Dozens of residents have reported experiencing overwhelming noxious smells causing headaches, nausea, and shortness of breath on numerous occasions in the small town of Tontitown. And residents think the culprit is the only landfill in Northwest Arkansas.
An air-monitoring report released in July by the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality measured potential pollutants around the Eco Vista landfill. It found benzene, acrolein, carbon tetrachloride, chloroform, and naphthalene at concentrations beyond what’s considered acceptable by the Environmental Protection Agency.
While the report proves Tontitown residents were right about dangerous chemicals in the air, it doesn’t definitively identify a source of the pollution. Landfill officials say they’re not responsible, and ADEQ says that while further testing is needed, it will be prohibitively expensive. As they look for a way to cover the costs, Tontitown residents worry.
“We really need help in getting this thing stopped. Our citizens are being affected by it, our roads are being affected, the air quality is being affected and the health of my citizens,” Mayor Angie Russell said. “It seems like ADEQ turns a blind eye to the citizens and protects the businesses they are making money from — that’s my opinion.”
The report by ADEQ shows that air quality monitoring was conducted around the Eco Vista landfill and detections of chemicals were found all around the landfill as well.
Over the last decade, hundreds of complaints about the Eco Vista landfill came to ADEQ from concerned Tontitown residents. Residents urged ADEQ to test the air around the landfill for pollutants, but until January 2024 when ADEQ asked the National Guard to do testing, no air quality testing was conducted.
“When we do smell it, it’s probably life and health issues, it’s probably at the level dangerous to life and health,” Kenneth Lovett said. Lovett has been a resident of Tontitown for the last seven years. He lives half a mile from the Eco Vista landfill, near one of the sites ADEQ sampled in the July report.
“Then twice this year, I was going to go out there and throw some mulch around a tree, and I couldn’t breath and I didn’t know why. So I went back inside the house and sat down. Maybe 15 to 20 minutes later I went back outside and everything was fine,” Lovett said. “About two weeks later I was on the lawn mower, mowing in that same area in the front yard and I had the same issue, I couldn’t breath. Went back outside a little while later and it was fine. So it’s almost like a cloud that comes through every once in a while, and you can’t control it.”
Rhonda Doudna, a longtime resident of Tontitown lives about a mile northeast of the landfill.
“In 2021, I took the back way to get to my house by Arbor Acres Road, and when I topped the hill, I could smell it right off the bat,” Doudna said. “It smelled like butane gas. “There was this cloud of something, and I couldn’t get out of the area quick enough, I was getting sick.”
It has been two months since the July report showed toxic chemicals in the air surrounding the landfill, and ADEQ still has not commissioned more air monitoring or taken other steps on the issue.
Russell was elected mayor of Tontitown in a May 2022 special election before winning a full four-year term in November 2022. She ran in part on finding a solution to the landfill, and has put forward three different resolutions to curtail expansion of Eco Vista.
Russell’s house is near the landfill, and she told Arkansas Times that she can smell fumes or vapors from the landfill periodically in her house. Like some of her neighbors, she worries about health impacts.
Chronic overexposure to benzene and acrolein can lead to cancer, according to Dr. Gunnar Boysen, an associate professor at the College of Public Health at UAMS who specializes in cancer prevention. Chronic overexposure to carbon tetrachloride produces liver and kidney damage and chronic exposure to chloroform is associated with effects on the liver and central nervous system, according the the EPA.
Despite longstanding concerns over the landfill, the state Pollution Control and Ecology Commission continues approving the requests for Eco Vista to expand. The Pollution Control and Ecology Commission sets environmental policy for Arkansas.
Part of the issue may be that Eco Vista is the only landfill serving rapidly growing Northwest Arkansas.
Tontitown sits to the northwest of Fayetteville and like much of Northwest Arkansas, has a rapidly growing population. Between 2020 and 2023, the population of Tontitown increased by 71% to over 7,000 people. The Arkansas Economic Development Institute at UALR predicts Northwest Arkansas’s population will reach 1 million by 2050 and Washington, Benton, and Madison counties are the fastest growing in the state.
“It is not a sexy topic, but it is something we are going to have to address,” Robin Lundstrum, a Republican state representative who represents most of Tontitown and the Eco Vista landfill, said. “How do we handle our trash in the future and do a better job going forward? We need to get a plan now, it is not something we can wait on. Northwest Arkansas is growing and we can’t ignore this issue.”
The expanding landfill sits in the center of Arkansas’s fastest growing metropolitan area, and residents are hoping the state government will work on a solution. But Mayor Russell’s pleas to the Sanders administration have fallen on deaf ears.
“I’ve reached out to the governor several times and she has yet to contact me,” Russell said. “I’ve asked via social media, I’ve asked on email, and I cannot get her to contact me. We’ve reached out to the EPA and they send us right back to ADEQ.”
Arkansas Times reached out to the governor’s office for comment, and did not receive a response as of the publishing of this article.
