Environmental questions raised

BY ROGER SMITH and RACHEL DOVE
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN

MILO — Spence Branch residents live in the shadow of a domestic septage disposal site that formerly was an industrial waste pit. Residents say sewage waste is being trucked up the hillside and is finding its way back down in runoff following hard rains and seepage into the soil, and the stench is more than they can stand.

Spence Branch resident Arnold McCoy says the odor of human feces became apparent about six to eight weeks ago while motorists traveling Route 645 reported the stench around the same time. Motorists said they noticed it immediately after crossing the Lawrence County line into Martin County.

“There’s a lot of ways I can think of that we could use to welcome folks to Martin County, but the smell of human waste is not one of them,” McCoy remarked. “I can only imagine what it will be as the summer months and hot temperatures are upon us. It will be unbearable. You know it’s not healthy to be smelling crap every time you step outside.”

According to McCoy, no one in their community was made aware that the Martin County Health Department granted a permit for a domestic disposal site for the local company Dirty Works. Residents say they began noticing the tanker trucks traveling in the area but assumed they were servicing septic tanks belonging to their neighbors.

That idea changed, however, when the foul odor began drifting down into the hollow and the stream began to stink.

Residents reported the location served as a “fly ash pit” (coal combustion residual) more than 20 years ago. They and county officials believed the electric company used it as a disposal site. However, after a visit Tuesday from a Kentucky Environmental Strike Team, the question arises as to whether the electric company or a steel mill in Ashland dumped waste at the site.

“It looks like to me that the public should have input on what is approved in their neighborhood that is going to affect their lives,” said McCoy. “We were kept in the dark.”

Following Tuesday’s inspection, the question of the appropriateness of the industrial waste material for septage disposal also arises. A team of investigators will return later this week to test the material and the water in a Caribbean Sea-colored pond on the slope below the pit.

Richard Helton, the environmentalist for the health department, stated he issued the domestic septage disposal site permit last year. The site consists of three or four trenches that McCoy estimates are about 250 feet long, 20 feet wide and 8 feet deep.

Helton explained the same practice used for residential septic permits is used for large disposal sites. The criteria require soil sampling to ensure the ground can absorb the liquid waste. According to Helton, the solids disintegrate over time.

Mccoy and those living on Spence Branch disagree.

“I guarantee you that anything on this mountain that was flushed down the toilet into a septic tank that is then pumped out by Dirty Works is not disintegrating,” said Mccoy. “There’s a surplus of used condoms and plastic applicators that are now along the hillside and in our creek. To make matters worse, the septic system waste has apparently overflowed the banks of the ash pit that is a pond during heavy rainfall. One is as dangerous as the other when it comes to contaminating creeks and the soil in our gardens and yards.”

McCoy has lived on Spence Branch for 50 years.

“We have a serious health issue here on Spence Branch, and I don’t care who says otherwise,” he said.

Helton visited the area Jan. 24 and sent an email saying he failed to detect an odor associated with raw sewage. He noted he did not see any location of runoff or leaks going into the creek.

“I have no clue how he couldn’t smell this,” said McCoy. “I guess there’s always a chance he went in on the opposite side of the mountain, or he was downwind. All I know is we smell it, and it gets quite a bit worse after a hard rain or when the temperature rises.”

John Mura with the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet told the Citizen his agency would deploy an inspector from the Division of Air Quality. He said the inspector’s findings would determine his cabinet’s next steps.

McCoy says the waste pit was never lined, as recommended by the EPA, to control seepage into the ground. He suspects the material contains a brew of dangerous chemicals and heavy metals.

“The children here on Spence Branch play in the creek all summer long,” remarked McCoy. “We were never made aware of the dangers of the coal ash should it make its way down the hill into our soil and waters, but now on top of that concern, we’ve got raw sewage that’s being dumped on top of the already contaminated ground that’s seeping into our creek.

“How would you feel if you knew your children had unknowingly been exposed to these chemicals and toxins and would continue to be? I can tell you how you’d feel. You would be as mad as all heck, throwing a fit and demanding something be done.”

McCoy and 27 other residents of Spence Branch signed a petition and delivered it to Martin County Judge Lon Lafferty’s office Friday.

“It seems to me that Martin County is always ignored, and our complaints and concerns are brushed aside like we aren’t worthy of the time and effort it takes to do the right type of investigation,” said McCoy. “Why are we any less deserving than the folks in Lexington and Louisville? It shouldn’t matter how many families live here if it’s a thousand or thirty. We deserve to have our health and safety protected just like every other location in the state. We’re sick and tired of being brushed to the side or completely overlooked.”

This is a developing story.