If people are wondering why there is excessive waste in government resources, here is a prime example.
Mr. Rogers has taken one bong hit to many (my experiences with him have completely reversed my stand on legalizing marijuana, the only passive this man is would be passive-aggressive) and is now peddling an "amazing" story to the Environmental Protection Agency and the Alaska Division of Environmental Conservation.
I am sure in the end the truth will come out in the wash, it always does. But in the meantime all the staff there will be distracted from meaningful endeavors to chase down this BS story.
And private industry, in this case Seward Ships who is trying the remove the industrial waste sand piles that Mr. Rogers complained about earlier, is diverting their resources from the business of the day.
Since it would be available via FOIA, here is his post to the authorities:
Beginning of transmission:
From: Russ Maddox
To: kim_stricklan@dec.state.ak.us, leslie_pearson@dec.state.ak.us, leslie_simmons@dec.state.ak.us,Diane Richardson/R10/USEPA/US@EPA, Denise Baker/R10/USEPA/US@EPA, cmayer@borough.kenai.ak.us, deric_marcorelle@dec.state.ak.us, lhughes@borough.kenai.ak.us
Subject: Nash Rd Site
Hi All,
Sorry for the non-message. I just wanted to fill you all in on the latest next door. On the 21st Lorenz and SSDD hosted an event that is causing quite a stir that
you should all be aware of. The gist is that they blew up and shot up the waste scheduled to be removed TOMORROW. Seriously. The Troopers can fill in the
blanks, contact Trooper Brandon Anderson. Also see Lorenz own description of the event at;
See: First Annual Hampton's Turkey Shoot, Turkey Shoot
a Blast, Shooting Gallery for details.
Complete with photos and description. They literally blasted hundreds of pounds of lead and explosives(tannerite and dynamite) into the mix and blasted it all over. Exploding targets were actually buried in the waste and shot at with exploding
projectiles. Seriously. I will forward the newspaper this week to you all. Anchorage Daily News is already on it as well. Folks within a mile or two spent almost four hours crouched under their kitchen tables or in their basements. Hundreds of 911 calls went in. The Troopers were afraid to get closer than hovering above
and taking photos. I dread to imagine what may lie ahead.
As always, know I wouldn't waste your time with anything but facts as I SAW them firsthand. Thank all of you for your efforts on behalf of our environment.
Sincerely,
Russ
End of transmission.
Let's start from the beginning and dissect this.
"On the 21st Lorenz and SSDD hosted an event that is causing quite a stir that
you should all be aware of."
As was made very clear in a previous posting, Seward Ships sponsored a golf hole which was never used. They did not host this event. They did not sponsor any target shooting activity.
"The gist is that they blew up and shot up the waste scheduled to be removed
TOMORROW. Seriously."
Not true. Seriously.
"The Troopers can fill in the blanks, contact Trooper Brandon Anderson."
Lt. Anderson will tell you the same thing that Seward Police Chief Tom Clemens and Seward City Manager Clark Coolbridge will tell you. A week prior to the Turkey Shoot I stopped by City Hall and advised them all about the event.
"They literally blasted hundreds of pounds of lead and explosives(tannerite and dynamite) into the mix and blasted it all over. Exploding targets were actually
buried in the waste and shot at with exploding projectiles. Seriously."
I am beginning to wonder if Mr. Rogers uses the word "seriously" to emphasis what he is saying because he realizes that there is no credibility behind it. One of the things I studied at University of Arizona, Tucson. This would make a great paper. Where is Dr. Ewbank?
No hundreds of pounds of anything, no dynamite, the tannerite just exploded zip-lock bags, no exploding projectiles. Nothing was in the sand. Sand was covered and way out of the line of fire. Seriously, what movie was Mr. Rogers watching that he transposed all of this?
"I will forward the newspaper this week to you all. Anchorage Daily News is already
on it as well."
If you are a reporter covering this story you had best do some serious fact checking. Unless you are from the National Enquirer. If you are running this is the National Enquirer let me know when because I don't usually look at the rag while I am in the line at the grocery store and I can use the laugh.
"Folks within a mile or two spent almost four hours crouched under their kitchen tables or in their basements. Hundreds of 911 calls went in. The Troopers were afraid to get closer than hovering above and taking photos. I dread to imagine what may lie ahead."
