[ RadSafe ] NIMBY is alive and well.........

[Doug Aitken]

I wonder just how "radioactive" this stuff is. Probably a "REAL DANGER" to 
the school occupants a few miles away......
(and have the residents considered that perhaps they should not live in the 
area at all, given the hazards of radon in that area???? <G>

And I wonder how this "radioactive" ash compares in activity to the ash 
from coal-fired power stations or fly ash from the steel mills.. (if there 
are any still operating in the Pittsburg area................

Long live NIMBY!
Doug


At 12:58 PM 11/17/2005, Sandy Perle wrote:
>Landfill rejects radioactive ash
>
>EAST HUNTINGDON Twp. - A grassroots organization has won their battle
>to keep radioactive ash from coming into an East Huntingdon Township
>landfill.
>
>And, according to Julie Martinosky, one of the group organizers, the
>news that the uranium-contaminated ash will not come into her area
>couldn't be better.
>
>"Had it not been for the community outcry and the media attention
>that we received we would have gotten slapped in the face with this
>stuff," said Martinosky. "Southmoreland School District, the township
>supervisors, Scottdale Borough officials and the residents really
>banded together to say 'no we don't want this here."'
>
>Greenridge Reclamation landfill was issued a contract to dispose of
>27,000 tons or 800 truckloads of the uranium-contaminated ash from
>Kiski Valley Water Pollution Control Authority's treatment lagoon in
>Allegheny Township
>
>Greenridge's decision to withdraw the bid came earlier this week,
>according to East Huntingdon Township Supervisor Howard Keefer.
>
>Keefer said landfill manager David Smith told him on Tuesday that he
>took another look at the situation and decided that he didn't want to
>be a bad neighbor.
>................
>"That's the thing that we all have to work at," continued Keefer. "We
>need to co-exist. I'm just glad that the supervisors, residents and
>the school district didn't have to fight this thing in court. It
>could have been quite expensive and I'm not sure that we would have
>gotten such a good result."
>..............
>Southmoreland Superintendent Dr. John Halfhill said the school
>district is very happy that Greenridge decided to withdraw its bid.
>"We were very concerned about the students we have in the Alverton
>area," said Halfhill. "The landfill sits within one-quarter mile from
>three Southmoreland schools."
>..........
>Mallison said the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
>deregulated the ash earlier this year and ruled that the uranium
>dosage that a person might come into contact with was no longer
>dangerous.
>
>In 1994 NRC declared the ash as nuclear waste and refused to give
>permission for the waste to be removed from the Kiski lagoon.
>
>Mallison said she didn't know what criteria was used for the
>deregulation process but said that DEP and NRC conducted the 10-year
>study.
>
>Mallison said additional concerns voiced by residents about odor
>problems coming from the East Huntingdon Landfill are being addressed
>by DEP.

Doug Aitken
Schlumberger D&M QHSE Advisor
Office (rarely!)        281-285-8009
Home (better!)          713-797-0919
Cell (best?)            713-562-8585