CURBY

Curbside recycling – “Curby” – is a much beloved program for the small fraction of residential areas which receive the service.  It cost $9 million in capitol expenditures and $1 million a year to operate while diverting only 13,000 tons from the landfill out of a 1.3 million ton waste stream. 

“Curby” was launched to satisfy the young and middle age professionals who might otherwise agitate for real diversion of recycable material.  This allows decision makers to deal with other more pressing problems – a new minor league stadium, a convention center, etc.

At the General Assembly we have recently developed and presented a proposal to compost food waste (12% of the waste stream), yard waste (13%), and un-recycled paper (25%). This would be a money making proposition which would create more jobs than would the multi-national solid waste/landfill company, Waste Management, which has purchased a major composting company.

5 Janaury 2010 and 13 Janaury 2010 

BURNT Goes to Metro Council and General Assembly

BURNT brought holiday cheer to the Metro Council and State legilsature with our first visit of the new year.  As ususal, we came armed with written research.  At the Metro Council we addressed the Report of the Mayor's Green Ribbon Committee released in December 2009 as well as fraudulent solid waste figures issued by Metro Public Works which we have worked for YEARS to resolve.  The Green Ribbon Committee Report – 16 Goals and 71 Recommendations is a very fine document.  Yet, as Members of the 'Green Ribbon frequently pointed out, ZERO  [NO] southeastern cities are on the lists of top 100 green cities.  BURNT stated  "Being the greenest city in the southeast is like being the healthiest person in the Intensive Care Unit."  NOTE – Nashville is far from the greenest citiy in the South East.   On the second sheet, we examine the fraudulent solid waste numbers which Metro has paid alot of money to Engineers to compile.  This is quite puzzling . . . why have fake and fraudulent numbers which will catch up to you sooner or later (HELLO Bernie Madoff)?

Our state flyer was based on the extenisve letter concerning the pending State Audit of TDEC – Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.  

As always, it was very nice to see all the many wonderful and interesting people at our two seats of government.  BURNT has essentially worked for 21 years within 4 square blocks of Nashville – from the Court of Appeals to the State Legislature to Metro Courthouse.
                                            

Tennessee Department of Environment And Conservation Faces "Sunset Review"

Each year the Tennessee General Assembly (Legislature) conducts a 'Sunset Review' of selected Departments and Agencies of State government.  This year, The Tennessess Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC)  is under review by a joint committee of the House and Senate Government Operations Committee.  BURNT members spoke with Division of the Audit personnel but also submitted a detailed written assessment [attached]. BURNT's detailed statement alleged a wide range of problems at TDEC from a Board structure designed for failure, absolute failure of TDEC to meet the criteria of the 2007 law enabling solid waste reform (SB 2267/HB 2289--pg. 4), false solid waste numbers, FRAUD in regulating Dickson County landfill pollution, and multiple problems in permitting and regulating solid waste landfills including the the 2 billion dollar ($2,000,000,000) TVA Coal Ash Landfill in Harriman, regulated and permitted by TDEC.  "From Board structureto landfills, it is all overlaid with a thick layer of environmental injustice.  We appreciate the Tennessee General Assembly for this timely review of TDEC when solid waste reform is pending"  said BURNT President Bruce Wood.

The “chemical avoidance list” comes from an advisory council, the Interagency Committee on Sustainability and Green Procurement, that wants some $9 billion in annual state purchasing used to help rid the marketplace of toxic chemicals, including likely carcinogens. Advocates point to environmental contamination and human exposure from use, manufacturing and disposal of items that have even small quantities of substances like mercury.

The final recommendations will be posted and subject to public comment, however no dates have been set. Anne Rabe, an advisory council member from the Center for Health, Environment and Justice (CHEJ), said the effort follows similar steps by local governments in New York’s Suffolk County and states including Massachusetts, California, Maine and Washington.

A handful of substances on the list, including pesticides and clothing flame retardants, are already banned by the state, Ms. Rabe said. Others include components of solvents, herbicides, plastics, preservatives, glues, carpets, paints, dyes and lubricants.