An alien invasion perhaps? So are we to infer that SPD has significantly more balls that AST - you recall the picture of the SPD officer at the scene, not looking very afraid at all. And what were the Troopers hovering in, an invisible helicopter? When did they get an invisible helicopter? Is that why Frank's jet cost so much?
"As always, know I wouldn't waste your time with anything but facts as I SAW them firsthand."
I was unaware that Mr. Rogers has superhero powers. An invisible man suit? X-ray vision? He simply wasn't there and there was no way he could view what was going on without trespassing, and we kept a tight lookout for anyone who might we wandering though and possibly get hurt. Perhaps he has a satellite feed...if so, why isn't he sharing with the Troopers?
Anyway, the buzz in Enviroland was ridiculous. Like these people don't have real jobs and real things to be investigating. I came in late in the game so I missed out on some of the chatter, after all, I am only the land owner, what do I need to know? Here is a taste of the drama.
Please keep in mind that these EPA/ADEC people are just doing their jobs and are following protocal to make check up on a very colorful complaint. I have removed names so that these folks don't get harrassed about it at the post office.
-----Original Message-----
From: EPA
To: EPA, ADEC
Subject: Nash Rd Site
So if they really fired lead shot into the piles, don't they now need to resample?They could've potentially just turned it all into hazardous waste and therefore, has to be manifested out of Alaska. What a lovely thought huh?
Environmental Protection Specialist
US EPA Anchorage Ops Office
-----Original Message-----
From: ADEC
To: EPA
RE: Nash Rd Site
Seward Ships called ADEC this morning to let us know that the trucks would begin hauling out the waste grit this afternoon and should be done by Wednesday this week. ADEC is scheduled to be in Seward tomorrow and Wednesday to observe removal of the waste grit from the Lorenz property. The issue about the potential for this becoming
hazardous waste is your call, EPA. If you want ADEC to pass this on to EPA, let me know.
ADEC
-----Original Message-----
From: EPA
To: ADEC
Subject: RE: Nash Rd Site
It's not so much that I WANT to go down this road but where is the grit going to end up? If they have put enough stuff in there to turn it into a haz waste, is the place it's going able to support that environmentally?
I just don't understand how it is that these people thought they could do something like this to what was already a waste material needing to be cleaned up.
I didn't read far enough in on the website to see what all Dorene admitted to putting in those piles but I know for a fact that some small arms shells do fail TCLP for lead because I dealt with it with the military.
Shooting ranges when they pick up the shells, then have to do waste determinations. I don't know what kind of crowd was at this turkey shoot either to know what kind of
volume we might be looking it.
It just seems to me that they (either SSDD or Ms. Lorenz) should have to resample now that they've created a new waste stream.
Is the cell this stuff's going into lined at least? This whole thing has really just caught me off guard and seems to ridiculous that they'd come up with something like this. I honestly don't know what to do with it all.
EPA
-----Original Message-----
From: ADEC
To: EPA/ADEC
Subject: RE: Nash Rd Site
Good morning Diane,
The waste is scheduled to go to the new lined cell at the Soldotna landfill. Besides the benefit of the normal landfill waste mass and liner is the Kenai Peninsula Borough's future plans to recirculate leachate --- something we in the solid waste program support.
We are currently trying to get the EPA RD&D rule adopted in order to support such leachate recirculation projects.
The waste was previously analyzed to ensure that it didn't meet the definition of hazardous waste and that it could meet the Borough's policies for waste acceptance.
Prior to this incident, Borough waste managers evaluated the lab results and declared it acceptable for disposal.
If you think Russ Maddox's claims have validity and the waste needs to be analyzed again, one option might be to ask the Borough to store the waste until the hazardous waste questions are resolved. This will allow the Department's issues with Seward Ship's Drydock to be resolved.
By the way, I've no idea if the people at Seward Ship's Drydock know about this, so I've included them in the cc list. I've also included the Kenai Peninsula Borough so
they don't feel blindsided about this.
