Dive Brief:
- A judge has ruled in favor of the state Department of Environmental Protection and Escambia County against the former operator of a closed landfill in Pensacola, FL.
- South Palafox Properties, the former operator of the closed Rolling Hills construction and demolition landfill, must perform extensive remediation for groundwater contamination. The company must also pay civil penalties and costs.
- It is also responsible for covering the cost of closing the facility and ensuring all systems are working effectively for a minimum of five years after the landfill is officially closed.
Dive Insight:
The state shut the Rolling Hill facility down in 2014 due to improper dust and odor management. After the company tried to fight this decision, it eventually surrendered a bond on the landfill and the state took over the site.
Residents of the nearby Wedgewood community had long complained about respiratory issues, headaches and sleep apnea, which they said were caused by the landfill. Advocates criticized authorities for being slower to respond than in other neighborhoods and called them out for "environmental racism."
Similar accusations of racial injustice have been raised in Alabama, where residents of a small, predominantly black town are fighting a local coal ash landfill. Though their situation has taken a very different turn. The landfill company has filed a $30 million defamation lawsuit against four residents and the American Civil Liberties Union has stepped in to defend them.