“It drives the market toward safer products,” said Dr. Ted Schettler, adviser for the advocacy group Science and Environmental Health Network. He noted federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention studies show widespread exposure of Americans to several hazardous chemicals in consumer products.

J. William Wolfram, director of Global Regulatory Affairs from the Schenectady chemical company SI Group, told a committee of state purchasing officials this week that the simple list fails to address human exposure and calculate actual risk. “It doesn’t have any information about allowable concentrations of materials in products,” Wolfram said. “There has to be some reasonableness about this. … You don’t say this is a hazardous material, case closed, we’re done.”

For more information on New York’s efforts to reduce toxic chemicals and pesticides, read Beyond Pesticides’ Daily News Blog.

Source: The Associated Press

– We simply must learn whether in schools, farms, or water, pesticides and other chemicals [industry, pharmaceuticals, sewer sludge]  are serious problems.
            
– We are grateful to have participated in the Nashville Green Ribbon Committee which brought together very talented people.  We thought the path should have been targeting the Metro Nashville $1.7 billion dollar budget to leverage green actions by vendors, as Oakland, San Fransisco, Baltimore and New York have done.

 

The Romans: Lead Drinking and Eating Utensils and Lead Lined Aquaducts

The Mad Hatter: Mercury used to form hat brims

Planet Earth (America) 1995: 80,000 Chemicals Used In Business, Agriculture, and Pharmacuticals Daily 

Every Human Has 125 – 150 Low Level Multiple Chemcials in Their Body

Surprisingly, people do not generally know this.  BURNT members learned this from our gifted organizers on pesticides in schools and mosquito control efforts by the Metro Health Department.  It is very odd that some people [mostly women because chemicals build up in their higher level of body fat] shop for food and must leave right away because they sense that pesticides have been sprayed recently.  

It is very odd that those who should be the most sophisticated and capable leaders in America [business executives, mostly men] fight fiercely against any regulation or testing  of chemcials used in business, agriculture, or pharmacuticals.  Does the the model taught in graduate schools of business include that the ideal american consumer population will be passive (from hormones and estrogen mimickers in the water and food), be born with birth defects, and have trouble reproducing?  For example:

"Given the established knowledge, protecting children from neurotoxic environmental exposures from the earliest stages of fetal development clearly is an essential public health measure if we are to help prevent learning and development disorders and create an environment in which children can reach and maintain their full potential." Sceintific Consensus aited with Neurodevelopmental Disorders'  Institute for Children's Environmental Health.

The United States Geological Society (USGS)--far less politicized than the US EPA – found in a study of data between 1992 and 2001 that pesticides contaminated most of the nation's streams.  Three herbicides--atrazines, cyanazine, and cyanazine were most frequently detected in agricultural streams.  Atrazine--heavily used in corn farms in the mid-west--has been demonstrated by some researchers to cause birth defects in frogs and that 1,000 tadpoles raised in rain water which falls in Minnesota (mid-western corn farms), would all be female.  Purple rain?  The women are smarter?  The USGS has also done extensive studies on low level multiple chemcials in in water---public water treatment systewms do not even pretend pharmetcuticals, hormones, industrial chemcials. 

– United State Geologic Society – http://water.usgs.gov  [see multiple classifications including   pesticides]

The water is the key.  See below where we write that landfills are a women's issue due to birth defects and fertility problems. 

Please e-mail BURNT [burnt.tn@gmail.com] immediatley [collect] if you have an explanation why american business and government leadership rush like lemmings to OUR extinction to introduce these chemicals to our bodies and minds.  