ADEC
-----Original Message-----
To: DoreneMLorenz
From: Seward Ships
Re: Sand & Bullets
I'll bet you found the e-mail I forwarded to ya interesting ! ! ! ! I talked with Leslie Simmons and straightened out the "lies" your neighbor told everybody. Leslie is sending out an e-mail to all concerned telling them to cool their jets !!! I'll forward it to you
DJ
-----Original Message-----
To: EPA
From: ADEC
Re: Sandblast grit and shot
Seward Ships is on the phone with me now. He's informed me that before
the shoot, a berm was established. It can be verified as it is still in
place. The sand piles are about 4 feet high, not high enough to be shot
into safely. The berm was built to a height between 8 and 12 vertical
feet. None of the shot or explosives went into the sandblast grit piles.
The shot was shot into logs and dirt.
All law enforcement agencies in the area were pre-notified and had no
issues about the event. The explosive was tannerite and was exploded,
unconfined above ground. The quantity of expended steel, lead and
copper shot DJ estimates at less than 50 pounds. The largest caliber
firearm was an 8 mm - the size of a hunting rifle. The event compares
to activities at a rifle range on a lesser scale.
Hope this helps.
ADEC
-----Original Message-----
To: ADEC
From: Seward Ships
Re: Turkey Shoot Berm
Just read the last e-mail from EPA; again, this was a very safe, controlled event, there was no small arms discharged into the sand piles, there were no explosives detonated in the sand piles or close enough to commingle any materials ! ! Shooting in any direction other than the established berm was not allowed, period ! The berm is located south and west of the sand piles.
Regards,
Seward Ships
-----Original Message-----
To: ADEC
From: EPA
Re: Turkey Shoot Berm
The photos I looked at appeared as if the shot was fired in the direction of the piles. Is there a photo somewhere showing this "berm"?
If any of the shot or explosives went into any part of the sandblast grit, it will need to be resampled to determine if that portion is now a hazardous waste.
As I stated in my previous email, there are actually small arms ammo shells that fail tclp for lead and one other constituent I can't think of at the moment. At the moment, I'm not concerned about the notification issue since it's not a RCRA issue. I am however concerned about the potential of a changed waste stream going to a municipal landfill without being resampled.
Was this "berm" built somewhere in front of the piles so that there was no potential that any of the shells or anything else could even get to the piles of grit? Last I was there, it didn't seem that there was much space between the road (can't remember the name of the dirt road in there) and the grit piles.
I guess for RCRA purposes, I need to know whether any of the grit was mixed with the shot or other constituents at this turkey shoot and this "berm" may now be a hazardous waste as well and it's not the weight of the ammo used, it's the weight of all material contaminated by the shot and explosives.
The lead alone has the potential to leach into the ground so you don't just dig out the shells, you have to test the material the shells went into as well.
EPA
-----Original Message-----
To: ADEC
From: EPA
Re: Turkey Shoot Berm
Thanks for including people I hadn't thought of or didn't know about.
I'm glad to hear the cell is at least lined. I'm currently reading through some of the website information provided.
There are pictures of quite a few guns. I'm not familiar with them so I don't know what make or model I'm looking at and not sure what type of ammo is used in each one.
Looking at the "First Annual Hamptons Turkey Shoot" piece it talks about an "Industrial Waste Sand Trap Golf Tee-off" which claims that portion was at least sponsored by Seward Ships so I assumed they knew about it.
In Dorene's "Hold Harmless Agreement" she mentions something about "explosion of considerable magnitude or any demonstration of spot on expert targeting with the weapon of the sharpshooters choice."
When you read "Turkey Shoot a Blast" the first thing is says is "It may have been the Tannerite, a binary explosive reactive target, that got them to send the ambulance,..." and then a couple more short paragraphs down it mentions a whole bunch of different weapons.
I know there was sampling done previously but I'm sure none has been done since they added this mess to it on September 21, 2005. Shooting ranges have lead problems to deal with once they get to the point of cleaning up. This is a removal of waste that now has been altered with potentially hazardous waste.
Again, I'm no expert on the weapons or ammo used so I don't know exactly what the chances are of finding something like lead now but at a minimum, it would be nice if someone could figure that out.
Just makes me a little nervous knowing the little bit that I do about shooting ranges and small arms ammo that the Army use to incinerate. There are definite shells that fail tclp for lead.
