MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WTVF) — For months, Middle Point Landfill has been at the center of a legal battle against the City of Murfreesboro. The city is suing the landfill claiming it contaminated waterways and released foul-smelling pollutants into the air.
Now, NewsChannel 5 Investigates is among the first to be invited to tour the controversial facility.
While we are not experts on landfills, we did have questions based on several investigations over the past few years.
Mike Classen is the General Manager of Middle Point Landfill, where he showed us how every layer of trash is followed by a layer of dirt.
A cover is then used to lock in the landfill gases and a vacuum sends these gases to the nearby flare system.
Up until now, much of what we’ve known about these flares burning off these gases came from what we spotted across the river last April.
Thermal imaging showed gases escaping, which environmental attorney Elizabeth Murphy said if these stacks were working properly, shouldn’t be the case.
“Those enclosed flares are supposed to be destroying all the gas or at least 95 percent, but the footage shows we’re not even close to that,” Murphy said.
When we asked Classen about what was escaping from the flares, his answer was the same as it was months earlier.
“Legitimately, that’s just heat, carbon dioxide, and water vapor,” Classen said.
Classen told NewsChannel 5 Investigates he understands why some would be concerned about the effectiveness of the flares and the byproducts of burning noxious gases.
“If I don’t know the truth and I have an elected official sitting across the river taking shots of it and telling me it’s dangerous, naturally I think you’re going to believe that…We’re really trying to be active in getting the right information out there. Getting the facts out there and that’s why you see us doing things like this and being out a little more in a front-facing way,” Classen said.
An EPA report from 2021 appeared to agree with Classen, claiming that what we saw were "hydrocarbon plumes" escaping the flares.
They followed up by saying they don’t believe any environmental laws were broken in the process, but that has done little to convince neighbors who say these gases contribute to the notorious smell.
We were close enough to touch the flares and spent nearly three hours on the property, but couldn't smell anything.
In no way was this meant to discredit the thousands of complaints from neighbors who complained about waking up in the middle of the night to landfill gas in their homes, but Classen says this is their money at work.
He says they’ve invested more than $7 million over the last two years to improve gas collection from the landfill.
Before that, NewsChannel 5 Investigates uncovered at least 300 times where methane leaks exceeded the EPA threshold since 2018.
“Reconciling those numbers with what we’re seeing here today, the feedback mechanism is working,” Classen said.
Middle Point registers only a fraction of exceedances compared to what we saw in those past few years. As for what else might be leaking from the landfill, we made our way to Bubba Spring.
“That’s one of several monitoring locations that we are required as an operator here to take samples of on a semi-annual basis,” Classen said.
The city of Murfreesboro is suing Middle Point saying the landfill leaked leachate (landfill liquids) into this spring, which feeds into the East Fork Stones River.
State inspectors found no visible signs of leachate, which city attorneys say doesn’t mean it’s not there, citing their own data.
Scanning the water ourselves and we spotted what appeared to be the same type of discolored water pointed out in the lawsuit.
We weren't sure what it was, so we asked Classen who explained it away as typical pond scum. Classen pointed out that we were after all standing below at least six heron nests.
“What we’ve said from the beginning is if there’s a legitimate problem, why was the phone never picked up to say we think something is going on here? We’d like to talk about it. We’d like to work together to come to a solution. That never happened,” Classen said.
Officials with the City of Murfreesboro sent NewsChannel5 Investigates the following response:
"For many years, there have been ongoing and consistent communication between the City of Murfressboro and Republic Services about all kinds of issues involving Middle Point Landfill. We are in the middle of a lawsuit, so we will not be able to comment further."
Classen and Middle Point face a lawsuit demanding they halt operation altogether until they can fix the smell and whatever may be leaking.
If it were up to Classen, the focus would be on the future.
Classen says Middle Point is permitted to stack trash another 80 feet in the air, but he would rather take another approach.
“You’d rather build out and combine and consolidate the other (county) landfill with what you’ve already got,” we asked.
“That’s right. Our goal is to not be a visible impedance on the community,” Classen said.
The Rutherford County Landfill adjacent to Middle Point Landfill, is no longer operational. Still, the last few attempts by Middle Point to expand its footprint into these neighboring properties have been denied by county officials.
While Classen says they're willing to negotiate a plan that suits the county, they're already in the process of building a facility on-site to turn landfill gas into renewable energy by the end of this year.
Change may be on the horizon, but no matter what happens next, Classen says he’s committed to working with his neighbors and not against them.
“It’s our job to really set the record straight and hopefully this helps us do that,” Classen said.
Meanwhile, the City of Murfreesboro has amended its lawsuit to add what it says is more evidence that Bubba Spring was contaminated by the landfill.
This is a developing story and we’ll have more from Middle Point and the lawsuit, as soon as it becomes available.