AGAIN

[In a visit to a farmer in Idaho who grows  potatos for McDonald's] "Along with various insecticides, pesticides, herbicides, chemcial fertilizers and fungicides, the farmer dusts his crop with with some of the most toxic chemcials now in use, including Monitor, a deadly chemcial that damages the central nervous system.  [The farmer] won't go into a field for four or five days after it's been sprayed.  Monitor  kills aphids, which are harmless but transmit a virus that causes a problem called "net necrosis"--sounds spooky, but all it means is brown spots on the potato's flesh.  But McDonald's doesn't
want brown spots on its fires.  The farmer could plant other kinds of potatoes that aren't susceptible to net necrois, but then he'd lose McDonald's as a buyer" 

 Excerpt from "Don't Eat This Book" , pg.  110, by Morgan Spurlock, (c) by  Morgan Spurlock, 2005, Penguin Books--for education purposesonly.  Does not  imply approval of the contents of this web site

These practices may have changed since 2005 yet think of the tens of thousands of acres of Idaho farms saturated for years with "...insecticides, pesticides, herbicides, chemcial fertilizers and fungicides..." 

We see solid waste and pesticides connecting through water. 

We understand that it is not just business and government as culprits – we as citizens must act like we live in a democracy and invest our time to improve our world. 

Three really significant public health and human behavior "experiments" since 1955

A.  SMOKING--reduced from 2/3 to  1/3 in America

B.  SEAT BELTS: use from almost zero to near 90%

C.  OBESITY: follow the trail from America to Asia, Africa, and Europe (where very littl4e previous incidence of obesity) with the spread of fast food outlets---note rise in related conditions such as diabetes and heart problems which were rare previous to spread of fast food.

"We have met the enemy and it is us." Pogo, by Walt Kelly  

 

BURNT Celebrates Vice-President, R C  Bartlett's  75th Birthday and BURNT's  21st Anniversary


Photo of Mr.R C Bartlett, the Honorable Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen and Bruce Wood  taken February 2008, 7th NAACP Day on the Hill

On December 13, 2009,  BURNT celebrated its 21st Anniversary and the 75th birthday of Mr. R C Bartlett at Corinthinan Missionary Baptist Church, Pastor Enoch Fuzz.  Reverend Gail Sheavey of First Unitarian Universalist Church and Associate Minister and Music Director Jason Shelton were part of the celebration. (See links below to article in the Tennessean on 14 December 2009, pictures of the event, BURNT flyer to the Metro Council, and Metro Council Resolution) 

The celebration was sponsored by the Nashville Brnach of the NAACP and hosted by Corinthian Missionary Baptist Church.  BURNT founding member and past president, treasurer,  and leading light Joyce Vaughn attended.   "In 1988, we just wanted to stop the $300 million expansion of the downtown incinerator.  I never dreamed that would be so hard.  And, I never dreamed BURNT would succeed as it has for as long as it has" said Vaughn.   The initial BURNT meetings organized by Joyce and husband Wesley Vaughn were held at the Vasnderbilt Center for Student Health.   

Council member Vivian Wilhoite attended to read a Metro Council Resolution shsponsored for  BURNT's 20th Anniversary.  

"BURNT....the group that made downtown Nashville what is today" has been said many times but not by Mayors, the Chamber of Commerce, or major realtors.  Our contribution was to actually work against the apparent vested interests of the city to stop the expansion of the downtown garbage burning incinerator (1988-1992 – which included a $100 million garbage separator to clean up the burn for the incinerator) and a Rendering Plant which broad cast noxious packing plant odors over downtown, Metro Center, East Nashville, North Nashville, and Germantown (issue lasted from 1993-1996).  BURNT also worked with neighboring businesses, particularly Robert Orr Sysco. and UAW Local 737 to shut down Laidlaw-OSCO, a danagerous liquid hazardous waste processor in Cockrill Bend, a permitted incinerator in Madison [Nashville], and a projected purchase of incinerator plans from Austin, Texas. 

However, Metropolitan government also cleaned up Lower Broadway by eliminating blight inducing land uses including adult entertainment, movie houses, and massage parlors. 

Yet, without BURNT's efforts--which rely on neighborhood support and small business (big business and boosters are usually on the sideline)--downtown Nashville would have 250 garbage trucks making daily round trips, a $100 million garbage processor over looking the Cumberland River, and no downtown Symphony Hall or Country Music Hall of Fame. 