I have no idea what the Tannerite binary explosive has in it that might be considered hazardous waste.
It really just doesn't make sense to me that this would be allowed to take place when this waste was scheduled to be removed and had already been sampled. Why would someone then be allowed to alter the waste and not have any responsibility to make sure they didn't now turn it into a hazardous waste.
If this waste is owned by the dry dock, then they need to take the responsibility to resample the grit to make sure it's not a hazardous waste. There is no one in the State of Alaska that can legally take that volume of hazardous waste. The potential itself concerns me a bit. I'm going to run it by some co-workers in the Seattle office as well.
Ok after further discussion with co-workers, the waste stream has changed and now there is a responsibility to resample to determine if it's now a hazardous waste. I would agree the waste is probably better off in a lined cell than on the ground in a wetlands area but there is definitely a new waste stream and putting it in the cell is certainly not the end of it.
If only 5 or 10 or however many piles were affected by this turkey shoot, then those 5 or 10 (or whatever that number might be) are the piles that need to be resampled. The sampling should not include the piles that weren't affected.
However, if they mix all that waste together and then find they have samples that are hazardous, they may end up being responsible for manifesting the entire load as a hazardous waste as opposed to some subset of that. EPA regulations 40 CFR 262.11 state that if a person generates a solid waste, it's their responsibility to determine if it's a hazardous waste.
The waste stream changed when they added ammo and targets and whatever else might have been mixed in. The Dry Dock needs to find a way to segregate the piles that have now changed from the piles that weren't affected and then resample the affected piles to make sure they aren't now a hazardous waste. If it turns out it is hazardous waste, they will have to dig those piles up and manifest them to a permitted facility in the lower 48.
FYI - lead may not be the only potential waste so they would need to sample for whatever potentials there would be based on the material mixed in the sandblast grit.
-----Original Message-----
To: ADEC
From: Seward Ships
Re: Turkey Shoot Berm
Just read the last e-mail from Diane Richardson; again, this was a very safe, controlled event, there was no small arms discharged into the sand piles, there were no explosives detonated in the sand piles or close enough to commingle any materials ! ! Shooting in any direction other than the established berm was not allowed, period ! The berm is located south and west of the sand piles.
-----Original Message-----
To: EPA
From: ADEC
Re: Turkey Shoot Berm
Passing this on to you from Seward Ships. By the way, Seward Ships just called me. He knows that I’m sending this to you. He would like you to tell him what he needs to do to resolve this so the grit can be taken from the Lorenze property and accepted at the landfill. He’s standing by for your response.
-----Original Message-----
To: ADEC
From: EPA
Re: Turkey Shoot Berm
I need to see some proof of the berm that shows that it would stop anything from co-mingling with the grit. The photos on the website that I looked at make it look as though the shooting is in the direction of the grit piles. Photos of the berm in relation to the grit piles would help me. If there's some digital photo capacity that could be emailed, I'm here.
-----Original Message-----
From: ADEC
To: EPA
Re: Turkey Shoot Berm
I just talked to Seward Ships and sent the message again since he hadn't seen it
yet. He says he'll go take some pictures after he's read the message
and will send them as soon as he can.
-----Original Message-----
From: Seward Ships
To: EPA/ADEC/Borough
Re: Turkey Shoot Berm
Here are a couple of pictures. I marked the one with the direction of the range to the berm. In order for anything to come in contact with the sand, firearms would have to been pointed in a very unsafe direction, this did not happen. The piles were covered during all activities; you can see the covering that we have removed while we are loading the material for transport.
-----Original Message-----
From: EPA
To: Seward Ships
Re: Turkey Shoot Berm
Ok you might have to help me out here a little. If I were standing on that dirt road looking at the piles of grit...which side of them is the berm?
You'll have to give me "right or left"...I've never been good with north, south, that kind of direction. I'm trying to picture where this berm was set up.
What this made from soils that were already on the ground on Dorene's property? And you don't happen to know if the soils used were from right where they sit,or the other side of her property toward her neighbor's fence line do you?
-----Original Message-----
From: Seward Ships
To: EPA/ADEC/Borough
Re: Turkey Shoot Berm
The berm is on the left side of the sand. The berm is from existing soil on the property from right in front of where the berm is. No soil was moved from any other location on the property.