Eco Vista Responds to Pollution Allegations
Eco Vista is operated by Waste Management, a Texas-based recycling and landfill company. Waste Management sent a statement to Arkansas Times in response to the allegations by Tontitown residents and the results of ADEQ air monitoring:
“The DEQ’s consultant detected benzene and acrolein at sampling points that were located both upwind and downwind of the Eco-Vista facility, which means these compounds were found in the upwind or background air that had not yet reached the Eco-Vista facility. The Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) also analyzed the air sampling results and found that the sampling results do not support a conclusion that the Eco-Vista facility is the source of the detected compounds. ADH also determined that reported benzene levels are in the ranges that would be expected for rural subdivisions. Overall, neither the sampling results nor the analysis of those results provided by the DEQ’s consultant and ADH support a conclusion that the Eco-Vista facility is the source of the detected compounds. The Eco-Vista facility continues to be operated in compliance with its environmental permits and in a manner that is protective of the health and safety of our employees, customers, and the community.”
Spokesmen for Waste Management told the Arkansas Times that rapid growth of cars and highways in the area may be the cause of the air pollution. They also emphasized that because some pollutants were found upwind of Eco Vista, the landfill was likely not the source of the pollution found.
Tontitown residents don’t buy it. They say nothing else in the area could be producing the air pollution footprint that ADEQ found in July.
“Where the landfill is located, there is nothing but farms out there,” Mayor Russell said. “It’s just farms. There are a few small mom and pop businesses, but otherwise it’s just farms. There is a school that is two miles away, and then we are about three and a half miles away from Highway 412. But there is no other businesses that I’m aware of that have any chemicals coming out of it except for Eco Vista.” Several other residents of Tontitown and Rep. Lundstrum all told Arkansas Times that only houses, farms, and a few small businesses exist by the landfill. They view the landfill as the only thing in the area that could be producing the pollution.
The assertion in Waste Management’s statement that “The Arkansas Department of Health … found that the sampling results do not support a conclusion that the Eco-Vista facility is the source of the detected compounds” is misleading.
The Arkansas Department of Health report on the air quality monitoring around the landfill concluded, “ADH cannot conclusively determine the source of these contaminants. However, it is possible that local businesses or other activities associated with the Eco Vista Landfill site are contributing to these levels. As a result, we recommend obtaining more comprehensive air quality data.”
The July test that revealed the presence of pollutants in the air does not square with results from 13 inspections between 2010 and 2024, which showed the landfill met requirements to keep its air quality permit required by ADEQ.
Only one incident in 2010 warranted a fine of $2,178 after the landfill did not meet ADEQ testing standards when conducting air monitoring.
But residents contend that the lack of violations simply shows ADEQ regulators were not conducting ambient air quality testing regularly.
In a 2022 investigation by KNWA, an ADEQ representative said they don’t do ambient testing regularly, and are not legally required to.
Tontitown residents and activists are convinced that ADEQ’s response to the July report has been insufficient.
And Lundstrum, a Republican who represents most of Tontitown and some of Springdale, said ADEQ’s response to the July testing results is not acceptable. She has been in the state Legislature for 10 years, and said complaints have only become more frequent and the situation has become worse.
“I’m not out to make the landfill the ‘evil landfill’ but there are problems and we need to address them. Testing needs to get done, fines need to happen in areas where that is appropriate. We’ve got some issues, and we’ve had issues for years,” Lundstrum said. “I am concerned, a lot of citizens are concerned, and they need to be heard.”
Lundstrum said a better system for waste disposal in Northwest Arkansas would be a priority of hers in the Legislature next year.
“Moving forward, we need to do our due diligence by planning ahead where we go with our trash. We don’t need to be kicking the can down the road,” Lundstrum said. “We need to open a facility that is better, cleaner, and does a better job with management of our waste. We need to start now. We can’t be continually saying that it’s not an issue. And I’m not saying we need a new landfill, maybe there is new technology that can do a better job. There are some options that need to be explored and explored quickly.”
Moving Forward
Even as Tontitown residents continue to worry about breathing polluted air, the Pollution Control and Ecology Commission continues to approve expansions for Eco Vista.
In a June 28 meeting the commission voted to allow Eco Vista to proceed with a 10-acre expansion. The city of Tontitown is appealing the decision in Washington County Circuit Court.
ADEQ sent this statement to Arkansas Times in response to a request to comment about how they will proceed.
“Following ADH’s analysis, the Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment (E&E), Division of Environmental Quality (DEQ) initiated research to determine what resources would be necessary to conduct such testing. The Department’s initial research suggests that further testing will result in a substantial cost for E&E. To date, E&E has incurred approximately $107,000.00 of costs in Tontitown air testing. E&E is in the process of exploring options and identifying funds available to conduct additional testing.”
ADEQ has yet to approve more air pollution testing in the area, citing prohibitive costs.
Tontitown residents contend ADEQ has a financial interest in maintaining the landfill.
Like other landfills in Arkansas, EcoVista owes the Department of Environmental Quality fees of 25 cents for each un-compacted cubic yard of solid waste and 45 cents for each compacted cubic yard of solid waste. If landfills operate on a weight basis, they owe a landfill disposal fee of $1.50 to ADEQ for every ton of solid waste received at the landfill.
Public records obtained by Arkansas Times showed that between the beginning of 2019 and end of 2023, EcoVista contributed $7.5 million in funding to the Department of Environmental Quality.
Mayor Russell is convinced that until the issue is elevated to state or national attention, a solution won’t be found.
“We have to have somewhere for our trash to go, but we have to have something safer for our citizens,” Mayor Russell said.
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Publish date : 2024-09-26 05:01:00
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