Proposed PCB site at landfill stinks, town says 'Not in my backyard' philosophy shared by residents By Monique Balas News-Chronicle HOLLAND - Dairy farmer Bill Clancy is what he calls a "lifer" as he carries on the fourth generation of his Holland farm. His land is precious and that's why Clancy, whose other roles include Holland town clerk and Brown County supervisor, is concerned about a proposed pipeline that would pump PCB-contaminated sediment from the Fox River and deposit it at a landfill adjacent to his property. As an adjacent landowner, Clancy could stand to get a share of the approximately 15 percent of the total compensation that would be divided among the 15 landowners who live near the proposed site. The money would come from a total fund of up to $64 million in compensation funds for the project - a substantial boost to the town's annual budget of $259,000. But Clancy doesn't care about the money and, it seems, he isn't alone in this 6-by-4-mile southern Brown County hamlet of 1,358 residents. "Sure we'll get the money, but what do you tell your grandchildren - did we sell out?" Clancy said. "What they're doing is taking some property that's going to be put into a toxic waste site that will never be used for anything else as long as people walk this earth." The pipeline is one possible solution to the 6.4 million cubic yards of contaminated sediment that needs to go somewhere once it is dredged from the Fox River. Officials from the state Department of Natural Resources and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency cited Holland as a potential landfill site for the $400 million cleanup plan for the lower Fox River at a news conference last week. "Holland will be one of the options - they're right in line with the trail," said Bruce Baker, the DNR's Fox River project manager, at the news conference. Baker said there are no definite plans for the pipeline, and other options could be finding another landfill or burning the sediment through a process called vitrification. A 317-acre parcel of the landfill is comprised of a 9.36 million-cubic-yard area where municipal waste would go and a 3.7 million-cubic-yard industrial site originally planned for and approved by the DNR for depositing paper mill sludge sediment, said Chuck Larscheid, who directs the county's Solid Waste Department. "We signed an agreement with the town of Holland in 1998, and that capped five years of negotiations and DNR approvals," Larscheid said. The town did not have a choice when the county took over the land five years ago, said town supervisor Mike Geiger. After the town spent about $500,000 on legal fees to get the original landfill stopped, "we were told at one point to either cut our best deal or have the land condemned," said Geiger, who heads a pipeline monitoring and advisory board for the town. "We had two choices: Have it taken from us and have them decide what we should be paid, or make our best deal." A settlement of $10 per ton of sediment came out of those negotiations - but that was before there was any talk of a Fox River pipeline. "We knew that there's a possibility that maybe some contaminants would be put out here, but as far as there was going to be Fox River dredging, no (we didn't know)," Clancy said. "What's frustrating is that in all the time we are working on this, nobody really cared. It was the town of Holland's dilemma to either fight it or make their peace with Solid Waste (department)." Clancy he was in a small minority of rural supervisors who spoke against the Holland landfill when the county debated what to do with the waste. He said he fought for incineration and other locations, but was not successful in his arguments. "It was kind of a foregone conclusion that we didn't stand a chance of stopping this," he said. "We tried to rally the troops but it was inevitable." Clancy said he abstained from the vote because he was a nearby landowner. "I had to abstain, I think, because of a conflict," he said. In the midst of the negotiations, the paper mills pulled out of the deal and opted to go with a private site, leaving the site unused. The county had selected the sludge site for its space and proximity to a state highway, Larscheid said; State 57 runs near the area. The other advantage to the site is its clay deposits, which reach 100 feet deep in areas. Clay would trap the sediment and prevent it from moving. Plus, the PCB particles would attach to the clay and prevent it from separating. Approximately 10 percent of what came through the pipeline would actually stay there, Geiger said. The sediment would come through a pipeline and get treated at a water treatment plant, which would be constructed onsite. It would be made into a brownie-like consistency, while the rest of the water would be treated at the plant and released, clean, into the Fox River. As the crow flies, Geiger lives two miles away from the site , and as far as he's concerned, "there's no amount of money that would put poison within two miles of my house." He and his wife have owned their 165-acre dairy farm for 24 years and they have no plans to sell it. Since his property is not adjacent to the landfill site, he will not receive any compensation. But growing up in the era of the Love Canal, Geiger has no desire to expose his kids to toxic substances. "I don't know one person who is happy about the money coming and the PCBs coming," he said. "Everybody's got their own little piece of heaven wherever they live, and if you put the stuff by their home, it's going to make them a little nervous." The town expects to hear more information at an Aug. 19 public meeting. Until then, not much is certain. County executive Carol Kelso said she expects to meet with the DNR within the week about the issue. "It's kind of all undefined at this point," she said. Clancy said the town will work with their consultants and hope for the best. "If it's going to happen, you have to do the best you can so that future generations are protected," he said. "We hope if it does come, it would be environmentally safe and that we've looked out for their best interests." What are PCBs? Polychlorinated biphenyls - best known as PCBs - are carcinogenic compounds released by seven paper companies into the Fox River between 1954 and 1971. They do not break down easily and have attached to sediment in the Fox River, posing health and environmental risks to humans and animals. FYI: An informational meeting on the Record of Decision will begin with a question period at 6 p.m., followed by an information session at 7 p.m. Aug. 19 at the Brown County Library, 515 Pine St. Officials from the DNR and EPA will be on hand to answer questions.