-----Original Message-----
From: EPA
To: Seward Ships/ADEC/Dorene Lorenz
Re: Turkey Shoot Berm
Thank you all for the photos and directions, it does give me a better feel for location and as long as you can assure me that the grit piles weren't disturbed during all of this (which I will take from a previous email) then I am fine with going forward with the work on removing the grit to the landfill.
We may have other issues with the berm but I do understand that is totally separate from the grit piles.
Also Ms. Lorenz, since you are reading these as well, would you please provide me with the status of your response to EPA's NOV/3007? It was due this past Friday and my understanding is that it has not been received yet.
Thanks again.
I have one more question for you while we're sending the emails, when our Seattle office granted you your request for an extension, they also included a form asking for access to your property for basically an inspection that may include sampling.
That form was to have come back to me within I believe 10 days of receiving the request. I haven't seen that either. Is that a denial of access or would you be willing to fill that out and send it to me?
It would be myself with one other person from this office to make my life easier with the potential for sampling. I'm kind of hoping we can do this before the snow hits the ground since it would be easier without the snow. Besides, quite honestly, I'm sort of a fair weather person when it comes to inspections if at all
possible.
You can call me at the number below if you want to talk about either the response or access agreement.
-----Original Message-----
From: Dorene Lorenz
To: EPA
Re: Hamptons visit
Attached is my response, a Microsoft Word file. Let me know if you
have any difficult opening it.
26 September 2005
Ms. Betty A. Wiese, Manager
Air, RCRA Compliance Unit
Office of Compliance and Enforcement
US EPA Region 10
1200 Sixth Avenue
Seattle. Washington 98101
Re: Your letter of 10 August 05
Dear Ms. Wiese,
Thank you for the EPAís consideration in giving me an extension in time to respond to your Notice of Violation and Information Request while dealing with the illness and eventual loss of my grandmother.
As I mentioned to Lisa Castanon, I am confused as to your interest in this matter. As you are aware, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation is the agency in charge of managing the burn clean-up at my Nash Road property. They have agreed to a bio-remediation of the soil on-site, and we are following the proper procedures in that venue.
I am willing to have the EPA perform an inspection of my property only after the scope of the sampling and analysis plan has been defined for me. I am wanting to know specifically what the target entities are, what material is to be sampled, how, where, and why.
As you are aware, the EPA and ADEC have already taken extensive samples of all burn effected areas, pre and post clean up. I have previously denied access for Super Fund testing to occur, based on the fact that no one at any regulatory agency was able to suggest to me that they felt my property would qualify as a Super Fund site.
If the EPA is now suggesting that my property would qualify as a Super Fund site there had better be some serious analysis behind that estimation, and I would be most interested in hearing it.
As to the concerns addressed in the July 11, 2005 Notice of Violation and Information Request I recommend that you pull your file on my property. All of the information you request is already in your possession. I have no knowledge of any hazardous waste being stored, generated, treated, disposed of or transported from my property other than the waste previously considered by the EPA as the ìNash Road Burn.
As I suggested to Lisa Castanon, I am not sure which barrels you are referring to in your July 11th Notice. I have barrels on my property in various locations. Some are empty, some are full of animal feed, personal effects, clothing, bedding, or shoes.
In compliance with my waste management plan, I have used barrels to transport the burn pile dirt, and waste collected from Russ Maddox, via Phillips Environmental to a certified haz mat waste facility in the Lower 48. This was approved by the ADEC, who assisted me in arranging permission to use the Household Hazardous Waste Program with the Kenai Peninsula Borough.
Warm regards,
Dorene M. Lorenz
-----Original Message-----
From: KPB
To: Seward Ships
Re: Waste Disposal
Consider this KPB approval for SSDD to proceed with disposal of the +/- 367 CY of sandblast grit from SSDD and Lorenz properties as previously discussed.
Thank you all for the prompt information & cooperation in getting this issue resolved.
NOW WASN'T THIS AN INCREDIBLE WASTE OF EVERYONES DAY. THANKS FOR THE SHENANIGANS, MR. ROGERS.
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