Letter: Protect Lincolnville from old dump's waste
Missy Hall
St. Augustine
Publication Date: 01/09/08
Editor: Arsenic, thallium and vinyl chloride each is a highly toxic substance with well-documented serious effects on the health of people and the environment. Each is reportedly within the contaminated soil, sludge and waste originally moved from a Riberia Street landfill in Lincolnville to a site off Holmes Boulevard. Remarkably, despite evidence of contamination of ground water at the latter site, the city of St. Augustine proposes to move the many tons of contaminated soil, waste, and sludge back to Lincolnville.
Lincolnville, the most populous district within St. Augustine, is a peninsula surrounded on three sides by marshland and two rivers inhabited by a variety of plants, fish and birds. From the perspective of public health and environmental protection, Lincolnville should be the last place considered by the city as a final destination for toxic waste.
We belong to the Lincolnville community and we are concerned about this issue. The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Code of Federal Regulations, Florida Statutes and Florida Administrative Code include specific definitions of hazardous wastes, detailed regulations and restrictions regarding hazardous waste management and hefty fines and other penalties for violation of these federal and state laws. One of our three grown children, a second-year law student at the University of Florida, has prepared a research-based summary of these regulations and their application to the afore-mentioned issue in Lincolnville. We would gladly forward an electronic copy of this document to anyone who requests it via e-mail to jwhall3@phhp.ufl.edu.
We implore officials of the city of St. Augustine to find a suitable solution to the problem of hazardous waste disposal that fully complies with federal and state laws, and is in the best interests of the residents of Lincolnville.
James W. (Jay) Hall III
Missy Hall
St. Augustine
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