ROACHDALE, Ind. — Rudy Guerrero is applauding Gov. Eric Holcomb's new decision to test the hazardous materials Heritage Environmental is trucking in from an Ohio train derailment for dangerous levels of dioxins.
"As long as none of this is being paid for by Norfolk Southern and none of this is being paid for by Heritage Environmental, this is a step in the right direction," Guerrero said.
Guerrero and his family live in Roachdale and attended a town hall Wednesday to voice his concerns about dioxins in the hazardous material and the impact the toxic waste can have on the community and surrounding areas for generations.
"This impacts multi-generation carcinogenic results as well as infertility," he said.
Jack Wildey, a former internal coordinator for Heritage Environmental applauds the Putnam County neighbors who came out to voice their concerns at the town hall.
"They knew something wasn't right. They just couldn't put their finger on it, but they knew, and they had a good reason to. They weren't being paranoid," said Wildey.
Wildey believes the toxic material shouldn't be coming here because of the classification and said the real threat is vinyl chloride.
"I would have called this a 'U listed' waste. The reason for that being so divisive is the only way you can get rid of a U listed waste is by incineration, which is extremely expensive," Wildey said. "This is a poster child for a U listed waste. It has not been used. It was traveling down the road. It was involved in an accident. It contaminated other materials around it."
Wildey said there's a facility closer to the train crash site that's capable of handling that kind of waste. He believes the hazardous material should go there instead.
Representatives for Heritage Environmental say the Roachdale facility is made for situations like this. They tell 13News the contamination levels in this soil are "well below" what the landfill is equipped to handle and are considered "low risk."
The facility manager says the company also monitors the landfill regularly to ensure there are no leaks.