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Home > Newsletter Home > TOC > Article
12, 2004
DuPont proposes wetlands fill to expand toxic waste landfill.
DuPont DeLisle Plant proposes to fill 24 acres of wetlands near the Bay of St. Louis to build a new 32-acre landfill. This is despite the fact that there have been a large number of deaths and illnesses around the DuPont Plant that many believe are linked to toxic emissions from DuPont. In the 2000 Toxic Release Inventory DuPont DeLisle Plant reported releasing about 42 percent of the dioxin-like compounds reported in the entire U.S. In 2001 DuPont still led the entire country in dioxin releases, and reported releasing a total of 14 million pounds of toxics including dangerous heavy metals (see www.epa.gov/tri/, zip 39571). Currently there is an Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) investigation into the unusual incidence of deaths and illnesses around the DuPont DeLisle plant that many suspect are related to toxic pollution. ATSDR is specifically looking at the dioxin being landfilled at DuPont. Expansion of the landfills should not be allowed until these concerns about dioxin and heavy metal pollution, and their link to illnesses in the community, are thoroughly investigated.
There are already many, many acres of toxic waste landfilled at DuPont DeLisle. This permit application is for waste disposal unit #24, and it is the closest landfill to the water yet proposed. Instead of building a new landfill in wetlands to allow years more of toxic waste to be buried on site, DuPont DeLisle should either close or revise its manufacturing of titanium dioxide to prevent dioxin and heavy metal contamination. The EPA says all landfills eventually leak. This is not an acceptable risk for Mississippi Coast residents. Allowing yet another large landfill would result in increased toxic contamination of ground water, the Bay of St. Louis, the Mississippi Sound, and Gulf of Mexico. DuPont has admitted that a toxic plume of contamination exists under the plant, but claims this is no problem because it is moving towards the Bay of St. Louis. There are grave concerns about the present amount of pollution from the site, and its impact on contamination in the shrimp, oysters and fish that people eat from the Bay. When it rains on landfills, stormwater picks up pollution that then ends up in nearby bodies of water.
Contamination of seafood with dioxin and heavy metals is a major concern. Toxins can accumulate in seafood and make them unsafe to eat, especially for children and pregnant women. If you care about the health of the people and wildlife that live in the area of the Bay of St. Louis, please take action to oppose this proposal.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Please write the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to express your opposition. Refer to the public notice number MS03-03899-L.
For a copy of the permit notice or for more information, permit officer Chuck Sumner can be reached at 251-694-3792.
Send letters to the
U.S. Army Engineer District, Mobile,
Post Office Box 2288,
Mobile, AL 36628-0001,
Attn: Regulatory Branch.
E-mails to the Corps can be sent to
lewis.c.sumner@sam.usace.army.mil.
Send copies of your letter to the
MS Department of Environmental Quality,
P.O. Box 10385,
Jackson MS 39289
MS Dept. of Marine Resources,
1141 Bayview Ave.,
Suite 101 Biloxi MS 39530.
Request a public hearing, and an extension in the deadline for the comment period. Recommend that this wetland fill permit be denied. For more information, see our action alerts.
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