At the same time, we learned one of our key lessons--"Never be a single issue group, because if you win, you have nothing to do."   We were very fortunate to have a gifted organizer educate us on pesticides, low level multiple chemicals, and poisoning our water. We worked with the Metro Nashville Schools and State Legislature to win key pesticides victories in the 1990's.  This tradition continued with additional talent in a multi-year effort to improve Metro Health Department mosquito control efforts which featured trucks broadcast spraying pesiticides down the middle of neighborhood streets. 

Yet, it was the citizens who made the difference....as well as pockets of the leadership of Nashville including elected officials.  The incinerator and the Rendering Plant may have been the first issues which activated Nashville neighborhoods such as Edgefield , downtown, and Germantown.  The Sierra Club was very active  and individuals in downtown and across the city.   Metro Council sponsor of the expansion, Mr. Guy Bates, had the votes for a close victory but postponed the vote indefinetly because of the "controversey and dissension about this land use."  [A major point for us--we turned the debate by stressing land use in addition to air pollution and recycling.  We learned---a clean environment is good for business]  Then Metro Mayor Bill Boner vowed to let the Metro Council decide and he stuck to this.  Metro officials were meticuolous about holding public hearings for citizen  involvement.   Currently,  from the Metro Health Board to the Nashville  Sounds Ball Park to solid waste planning,  Metro government aggressively relies on pantomime planning exercies and public meetings   [NOT PUBLIC HEARINGS] to exclude citizens.    

Yet, BURNT learned a decision making process based on RESEARCH into the nature of the pollution,   RESEARCH into the laws and regulations governing the pollution, then formulating demands based on failures to comply with the law. 

And, we learned about ENVIRONMENTAL INJUSTICE---pollution, dog pounds, and landfills migrate to where the poor and minority live. 

So, as Mr. Bartlett said many times when told "Happy Birthday"---"Pray for 25 years more for me".   BURNT also says, "Thank you for 21 years and help us make the changes we need to achieve 42 with our values intact."

Below is link to article in the Tennessean on Monday 14 Deceember 

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20091214/GREEN02/912140333/Nashville-eco-group-BURNT-celebrates-21-years

BURNT  Talks To Solid Waste Board

On 1 December 2009 a BURNT member spoke to the State Solid Waste Disposal Control Board.  We earlier e-mailed a letter to the Board and the Department on 25 November [see below].  We also submitted a letter to the Board on 1 December [attached file].  We take any opportunity to talk or write to a decision makers seriously.  Our role is to developresearch based, positive solutions which help as many people as possible.  For example, we led the way in closing the Downtown incinerator and the Rendering Plant which hurt some.  However, value and use of commercial real estate went up greatly and pollution was reduced markedly  

BURNT which brings national research on solid waste to the table in Tennessee reform. We also have full knowledge of the impact of landfills on including  water pollution and air pollution from methane gas from our invovlement with the Nashville Branch of the NAACP, the Dickson County Branch of the NAACP, and the State Conference of the NAACP for this knowledge of environmental injustice.  We have seen at National NAACP Conventions it is common discussion that the South is becoming the dumping ground of solid waste from the East Coast and mid-west. 

BURNT offers a four prong approach to Tennessee solid waste:    

       A.  divert food waste (12% of the waste stream), yard waste (13%) and unrecycled paper (30%) to compost not landfill.  Process this organic waste within the county of generation as much as possible.  This can be implemented incrementally starting with commercial generators such as food stores, fast food, restaurants, schools, and institutions.

       B. Absolute stress on recycling, re-use,  and prevention of construction waste (10%--15% of the waste stream)  Create jobs not landfills 

       C. THE ONLY MANDATORY PART OF THE SYSTEM--residential, business, and all
other generators of waste MUST separate food waste, yard waste, and paper for collection by government or haulers.   In Toronto, Canada food waste is collected once a week in small trucks and other waste every other week.  

        D. We propose eliminating the onerous reports from local governments to the State.  These are costly and do very littel good.  Once the organic food waste, yard waste, and unrecycled paper are diverted for composting, the only thing local governments need to notify the state concern requests for assistance in working with generators who will not separate the waste.   

