THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, August 10, 1996 TAG: 9608100275
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SCOTT HARPER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 65 lines
Piled 140 feet high and crammed with 7 million tons of incinerator ash, rubble and garbage, the city's Mount Trashmore II landfill needs to expand. Soon.
So city officials have hired a Maine company to build a new 17-acre waste pit at the tree-encircled landfill on Centerville Turnpike. Work is expected to begin within 30 days and should be completed by April 1997, said Wade Kyle, Virginia Beach's solid waste director.
The new section will be stuffed mostly with ash generated from a waste-to-energy plant at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, in Portsmouth.
Operated by the Southeastern Public Service Authority, or SPSA, the plant burns everything from pizza boxes to old Barbie dolls to yellowing apple cores, creating steam and electricity for the sprawling Navy yard on the Elizabeth River.
The blackened ash and residues are later shoveled into a SPSA dump truck and driven to Mount Trashmore II for burial.
Under its contract with Virginia Beach, SPSA must pay the estimated $4.4 million to build the new landfill cell; Virginia Beach pays nothing, Kyle said. A five-year financing plan was approved last month by SPSA's board of directors.
Incinerator ash for years has been the source of considerable debate among environmentalists, scientists and government officials. Is it hazardous waste, given that it can contain traces of toxic metals and chemicals? Or should it be treated like regular household garbage?
A 1994 Supreme Court ruling muddied the issue by declaring that cities may have to treat ash from waste-to-energy plants as hazardous waste. However, no clarification has come from federal or state environmental agencies. For now, the ash continues to be buried in regular sanitary landfills, such as Mount Trashmore II.
The ash still must pass a test for eight toxic metals before being buried in the ground. Since 1992, ash coming to Mount Trashmore II has failed that test once, for lead, Kyle said.
Indeed, the only environmental trouble from the landfill had nothing to do with ash. In 1993, the state Department of Environmental Quality ordered Virginia Beach to clean up silted, iron-heavy water that was spilling into Indian Creek, a skinny tributary of Indian River.
The water came from a borrow pit from which city crews mined sand to cover the landfill. The problem was controlled through a retention pond and filtering equipment.
There have been infrequent complaints of odors coming from the landfill, including one 1992 incident in which piles of grass for a composting operation sat out too long and created a pungent wind of stale grass and sod.
Mount Trashmore II opened in 1971 and encompasses 262 acres, Kyle said. Virginia Beach is under contract with SPSA to accept incinerator ash through 2015, he said.
The landfill's life is now estimated to extend until 2034, Kyle said. Three other expansions are planned after the current one is completed. ILLUSTRATION: VP Map
MORT FRYMAN
The Virginian-Pilot
Mount Trashmore II, a feast for hungry birds and, at times, a
tantalizing aroma for the nose. After workers complete this
expansion - probably by April - three others are planned. by CNB