The state of Tennessee agrees with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that the Energy Department must do more to protect people who live downstream from a planned waste landfill at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee.
The Energy Department, meanwhile, has received an extension until May 7 to resolve issues raised by the state and EPA about wastewater discharges regarding the Environmental Management Disposal Facility, Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation spokeswoman Kim Schofinski said Tuesday.
The new 2.2-million-cubic yard landfill would take waste from remediation at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Y-12 National Security Complex. It would replace an existing facility, also located in the Bear Creek Valley, that is expected to reach capacity in the mid-2020s.
“It is important for a future onsite disposal facility in Oak Ridge to comply with the Tennessee Water Quality Control Act and State regulations as well as protect downstream surface water users who eat fish sourced from these waters,” Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation David Salyers said in an April 5 letter. He specifically said DOE must revise its feasibility study for the project to include additional environmental protections.
The correspondence was sent to Mary Walker, acting administrator for EPA Region 4 in Atlanta, and to the manager of the DOE Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, Jay Mullis.
Walker said in a March 21 finding the new on-site waste landfill planned at Oak Ridge lacks adequate protections against discharges of contaminated wastewater into Bear Creek. The DOE safety safeguards for toxic pollution in this case “appear in part to be based on dilution,” rather than the Clean Water Act’s technology-based standard, Walker wrote.
The March 21 letter gave the state and DOE 21 days to appeal the dispute to EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler.
Because Oak Ridge is a Superfund site, EPA rather than the Energy Department, will have the final say on standards for discharges from the landfill. The state and EPA said in recent documents Bear Creek already has a high level of radionuclides from the existing landfill.
