skin and central nervous system, many of my favorite organs. It is a known animal carcinogen and suspected human carcinogen. All three of these VOCs are used in industrial and laboratory settings and handled very carefully, I can say from personal experience. Other analyses of our water show a compositional resemblance to leachate, but have a look at the photo that accompanies this article of a bucket of water from our well, and a photo of Kreutz Creek after a discharge of leachate, and decide for yourself. (See the article about “Toxic Wastewater Dumped into Kreutz Creek for a photo of leachate in the creek.)
We were able to tap into the York Water System but had to run over a thousand feet of service line, so it was very expensive. About that time, my two brothers and their wives had asked if they could put their retirement homes on the old homestead, too, but their service lines would be about 1300 ft. and 1800 ft. long and they’d have to hire a horizontal drilling rig, so we approached Modern to see if they’d cover the costs. After three discussions with two different General Managers, including evoking the expert witness testimony that debunked the hydrogeological arguments the landfill used to avoid responsibility in the early ‘90s and that had forced Modern to settle with the township, we were left with denial after denial that Modern had anything to do with the contamination.
At the Lower Windsor Township Board of Supervisors meeting on January 21, 2020 when Modern presented its plans for “expansion,” the Chairman of the Board asked the General Manager of Modern if the landfill had ever contaminated any resident’s wells, the Modern representative, after some avoidance of the question, said he was pretty certain that had never occurred, but would check into it and get back to the group if he found out differently. We are still waiting.
Modern Landfill has never accepted responsibility for contaminating any residential wells, though the science makes it obvious that they have. Records at the US EPA and PA DEP show the Druck and Brown wells to have been contaminated with leachate in the early ’80s, and the wells similarly contaminated with leachate along Gun Club Road in the late ’80s included those of Smith, Klunk, Wright and Doerling. Test wells including wells W07 and MD125 between the landfill and the residents’ drinking water wells confirm the plumes of leachate in the aquifer extended from under Modern Landfill. Also found in EPA and DEP records is the Bowser well from 2012. What makes anyone think the operators of Modern Landfill will act any more responsibly if they take over several hundred more acres of pristine farmland and expose 100 more wells to the possibility of life-threatening contamination, either right away or in 20 years or so when the liners begin leaking? Or perhaps you believe Republic’s claim that the liners will last 400 – 700 years despite the extensive documentation to the contrary.
DER and Modern Landfill knew that plumes of deadly contamination were extending out from the landfill in the groundwater in 1982, but there is no record, and no recollection on the part of the residents, of notification to the locals that they should check their potable wells for industrial chemicals. One resident stated that he and his wife drank the water for 12 years until they noticed “oil slicks” forming in their dog dish and had it tested for Volatile Organic Compounds, finding multiple hazardous VOCs that were known to be in the landfill, including benzene and other known carcinogens. They then had to bathe in the water until municipal water was made available in 1995. The wife developed a unexplained severe immunodeficiency. The husband developed Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS), which is known to be caused by benzene and similar compounds. This is a rare cancer in which the bone marrow does not make enough healthy blood cells and often requires weekly drug treatments and/or chemotherapy. A neighbor on well water also developed MDS. It goes without saying these are all life altering conditions and expensive to treat. Modern Landfill, of course, denies any responsibility.