=======================Electronic Edition========================
RACHEL’S HAZARDOUS WASTE NEWS #158
—December 5, 1989—
News and resources for environmental justice.
——
Environmental Research Foundation
P.O. Box 5036, Annapolis, MD 21403
Fax (410) 263-8944; Internet: erf@igc.apc.org
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KENTUCKY STATE OFFICIAL FIRED FOR
DEFYING DEMANDS OF WASTE INDUSTRY.
A respected public official in Kentucky–Don Harker, head of the
Division of Waste Management–was fired at 4:30 p.m. the day
before Thanksgiving. Harker had defied the demands of the waste
hauling industry once too often, and he was terminated without
explanation. Observers throughout Kentucky agree that his firing
was an act of avarice and cowardice by Kentucky’s Democratic
Governor, Wallace Wilkinson, who clearly now expects that the
waste industry (and the chemical industry) will keep him in
office for a second term because he has just cleared the way for
dumping and incineration to expand throughout Kentucky. Like
George Bush, Governor Wilkinson had ridden into office mumbling
pleasantries about being an environmentalist, but when push came
to shove he caved in to threats and blandishments from the
shadowy nether world of chemical waste generators and haulers.
Like other southern and border states, Kentucky is under
relentless pressure from the waste industry. As wealthy,
industrialized states tighten up their own environmental rules,
the waste industry has invaded the south and midwest, seeking
places to dump poisons from New Jersey and New York and
elsewhere. In the south and midwest, where local people are
friendly to strangers, the waste industry has proposed hundreds
of new dumps and incinerators. Particularly in poor counties
where the level of formal education is below average,
unemployment is high, and people are generally trusting and open,
the waste industry is circling for the kill.
The federal EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) seems
actually to be promoting these developments. Region 4 EPA in
Atlanta is the weakest branch of that federal agency; Region 4
seems to have abandoned all pretense of protecting the public and
is now more or less openly in league with the poisoners. Many
state officials recognize what’s going on, but few have what it
takes to stand in opposition to the waste industry’s onslaught.
Don Harker has what it takes.
Two kinds of decisions lost Don Harker his job: he opposed the
siting of new landfills in inappropriate locations, and he tried
to prevent incinerator operators who violated the law from
getting permanent licenses to operate.
Those of us interested in protecting the environment can learn
some important lessons from Don Harker’s courageous work:
1) There are some sites that are entirely inappropriate for
landfills of any kind. For example, any site that sits atop
fractured bedrock, such as limestone or dolomite or granite, is
entirely unsatisfactory for placement of a landfill. The
fractures (also called cracks) in such rock formations serve as
pipes carrying water. Because the fractures are underground and
are not visible, their underground pathways are not known and are
not knowable. When contamination from a landfill gets into these
fractures, it will be carried away through the system of
underground “pipes” (fractures). Whose water supply it will
ultimately contaminate must remain unknown until the
contamination occurs; by then it’s too late. Monitoring wells are
useless under such circumstances; no one can tell where to place
the monitoring wells because no one can know which fractures will
be carrying the contamination in what direction. For the same
reason, the cleanup of such contamination is impossible. The
leading hydrogeological consulting firm in the U.S. is Geraghty
and Miller of Plainview, NY [phone (914) 249-7600]. On November
30, 1982, David W. Miller of Geraghty and Miller testified before
the Congressional Subcommittee on Natural Resources, Agriculture
Research and Environment that “[I]t is my recommendation that no
new land disposal facilities be allowed under these conditions
regardless of engineering design.” He was referring to sites “in
fractured rock areas and in regions where a number of different
aquifers comprise a complex flow system.” Seven years later, when
Kentucky official Don Harker opposed the siting of landfills over
fractured limestone for the sensible technical reasons offered by
David Miller, Don Harker was fired.
2) Aerial photography can be used effectively to locate illegal
dumping. Don Harker denied a permit to an incinerator (LWD, Inc.,
of Calvert City, KY–see RHWN #132) because past violations of
the law were apparent first from aerial photographs and later
from other sources of information. A stunning new report
available free [phone (202) 224-8996] from the Congress’s Office
of Technology Assessment (OTA) [at 600 Pennsylvania Ave., SE,
Wash., DC 20510], COMING CLEAN: SUPERFUND PROBLEMS CAN BE SOLVED
[OTA-ITE-433] (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office,
1989), pg. 90, points out that the entire U.S. has been
photographed from the air about every five years from 1938
onward. These photos are stereoscopic and thus afford
three-dimensional views of the ground, from an altitude of 12,000
feet. Waste dumping and the effects of waste dumping are visible
in these photos, which are held in five national archives around
the country. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has an
office whose job it is to interpret these photographs. These
photographs represent a phenomenal untapped resource for citizens
and regulatory agencies alike. Everyone should read this OTA
report.
Starting with evidence of illegal waste handling provided by
aerial photographs, Don Harker and his staff interviewed former
employees of LWD, Inc., and they collected affidavits from 10
people describing various illegal acts by LWD’s management. On
that excellent basis, Harker’s agency denied LWD a permit to
continue operating. It was an exemplary performance by a
regulatory agency. In Wallace Wilkinson’s Kentucky, it was enough
to get Don Harker fired.
Don Harker is an outstanding example of what public officials are
supposed to be: honest, intelligent, inventive, uncorruptible,
and dedicated to protecting the interests of the public. Jean
True, vice chair of Kentuckians for the Commonweath, said Don
Harker is “the kind of person who didn’t knuckle under to
industry.” Tom FitzGerald, director of the Kentucky Resources
Council, said, “I can’t think of a more dedicated public
servant.” U.S. EPA official Hugh Kaufman calls Harker “The best
state waste official in the country, a giant among pygmies.” Why
not send Governor Wallace Wilkinson your opinion about the firing
of Don Harker? Write him at the State Capitol Building,
Frankfort, KY 40601. The Governor’s phone is (502) 564-2611 and
his office fax number is (502) 564-2735.
Send us a stamped, self-addressed envelope and we’ll send you a
copy of David Miller’s testimony on landfill siting over
fractured bedrock.
To help Kentucky enter the 20th century, keep in touch with
Corinne Whitehead, The Coalition for Health Concern, Box 25,
Route 9, Benton, KY 42025-9809; phone (502) 527-1217.
–Peter Montague, Ph.D.
Descriptor terms: don harker; ky; wallace wilkinson; waste
disposal industry; epa; policies; lwd; aerial photography;