TBO.com > News > Latest News Reports
- Moffitt Among Quarterfinalists For Lott Award
- Two Women Thrown From Boat When It Hits I-75 Bridge
- Judge Imposes Stay On Lethal Injections
- Poll: More Coastal Residents Would Not Evacuate For Hurricane
- Robbers In Ninja Garb Strike Hampton Inn
- Deputy Is Accused Of Domestic Battery
- 2 Men Burst Into Home, Steal More Than $7,000
- Temple Terrace Man Wounded In Shooting
- Polk Deputies Charge 17 Men After Weekend Cockfight
- Baby Dropped Off At Fire Station
- Jury Awards $21.1 Million In Wrongful Birth Case
- Deputies Investigate Bank Robbery
- Grandpa Robbed; Grandson Charged
- Composite Sketch Of Armed Carjacker Released
- Progress Village Homicide Victim ID’d
SEFFNER - Test results from soil and debris dumped on state property here show no signs of any contaminants the state would consider dangerous.
Seffner activists have demanded for months that Hillsborough County shut down the former borrow pit the Florida Department of Transportation is using to dump soil from its U.S. 301 road-widening project. Residents said the soil and debris being deposited there could contain contaminants that would taint their drinking water. They also said a county rule dating back more than 20 years prohibits fill activities at the site, located at the intersection of Taylor and Pruett roads.
Test results FDOT released this afternoon showed no sign of any cancer-causing compounds, chemicals or heavy metals at levels above the allowed state standards. FDOT hired a private environmental firm to test the soil at the landfill and at the U.S. 301 construction site May 21.
“I don’t’ see anything in here that raises any semblance of a red flag,” said Ron Cope, a scientist with the Hillsborough County Environmental Protection Commission’s solid and hazardous waste section. He said the EPC will conduct a more thorough analysis of the test results over the next few days.
FDOT has dumped more than 850 truckloads of soil and debris on the property and plans to dump an additional 500 truckloads.
At the direction of the county commission, the EPC will continue to do spot tests at the dump site while attorneys for the state and county hash out whether the FDOT needs a permit to dump on the property.
A rule established in 1981, agreed to by the state and the county, prohibits dumping or filling within 5 miles of the Hillsborough Heights-Taylor Road landfill, deemed a Superfund site by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in the late 1970s. A plume of water containing carcinogens lies under the old dump.
The FDOT dump site falls within the 5-mile range. Exceptions to the rule can be made for clean fill, but only after a county review.
Reporter Yvette C. Hammett can be reached at (813) 657-4532 or yhammett@tampatrib.com.
Advertisement
