Dive Summary:
- After a string of repeated violations--culminating in an explosion and fire at the Broadrock Renewables plant at the Central landfill site--the Conservation Law Foundation will file a lawsuit for the landfill's violating the Clean Air Act and operating without a federal permit for 16 years.
- The state's site has been under scrutiny in the past, and had ignored an order last week to stop operations until safety violations were fixed, such as pipes fastened together by duct tape and rope.
- The suit is expected to bring charges against Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corp., Broadrock Gas Services and its subsidiary, Rhode Island LFG Genco for their respective roles in the violations.
From the article:
Tricia Jedele, vice president and director of the Conservation Law Foundation in Rhode Island, said the group wants to hold the landfill and power plant accountable for years of polluting and violating the law.
Among the allegations outlined in the letter is that the landfill was required to apply for a so-called Title V operating permit with the state Department of Environmental Management in 1997.
The group says monitoring at the landfill has shown hundreds of releases of... gas at the landfill since 2011. As an example, one measurement in January 2012 found 100 times the methane that is allowed under federal law was released.
