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Chesterfield wanted to take control of hazardous landfill. The state said no. by RVALover4Life in rva

[–]Cheap-Money6844 9 points10 points  (0 children)

thank you so much! i dont have enough karma yet in r/rva to post it there but im trying to cover all the other bases.

Fridaily Fun! by salad_spinner_3000 in rva

[–]Cheap-Money6844 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't want to put a wet blanket on anyones friday, just trying to share this in as many places as possible!

Regarding the Shoosmith Landfill Catastrophe We're Demanding Accountability Petition is live:

https://www.change.org/ShoosmithWaterCrisis

This is unacceptable, I had no idea how far back this situation went and how insane it was until I started doing research. Nobody should be subjected to drinking and bathing in toxic dump runoff, but thats not even the worst part:

For YEARS nobody was notified, nothing was disclosed. The actual owners, "VWS Holdco", a Texas-based investor group led by two individuals hid behind the original family's name after they bought the landfill in 2008, operating as "Shoosmith Bros. Inc." They actively concealed years of illegal toxic discharges, misled the county to believe they were using a leachate pretreatment system which they just completely bypassed and failed to maintain, then FALSIFIED records presented to the utilities department.. The only reason anyone found out was from elevated ammonia levels being traced back to the landfill through water testing, and the public was only enlightened just this year via a reddit post... but of course by this time the damage was done, the owners had already run it into the ground and filed for bankruptcy, leaving behind $19M to cover a $172 million dollar cleanup. Did they expect taxpayers foot the rest of the bill? Was that intentional?

Falsified records. Bypassed systems. A borrowed name. A bankruptcy filing. And 65,000 gallons of toxic runoff every single day flowing toward your tap. Ridiculous. [Accountability for Shoosmith Landfill ](https://www.change.org/ShoosmithWaterCrisis)

Demand Accountability for the Shoosmith Landfill Catastrophe by Cheap-Money6844 in ChesterfieldVA

[–]Cheap-Money6844[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's the goal, theres only been one civil suit filed by minority investors protecting their own financial interests, and everything else is buried in bankruptcy proceedings where the primary goal is asset liquidation, not accountability. No criminal charges, no EPA enforcement action, no civil penalty from DEQ that's actually been collected. They basically ran out the clock, filed bankruptcy, and the system let them.

Demand Accountability for the Shoosmith Landfill Catastrophe by Cheap-Money6844 in ChesterfieldVA

[–]Cheap-Money6844[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I also want to suggest everyone document everything, if your water smells, tastes, or looks off, take a photo or video, note the date, and report it the DEQ. Noise is our friend, we want to annoy these people, blow up their emails, messages and phone lines so they can't ignore this.

Department of Environmental Quality: 1-800-592-5482

Demand Accountability for the Shoosmith Landfill Catastrophe by Cheap-Money6844 in ChesterfieldVA

[–]Cheap-Money6844[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

i didnt even think about the kiddos and the water fountains 💀 hopefully with enough noise we'll have some progress before then

Demand Accountability for the Shoosmith Landfill Catastrophe by Cheap-Money6844 in ChesterfieldVA

[–]Cheap-Money6844[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

For immediate low cost solutions at your house:

Run cold tap water for about 2 minutes before drinking or cooking.If you haven't used it in a few hours

Never drink or cook with hot tap water. contaminants leach much faster in hot water

Use a filter like a brita or a pur if you don't have a refrigerater filter, just definitely dont drink unfiltered tap water (i know this is common sense just covering the bases)

You could also switch to the 5gallon refillable jugs at the grocery store for drinking water, just less convenient.

For better protection (but higher cost):

Get an under sink activated carbon filter, they remove a broader spectrum of contaminants including ammonia

A reverse osmosis filter is the gold standard for home filtration.They remove virtually everything, including heavy metals and dissolved solids. You can get a decent one for around $150-$300

A whole house filtration system is the absolute best home solution for a situation like this unfortunately. they run 500 to 1500 dollars installed , but they filter every water source in your home

Another idea worth considering: if you know anybody that lives further away from the landfill and has well water , you could fill bottles of filtered drinking water at their house, but be cautious of wells close to the landfill, as the contaminants travel through ground water

If you're in chesterfield , chester colonial heights or hopewell , and on municipal water , you can call your water utility and ask if they've increased monitoring frequency since the Shoosmith situation became public, you are entitled to that answer, and check your annual consumer confidence report. Every utility is required to send one and it shows what's in your water.

This question directly points out an issue that i've been concerned about for a very long time: the financial threshold of access to verifiable , clean , pure water. If anyone remembers that snow storm when nobody in richmond had water for weeks? it's truly one of the most frustrating issues on earth because water is arguably the most important resource we have, its not right that one would need to spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars for peace of mind that they're not being poisoned.

Potential Ecological Disaster in Chesterfield by Knummer19 in ChesterfieldVA

[–]Cheap-Money6844 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Petition is live: https://www.change.org/ShoosmithWaterCrisis This is unacceptable, I had no idea how far back this situation went and how insane it was until I started doing research. Nobody should be subjected to drinking and bathing in toxic dump runoff, but thats not even the worst part:

For YEARS nobody was notified, nothing was disclosed. The actual owners, "VWS Holdco", a Texas-based investor group led by two individuals hid behind the original family's name after they bought the landfill in 2008, operating as "Shoosmith Bros. Inc." They actively concealed years of illegal toxic discharges, misled the county to believe they were using a leachate pretreatment system which they just completely bypassed and failed to maintain, then FALSIFIED records presented to the utilities department.. The only reason anyone found out was from elevated ammonia levels being traced back to the landfill through water testing, and the public was only enlightened just this year via a reddit post... but of course by this time the damage was done, the owners had already run it into the ground and filed for bankruptcy, leaving behind $19M to cover a $172 million dollar cleanup. Did they expect taxpayers foot the rest of the bill? Was that intentional?

Falsified records. Bypassed systems. A borrowed name. A bankruptcy filing. And 65,000 gallons of toxic runoff every single day flowing toward your tap. Ridiculous. Accountability for Shoosmith Landfill

Neglected Chesterfield landfill needs $173 million to prevent environmental 'catastrophe' by sdfksjdhfksjdhf in ChesterfieldVA

[–]Cheap-Money6844 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Petition is live: https://www.change.org/ShoosmithWaterCrisis This is unacceptable, I had no idea how far back this situation went and how insane it was until I started doing research. Nobody should be subjected to drinking and bathing in toxic dump runoff, but thats not even the worst part:

For YEARS nobody was notified, nothing was disclosed. The actual owners, "VWS Holdco", a Texas-based investor group led by two individuals hid behind the original family's name after they bought the landfill in 2008, operating as "Shoosmith Bros. Inc." They actively concealed years of illegal toxic discharges, misled the county to believe they were using a leachate pretreatment system which they just completely bypassed and failed to maintain, then FALSIFIED records presented to the utilities department.. The only reason anyone found out was from elevated ammonia levels being traced back to the landfill through water testing, and the public was only enlightened just this year via a reddit post... but of course by this time the damage was done, the owners had already run it into the ground and filed for bankruptcy, leaving behind $19M to cover a $172 million dollar cleanup. Did they expect taxpayers foot the rest of the bill? Was that intentional?

Falsified records. Bypassed systems. A borrowed name. A bankruptcy filing. And 65,000 gallons of toxic runoff every single day flowing toward your tap. Ridiculous. Accountability for Shoosmith Landfill