The multi-national landfill corporations and haulers have much to gain with this system

       1.   Based on the last fifteen years, these corporations have substantial liability for Tennessee landfills.  Catastropic damages from TVA Coal Ash Landfills to Dickson County Landfill to Coffee County Landfill demonstrate probable future liability for these deep pocket landfill owners and haulers.  There has been significant damage to people, environment, and water.  There is no reason to think the future will not bring more of the same.  (see Consultant Report, attached) These corporations should act toi minimize future danger to citizens and water.

       2.   Composting waste requires investment, talent, and access to the solid waste which the landfill companies and haulers have. 

      3.    Market share not destination of the waste is key for the industry.  Composting or
landfill--they can do well as long as maintain market share.  

      4.    Composting lengthens the life of their landfills and is a barrier of entry for competitors. 

      5.    As a national (and international) industry, solid waste haulers and landfill owners [often the same] are in tne anomalous position that a one man business with five trucks can determine market price in that area.  The cheapest shall rule in solid waste [thus so many dirty l;andfills?]

The 'State of Tennessee has not done well in solid waste.  Tennessee is riddled with
karst geology--cracks and fissures--and landfills are tricky and complex.  TVA Coal Ash fills, Dickson County and Coffee County are not so mute testimony to catastrophic damage to people, property and water from State regulators and permits.   There will be ample work for the State personnel to regulate on-going landfills and to implement composting, which can also be a tricky matter.  

It does us no good to defeat the proposed regulations which are paper thin and concerned  with empty "plans", "reports", and "goals".  We need to work to shift the debate.    
                                           

Why Tennessee Should Adapt Proposed Solid Waste Regulations Which Stresses Composting

The State Solid Waste Control Board will first consider proposed Solid Waste Regulations the first week of February 2010.  Although the new regulations appear to be industry friendly because they do nothing to divert solid waste from landfills, we belieive our model stressing composting of food waste (12% of the waste stream), yard waste (13% of the waste stream) and unrecycled paper (25%) will gain significant support.

      A. Nothing is required of business and residential other than separating organic food waste, yard waste, and paper.  Food stores, hotels, fast food, and restaurants are doing this all over the world. This is not onerous. We will make this very clear. 

      B. Local governments will not incur any additional costs.  Bartlett, Tennessee, a city in Shelby County [Memphis], diverts 90% of its yard waste from the landfills.  If Bartlett does this, so can the rest of the State. 

      C. This will create revenue streams for multi-national corporations which haul solid waste and own landfills.  We believe these companies can profit from composting solid waste.  

      D. Composting organic waste is a small, initial step in addressing environmental injustice inherent in landfills and other pollutio0n sources.  Pollution migrates to the minority and poor.  

      E. Local governments, the State, and landfill companies will benefit from extended life of landfills.

      F. Diversion of organic food waste, yard waste, and paper from landfills will be a barrier of entry of other landfills.

      G. New federal regulations indicate national policy is moving toward our proposal to compost organic food waste, yard waste, and paper.  

      H. Our experience, in Tennessee, is that deep pocket, multi-national solid waste companies may have a very sigbnificant legal exposure due to poor landfill siting and practices allowed by the State.  Now is the time for them to mitigate this possible exposure through reforms.  

      I. Our proposals are incremental.  We need the expertise of the State, solid waste companies, business, and citizens to identify immediate [schools], intermediate [large food stores and residential] goals for implementation.  

      J. Solid waste is a matter of health.  Methane gas from landfills and polluted groundwater are deadly threats. Tennessee is a very unhealthy state.

      K. The solid waste reform process adapted by the Sate appears to be illegal. The state did not comply with the enabling statute as far as research into costs of compost or specific nature of different solid waste regions.  

      L. Recovery of clean methane gas from 3 million tons of compostable waste will prove a significant energy source.  Landfill mechanisms to capture this gas   are marginal

In many ways the solid waste companies are the most skilled players in solid waste.  However, failure to honor limitations on technology, very tricky karst geology [cracks and fissures in rock], a single goal of burying solid waste,  and Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation regulatory processes which appear to be business   friendly but hurt business by allowing environmental degradation, have contributed to our landfill woes. Dickson County, to Coffee County, Cedar Ridge, Smith County, Middle Point, TVA Coal Ash Landfills in Harriman and Camden, and 80 Class IV construction landfills are not so mute testimony for the need for changes we propose.   

