Fitch pursued by the pollution gestapo - NCRS Discussion Boards

Fitch pursued by the pollution gestapo

Collapse
X
 
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
  • Geoff C.
    Expired
    • May 31, 1979
    • 1613

    Fitch pursued by the pollution gestapo

    BIG HOLE
    Attached Files
  • Andy F.
    Expired
    • January 1, 2004
    • 93

    #2
    Re: Fitch pursued by the pollution gestapo

    That is a pretty tough spot for John Fitch especially when he was trying to do the right thing. Fortunately for Fitch, he has some celebrity on his side that my help him in this situation. Maybe he could auction off some photos or something to raise some money. How much could he get on ebay for a genuine soil sample from a racing legend's home? I say that somewhat tounge in cheek, but if it were me, I would give it a try. At 90, he certainly doesn't need this stuff on his mind.

    Comment

    • Mike M.
      NCRS Past President
      • May 31, 1974
      • 8365

      #3
      Re: Fitch pursued by the pollution gestapo

      the dreaded gestapo cops came by our farm about 8 years ago. they knew we had a 4000 gal home heating oil tank underground(they checked the oil distributor's records for any purchases in excess of 1000 gallons). they said we'd have to remove the tank as it was installed in the early 60's and wasn't lined and didn't have a spill detector . the tank had been installed underground then the previous owner had a 6 car garage built over 90% of the tank. i had to drain all the oil, cut a hole in the side of the tank big enough to allow me to enter the tank and with buckets and rags, remove all the sludge in the botton of the tank. they then made me dig a hole in the ground a foot or so below the bottom level of the tank so they could obtain soil samples for contamination. thankfully the soil tested oil-free. they finally allowed the tank to remain but i had to fill it with sand. i then was allowed to install an above-ground tank.I get the green-apple ****s every time i recall the incident.mike

      Comment

      • Wayne K.
        Expired
        • December 1, 1999
        • 1030

        #4
        Mike, your last sentence did it for me. *NM*

        Comment

        • Don S.
          Expired
          • February 1, 2000
          • 476

          #5
          Re: Fitch pursued by the pollution gestapo

          I owned 25 % of a waste disposal company at one time. It cleaned up an oil spill on the St. Lawrence river (Canadian side) at the request of the province and disposed of the oil in a settling pond on our propeerty way out in the country. The provincial polution police got on our back as a reult of a complaint by a neighbor. The province did a study and their estimate was the cost of removal to be paid by us was somewhere between $169,000.00 and 78 million dollars. One of the solutions in the study was to gather up all of the contaminated soil--put it on a concrete pad with a concrete wall around it -- and leave it there and guard it (Through ice ages etc.) until future technology came up sith a solution as to how to dispose of it (such technology being non-existant at the present time.) Just another example of beurocratic handling of oil decontamination issues..

          Comment

          • Edward B.
            Very Frequent User
            • January 1, 1988
            • 537

            #6
            Re: Fitch pursued by the pollution gestapo

            Don: I'm on the edge of my seat! How did you resolve the situation?

            Comment

            • Patrick H.
              Beyond Control Poster
              • December 1, 1989
              • 11608

              #7
              Re: Fitch pursued by the pollution gestapo

              A friend of mine owned a business that does/did "soil washing." He and I reviewed the process several times and in theory it sure appears to work well. Far cheaper than getting rid of the soil, too. I suspect it would work well in Fitch's case because the soil is returned right back to its original site.

              Just a thought. He did several locations here in Michigan.

              Patrick
              Vice-Chairman (West), Michigan Chapter NCRS
              71 "deer modified" coupe
              72 5-Star Bowtie / Duntov coupe. https://www.flickr.com/photos/124695...57649252735124
              2008 coupe
              Available stickers: Engine suffix code, exhaust tips & mufflers, shocks, AIR diverter valve broadcast code.

              Comment

              • Don S.
                Expired
                • February 1, 2000
                • 476

                #8
                Re: Fitch pursued by the pollution gestapo

                Edward--long story but basically we sold the co for 4,000,000 .The new owners shut the company down temporarily a couple of years later for one reason or another and the polution police would not let them reopen. An interesting sidelight is that the neighbor who did most of the complaining was doing it because her husband used to work for the company and at one pont 10-15 years earlier was denied a 10 cent and hour raise.

                Comment

                • Doug Flaten

                  #9
                  Re: Fitch pursued by the pollution gestapo

                  In the Oil & Gas Industry I have been involved with several methods for the clean-up of contaminated soil and pits. It depends on the regulatory jurisdiction. In some cases we have hauled to approved hazardous disposal sites. Others we have had a contractor mix in fly ash which basically ties up the hydrocarbons. It results in making a pit basically a concrete block. Extreme remediation required site to be excavated, transported to a new lined pit and then tied up with the fly ash process, sealed with liner and replace old soil with new clean soil. If you can get away with it, we work with the regulatory agency to use fertilizers, manure and microbes to work the soil and plant vegetation to lower the hydrocarbon content. It may take a year or more of working the site to get it low enough to pass regulations.

                  Comment

                  • Clem Z.
                    Expired
                    • January 1, 2006
                    • 9427

                    #10
                    Re: Fitch pursued by the pollution gestapo

                    i was under the impression that fly ash contained mercury.

                    Comment

                    Working...

                    Debug Information

                    Searching...Please wait.
                    An unexpected error was returned: 'Your submission could not be processed because you have logged in since the previous page was loaded.

                    Please push the back button and reload the previous window.'
                    An unexpected error was returned: 'Your submission could not be processed because the token has expired.

                    Please push the back button and reload the previous window.'
                    An internal error has occurred and the module cannot be displayed.
                    There are no results that meet this criteria.
                    Search Result for "|||"