Thanks for inviting us in.
It's 11:00 o'clock tonight.
Trucks carrying contaminated soil
from that train derailment in Ohio
have arrived here in our state.
That news tonight triggered booze
and anger from people living near
the landfill in Putnam County.
Tonight, our Rachel Krause has been
in Putnam County for hours as member
of the public demanded answers.
Staff with heritage Environmental
Landfill says 3 trucks of the
contaminated soil arrived at
their landfill earlier today and
that it's already been dumped.
People here are horrified not just
to learn that there's contaminated
waste coming to Putnam County,
but that they're only learning
about this from the landfill
after it started to be dumped.
They don't care about us.
Emotion and anger are filling
the room inside Russellville
Community Center Wednesday,
people living in the community demanding
answers about why the Rochdale
Landfill accepted it in the 1st place.
We're not, we're not poisoning you.
Material is materials isolated
and one of the most protective
landfills in the country.
Residents here aren't buying it.
In the three weeks since the East
Palestine OH train derailment and
following toxic chemical spill,
the Ohio DNR reported at least
40,000 animals have died.
The landfill company says
they're well able to handle the
contaminated waste coming in.
But how much waste exactly?
How many truckloads do you
plan on coming to the facility?
We do not know that yet.
How do you know if you can handle the
volume of material that's coming to you?
How how much capacity do you have
at the present to handle material?
That our current estimate is
another 50 to 75 years based on
the current received volume that
we're taking in on a daily basis.
And when residents asked if they
would stop the trucks from coming
in following public fears over the
health and safety of their families,
their animals, their land,
we would consider it a low
risk material. Given the level
of vinyl chloride that's in it.
People here are upset.
They want to see the landfill halt,
accepting the contaminated soil.
Want to know how much money the
landfill got for accepting it?
And they want to know what they'll
do if something goes wrong.
God help you,
you're you're gonna answer the God for this.
Those here from the landfill
wouldn't say exactly how many more
of these trucks would be coming in,
only that more would be arriving tomorrow.
And of the contaminated soil that
arrived on three trucks today,
the landfill says each of those had
40,000 pounds of the contaminated
soil on board in Putnam County.
Rachel Krause, 13 news.
Tonight we're digging into
that company that operates the
landfill in Putnam County.
13 News discovered heritage
Environmental Landfill has
EPA citations for violations.
So today we talked with IUP
UI environmentalist Gabriel
Filippelli about them.
One of them is for for release or
potential release of materials
to the air, water or soil.
But the nature of this violation is vague.
According to the EPA's website,
a written informal action was
taken in October of 2019.
Another taken in November of 2020.
That landfill also has had an ongoing
violation for 12 straight quarters.
No penalties were ever assessed.
13 Investigates reached out to
heritage for an explanation today.
We haven't heard back yet.
Well, Filipelli says he's relatively
confident that facility can handle
that kind of waste disposal.
There is a concern.
I cringe a little bit to think
about all of this material in
a landfill just sitting there.
Because most landfills eventually fail.
When they fail, then you have maybe
this hidden release of materials
and this and this mixture of toxins
that might be in that landfill.
Tonight, the CEO of Norfolk
Southern is expected to testify
before lawmakers next week.
Plus, our national verify
team tonight is looking into
train safety regulations.
We've got more on all of that
coming up tonight at 11:15.