PUTNAM COUNTY, Indiana — Hoosiers have expressed mixed feelings about a plan to bring hazardous waste from the site of an Ohio train derailment through central Indiana.
Those hazardous materials are expected to travel to a Putnam County landfill.
Heritage Environmental landfill, a facility heavily regulated by state and federal governments, sits just east of the town of Russellville and about six miles from Roachdale.
"I live within a mile of the landfill. My home site has a freshwater well and I have no concerns about anything leeching out," said Eric Chris, facilities manager at Heritage Environmental landfill.
Chris and other leaders from the landfill joined county commissioners Tuesday to discuss safety as they await about 2,000 tons of contaminated soil from Ohio.
"It's the unknown. They know Heritage hauls in there all the time, but this is something new," said Tom Helmer, county commissioner of Putnam County.
It's something the landfill has been doing for decades.
"We're monitoring upstream and downstream to make sure there's no contaminants leaving the facility," said Chris.
Leaders said that contaminants will be closely monitored.
"It's soil that's contaminated with low levels of butyl acrylate. It's a very common chemical found in caulk, sealants, paints," said Ali Alavi, vice president of Heritage.
Alavi said levels are well below what the landfill is allowed to receive.
"The regulatory level is six parts per million that you're allowed to receive here at the landfill. That material that we are receiving is coming out at about .033 parts per million," said Alavi.
To put this into perspective, one part per million is equal to one cup of water in an Olympic-sized swimming pool.
"We want to be solutions people to help protect human health and the environment," said Chris.
County commissioners and Heritage leaders say they anticipate about 100 truckloads of the contaminated soil to be on the road by tomorrow.