We appreciate the opportunity to be part of this process

NOTE:  Please see links below concerning solid waste reform to our written comments on solid waste reform including medical risks and  July 2008 Expert Opinion by Globally Green Consulting [615-360-3778] on landfills in Middle Tennessee and State regulatory practices. 
                                           

A Time for Celebration

BURNT rings in the holiday season by celebrating RC Bartlett's 75th birthday and BURNT's first meeting in December 1988 and the spirit of citizens working with government, business, and academia to improve the environment. Mr. RC Bartlett has been a loyal member of Sylvan Heights Homeowner Association and a leader with BURNT for many years.

The 75th  Birthday of BURNT Vice-President, R C  Bartlett  

The 21st Anniversary of BURNT 

Sunday, 13 December 2009:  3 p.m.–5 p.m.

HOST   Corinthian Missionary Baptist Church

               Pastor  Enoch  Fuzz
                    819 33rd  Avenue North

                    Nashville, TN  37209

SPONSOR  Nashville Branch of The NAACP

MR. BARTLETT ASKS THAT IN LIEU OF GIFTS, DONATIONS BE MADE TO BURNT

COMPOST  Not Landfill

Letter to State Solid Waste Board (meet 1 December)
'E-mail 'cover letter' below (letter in attached file)

BURNT Adds to Solid Waste "Reform" Debate

Tennessee has considered solid waste reform for two years following passage of an Administratin bill in year 2007--Bill HB 2289/SB 2287 ---[http://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/105/Chapter/PC0462.pdf ] Public Chapter 482 --g. 4. The State Solid Waste Disposal Control Board will vote in either December or February. BURNT developed a model that relies on composting food waste (12% of the waste stream), yard waste (13%), and unrecycled paper (25%). We also found that landfills are a major contributor to green house gasses--if organic waste food waste, yard waste, and unrecycled paper were composted that would eliminate landfill gas which is the equivalent in terms of green house gasses of shutting down 21% of coal burning power capacity.

The proposed regulations can be found at Regulations – http://www.state.tn.us/environment/swm/ppo/ph1200_01_07.pdf

NOTE: they revovle around "reports", "plans", and "goals" with no specific plans and the state has been heavily oriented toward plans, goals, and reports since 1991.

Landfill gasses are also a health risk. Women who live within two miles of landfill have a significantly enhanced likelihood of giving birth to a developmentally disabled baby.

We apreciate the assistasnce from COOL2012 (Compostables of of Landfills by 2012) and include one of the letters they wrote in this process.

The State Solid Waste Control Disposal Board will amke this decision in either early December or Febraury.

Please write to us with your comments or questions--burnt.tn@gmail.com

ATTACHED FILES:

1. BURNT comments on Solid Waste regulations ("BURNT StateSolidWasteCommentsSept28")

2. BURNT proposed amendments to the Regulations ("BURNTAmendSolidWasteRegs30September")

3. A consideration of health impacts of l;andfills based on an ATSDR study ("SolidWastehealthSept2009.222").

4. A consultant report on landfill regulation in Middle and East Tennessee by 'Globally Green Consulting" previously submitted to the Solid Waste Advisory Committee (Advisory committeeLetter72108FINAL").

5. A letter from COOL22012--a national consulting group concerned with organics in the landfill
and green house gas ("COOLtoSloan").

6. A study by ATSDR on impact of solid waste landfills on health – http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/HAC/landfill/html/appc.html#1

7. Pictures of Cedar Ridge Landfill leakage into ground water – link at
http://www.informthepublic.org/Pictures.html

dickson fraud  test

August 2009

BURNT AWARDED GRANT FROM RESIST

BURNT applied for a grant from RESIST (www.resistinc.org) this summer in order to support continued efforts to improve Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in Davidson County for mosquitoes. We received a letter praising all of the work that BURNT does and awarding the grant.

