http://www.wtap.com/news/headlines/1773371.html
WTAP News (Marietta, Ohio)
October 17, 2005
Before There Was a C-8 Issue…
By Todd Baucher
It was 10 years ago this month that farmer Earl Tennant spoke
about contamination of streams near the dry run landfill, a landfill
operated by DuPont Washington Works.
"This white calf is possibly four weeks older than this
black calf," Earl Tennant showed us in 1995, from a video
tape he made.
And Tennant told us the water from those streams was causing
a major weight loss in his livestock and
a revenue loss for his farm.
"Over the last couple of years we've lost $140,000 to $150,000
income," Tennant told us.
Tennant eventually filed a lawsuit over the contamination issue,
which was later settled. But when the C-8 lawsuit, of which the
Tennants are not a party, was filed in 2001, it was learned that
chemical was among those stored in the dry run landfill. In August,
DuPont reported there were two leaks in the landfill.
"The immediate concern, at least as of this past summer,
was that kids were jumping off Lee Creek bridge into the water,
which appeared to have C-8 floating in it," said Harry Deitzler,
attorney for a group which filed a lawsuit over the presence of
C-8 in area water supplies. That suit was settled earlier this
year.
Changes involving tougher testing requirements
and for DuPont to cap C-8 discharges from the landfill are being
proposed by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection.
A DuPont spokeswoman says the company continues to support the
regulatory process.
A public hearing on the changes to the landfill permit is scheduled
for Monday, October 24 at 6 p.m. It will be held by the Department
of Environmental Protection at the Wood County Courthouse annex.
