[CPEO-MEF] LANDFILLS: "Marines ordered to close Camp Pendleton [CA] landfill after toxic runoff and failing infrastructure"

[Lenny Siegel]

Marines ordered to close Camp Pendleton landfill after toxic runoff and failing infrastructure


by Philip Salata
inewsource (San Diego, CA)
March 28, 2024 

The U.S. Marine Corps has closed a landfill at Camp Pendleton indefinitely pending repairs in response to a cease and desist order from water regulators, who cited years of environmental violations and contamination. 

Since early 2000, the Las Pulgas Landfill has faced multiple hurdles and violations while attempting to expand the facility, the most crucial being the discovery of tears in the liners which prevent toxic fluids in the trash from seeping into the earth. 

But the event that proved to be the turning point was when the Marines pumped millions of gallons of a toxic substance known as leachate into the stormwater system during tropical storm Hilary, which subsequently flows into Las Flores Creek and out into the Pacific Ocean. Leachate is the polluted waste water from trash and is known to contain heavy metals such as lead and mercury and other toxins such as benzene and ammonium that are harmful to humans and marine life. 

…

For the entire article, see
https://inewsource.org/2024/03/28/marines-landfill-pendleton-toxic-closure-water-contamination

—

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director
Center for Public Environmental Oversight
A project of the Pacific Studies Center
LSiegel at cpeo.org
P.O. Box 998, Mountain View, CA 94042
Voice/Fax: 650-961-8918
http://www.cpeo.org
Author: DISTURBING THE WAR: The Inside Story of the Movement to Get Stanford University out of Southeast Asia - 1965–1975 (See http://a3mreunion.org)