Pcb Landfill Case Study

We can’t ignore the importance of ethics in our society. Ethics are the moral principles necessary for providing equal treatment to minority groups and women; whether it’s in healthcare, a courtroom, or the environment. Environmental justice started when people began to recognize the poor tended to be exposed to a greater share of pollution, hazardous material, and environment degradation than richer people; and that, racial minorities are more likely to be exposed to hazards than whites. This is believed to be a direct result of institutionalized racism and inadequate government policies. Environmental justice involves the fair and equitable treatment of all people with respect to environmental policy and practice, regardless of their income,

Within a few months of burying the PCBs, the EPA found significant PCB air emissions at the landfill and half a mile away, but citizens would not learn about this until 1998. Residents were upset about how little was being done to resolve the issue. They turned to Ken Ferruccio, who laid out a 5-Point Framework for resolving the PCB landfill crisis and demanded from the Hunt administration: 1) The state continue to monitor and maintain the PCB landfill; 2) A joint citizen/state committee be formed to mutually address the failures of the PCB landfill; 3) The solution to the failed PCB landfill remains on site; 4) Citizens be given independent scientific representation; and 5) Permanent detoxification of the PCB landfill be the ultimate goal (“Birth”). Governor Hunt agreed to the Framework and the joint Warren County/State PCB Landfill Working Group was formed. For the next decade, citizens attempted to hold the Governor to his promise, and pressed the legislature to fund an on-site, permanent cleanup that would not require dumping the waste on another community. Clean-up of the site would start in 2002 after public bids were taken for detoxifying the site by Shaw Environmental and Infrastructure (Bullard). The EPA did tests on the PCB Landfill in January of 2003, and based on the test results, an interim operations permit was granted in March. The soil treatment would be completed by October 2003; and in total, 81,600 tons of soil was treated from the landfill, being burned in a kiln at 9,000⁰F (“Birth”). The soil which was treated was the soil that was initially alongside the roads and the soil adjacent to it that had been in the landfill and had been cross-contaminated. The equipment at the site was decontaminated