These funds will help support public education on the 2 most effective forms of mosquito management - source reduction and larviciding. In the spring, we will mail backyard checklists and other information to four Nashville neighborhoods, that have historically had mosquito problems and to all area public libraries. The money will also be used to support research and to possibly begin work on creating changes in the way our city approaches weed control.
---------------------------------------------------------------

BURNT A Member of Community Shares
$olid Wa$te Reform In Tenne$$ee
     TDEC $ABOTAGES $OLID WA$TE REFORM      
Violate Policy Of Local Solid Waste Manager Dominated Task Force

“IF YOU BEGIN WITH THE CONTENT OF SOLID WASTE, SOLUTIONS FALL LIKE RAIN FROM THE SKY” [PETER ANDERSON]

NOTE: A BURNT member was a member of the “Task force” and another attended every session. We found TDEC employees professional and accessible. However, the good policy formulated by our “Task force” was defeats in a sneak attack [see ‘What Is Wrong With TDEC?’

TDEC [The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation] did a switch and bait on proposed regulations to favor landfills at the expense of people. State Solid waste Reform began in 2007 under an administration backed bill–HB 2287/SB 2289 [pg. 4-5] BURNT was the only group to oppose this bill–we spotted the language which would allow TDEC to continue their system of recycling lite, landfill heavy system. The proposed regulations [link] are structured around the useless, inaccurate government reporting of local governments. There are three (3) full pages describing the various degree of enforcement by TDEC against local governments which fall short.....yet the State has NEVER enforced against a local government over solid waste failures since 1991.

These regulations follow the last “reform” in 1991. Initially. The 25% diversion of solid waste was reasonable. However, in 1996, TDEC created an incredible loop hole which caused Class IV Landfills to grow from 12 in 1994 to almost 80 today–most of these located in poor and minority areas. Tennessee is the only state with this loop-hole eyt they are not embarassed.

What were some of the hallmarks of this “reform”

• started in year 2007 with HB 2287/SB 2289 –an administration bill
• terrible environmental injustice and racism by TDEC–three groups official State Groupswhich voted on this–‘Solid Waste Reduction Task Force’ were 46 out of 49 members
• white—TDEC does not want brown and black people around
• despite extreme poverty of state and extreme economic problems, TDEC made no use
• solid waste as a raw material in business for jobs—hello, governor and Chamber of Commerce.
• despite National research, TDEC ignored facts that landfilling organic wastes food waste, yard waste, and paper create methane gas, a major contributor to greenhouse gas.

Let’s remember TDEC has butchered landfill after landfill including Dickson County, Coffee County, Carter County, the Class II Coal Ash Landfill in Harriman which is a $1 billion crisis AND fifty (50) more landfills in evaluation due to high level water pollutants. .Two regional landfills inside the city limits of Memphis. More than 75 unlined Class IV landfills.

See below “What is Wrong With TDEC” – a Legislative flyer and commentary
LINKS---
---jobs from solid waste
--national expert letter on organic food and yard waste causing green house gasses and the
--regulations [preliminary] go to -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

June 2, 2009
 

Metro Council

The budget and proposed Convention Center are the big issues–apparently Metro’s
budget is sneaking up on $2.0 billion dollars. Some want the the School
Board to have their own tax ability, as it is schools consume about half of
Metro budget yet the school population is shrinking because of private
schools.

Also, in a major presentation at the end of May  “Cumberland
Region Tomorrow” had a big program on mass transit. BURNT has long
advocated whatever means are needed to keep people from driving to
Nashville to work—freeways are clogged bumper to bumper for miles
coming in and leaving. Please note–the Denver Transportation Director
urged Metro to build, build, build–raw material prices–metals, wood, and
concrete always increase. No one mentioned that Metro Nashville and
businesses landfill 150,000 tons of concreete and concrete rubble
annually.

