MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WTVF) — The City of Murfreesboro amended its lawsuit on Friday against the operators of Middle Point Landfill and pointed to several violations of the EPA's Clean Air and Water Act.
This new lawsuit alleges that discharges of toxic landfill leachate flowed directly into the East Fork Stones River, “creating a public and private nuisance and damage to infrastructure and property managed and/or owned by the City."
"Leachate" is a contaminated liquid, made from water gradually filtering through a solid waste disposal site.
City attorneys sent two letters to Middle Point operators in August: one addressing some clean air violations and one for clean water. The letters notified Middle Point that the city intended to file a lawsuit in 60 days unless necessary actions were taken.
One month later, the lawsuit claims the city discovered another contaminated spring far from their initial point of concern. They say the spring known as “Bubba’s Spring” showed signs of contaminants consistent with leachate they found in other bodies of water.
The lawsuit claims results showed “unusually high levels of PFAS,” which is a large group of manufactured chemicals that have been linked to harmful health effects in humans and animals.
Attorneys also said places like Matthew’s Lake have been on the receiving end of approximately one-third of the landfill surface discharge. They say it’s concerning, considering this area drains south into the river about 1.2 miles upstream from the City’s drinking water treatment intake pipe.
There were two sets of samples from Matthew’s Lake, one month apart, and both showed signs of leachate contamination.
The lawsuit says the city recently identified low levels of PFAS in finished drinking water after it’s been treated at the drinking water treatment plant. The city is now performing follow-up tests on these samples and working on better water treatment options.
City officials offered this statement:
“As alleged in the amended complaint, new findings at Bubba's Spring on Middle Point have higher levels of Per-Polyfluorinated Substances (PFAS) than those found south of the Matthews Lake area. The finding is deeply concerning to the City and is now part of the complaint. Bubba's spring is one of Middle Point’s own sampling locations so there is a great deal here to work out.”
“PFAS are a large group of manufactured chemicals that do not occur naturally in the environment. The stable carbon-fluorine bonds that make PFAS such as pervasive industrial and consumer products also result in their persistence in the environment. PFAS do not readily biodegrade, and there is no known environmental breakdown mechanism for many of these chemicals. As a result, some PFAS remain in the environment indefinitely. PFAS are readily absorbed by animals, including humans, and tend to bioaccumulate with repeated exposure.”
“Research indicates that exposure to PFAS is associated with a variety of adverse health outcomes.”
The city is once again seeking an injunction against Middle Point Landfill operators requiring them to act against “the continuing public and private nuisance they have caused, created, and maintained.” That includes putting an end to the odorous gases and any discharge leaking into the East Fork Stones River or other bodies of water.
Attorneys are also asking for a judgment to place responsibility for numerous federal environmental violations on Middle Point Landfill. In one scenario, Middle Point Landfill would pay up to $55,800 for each day of each violation of the Clean Air Act.
Earlier this month, Middle Point Landfill operators filed two motions to dismiss the initial lawsuit they called “frivolous” and “baseless.”
Middle Point at the time offered this statement:
“The City has made baseless allegations about a so-called “spring discharge” of contaminants into the East Fork Stones River. However, the location of this discharge is upgradient of the Middle Point Landfill. Groundwater flow at the Middle Point Landfill is not toward this discharge. The more likely source of this discharge is the adjacent Rutherford County Landfill, which is directly next to the alleged contamination and has historically failed to sufficiently collect leachate from their unlined landfill.”
Middle Point officials say the county has, for decades, discharged their leachate material free of charge into the Middle Point Landfill on-site treatment plant. They say by forcing Middle Point to stop discharging leachate, they are in effect telling the county to do the same.
This newly amended lawsuit now forces Middle Point to re-file motions to dismiss if they choose.
Landfill operators have said in the past that they’ve invested more than $7.5 million in their gas collection and control systems. This includes $2.5 million into an onsite pre-treatment plant to treat leachate from Middle Point and Rutherford County landfills.
Before the lawsuit, NewsChannel5 Investigates obtained an exclusive video that showed how gases escaped the landfill. Some said those same gases only made the odor worse. The footage showed flare stacks meant to burn off harmful gas that some said was hardly doing the job.
In total, the landfill expanded to 207 acres of fill space located inside a total 803-acre parcel with support facilities, according to the lawsuit. Earlier in 2021, the expansion of the landfill was voted down after pushback from neighbors and city leaders. In 2022, Rutherford County officials proposed no longer accepting any kind of waste to the landfill.