Finally, to understand the dynamics of Tennessee and government,
please read a medical journal article in PloS Medicine from April 2008
which details that the only place in the world where life expectancies
among certain groups is DECREASING is In Appalachia, Tennessee, the
deep south, down the lower Mississippi River, and the southern plains.

http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0050066

---

April 26, 2009

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April 25, 2009

Read BURNT's press release:
April_20_2009_MDHAWaterfrontPark.pdf

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April 10, 2009

Summer Intern at BURNT
Apply Now

BURNT will have a summer intern program which we hope helps us tie our multiple interests closer together and offers students (and why not senior citizens) important opportunities to learn about the multiple chemicals threats facing our society. BURNT is expert on many aspects of solid waste, landfills, recycling, and pesticides.

However, we have to learn the positive solutions to these problems including sewer sludge, and long range threats to our reproductive ability to create healthy babies due to low level multiple chemicals in the environment and humans. We offer you an opportunity to learn with us under our tutelage and direction.

Additional information and contact information:
BURNT_Intern_Opportunities_Summer2009.pdf
BURNT_Intern_Information_Summer2009.pdf
 

---

April 10, 2009

On April the 14 the State Solid Waste Advisory Committee will hear public testimony
beginning at 9:30 a.m. on the 17th Floor of the L & C Tower.
This Committee advises the Tennessee
Department of Environment and Conservation.

On 3 June 2009 the State Solid Waste Disposal Board
meets to consider if the solid waste regulations proposed by TDEC
should bereleased for Public Comment.

The Board has twice rejected these regulations.

Please read BURNT"S indepth analysis:
Solid_Waste_Reform_April2009.pdf
Solid_Waste_Advisory_Committee_6April2009.pdf

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March 29, 2009

 BURNT had a busy week at the 
 Legislature and Metro Council

Legislature

We are working for SB 2218/HB 2216 which enable Tennessee State University and Middle Tennessee State University to provide solid waste planning for the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. This bill goes to the Local government sub-Committee in the House the first week in April. There are multiple other environment issues including mountain top mining and several water issues.
 
Metro Council

At the Metro Council, BURNT defended the Health Board which has violated us and the environment of Nashville many times. The issue is the Board requiring chain restaurants to post calory counts with every dish on the menu. Even though the decision took place in March and opponents have nearly seven (7) weeks to appeal, the Council may seek to overturn this decision. BURNT has been burned good and often by the Health Board and southern justice courts, nonetheless this council intervention for this illegality is puzzling.

PLEASE NOTE

As citizens who have gone before many State and Metro boards.  We can attest first hand that people on boards get very little support–no independent staff, legal advice is biased toward the Department not the board, no professional development. Yet, we must recognize that the State Solid Waste Disposal Board has done an outstanding job in NOT putting proposed regulations out for public comment.

Mayor’s Green Ribbon Committee

Please note our two page “Recommendations” to the Mayor’s Green Ribbon Committee. This demonstrates our experience, knowledge, and exposure across the city. No other group talks about Tennessee having a worse infant mortality rate than Cuba or Hungary. We celebrate the Mayor’s effort but we recognize, as do others, that Nashville is starting from way back.

Please see links below for BURNT's indepth research:
BURNT_MetroCouncil_17Feb2009.pdf
BURNT_GREENRibbonDRAFT_9Mar2009.pdf
BURNT_GeneralAssembly_23Feb2009.pdf
BURNT_GeneralAssembly_16March2009.pdf
BURNT_GeneralAssembly_10Mar2009.pdf
BURNT_GenAssembly_11Mar2009.pdf
BURNT_LegislatureSB2180_2009.pdf

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Febuary 28, 2009

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 1. Tennessee is third ranked in solid waste generated--Illinois, Indiana, and Tennessee are the only states which generate annually more than 2 tons per person and this is not due to out of state waste---
     Table 3 "Estimated Tonnage of MSW generated, recycled......"    

2.  Tennessee generates  12.2 million tons of municipal solid waste (excluding  Construction and Demolition Waste) and claims to recycle 4.8 million tons--almost 40%!!  
        Table 3 "Estimated Tonnage of MSW generated, recycled......"

3. However, according to a detailed break down of materials recycled the total of actual recycled materials is less than 800,000 tons 
           Table 6--"Quantity of materials recycled per state.." to see various  categories and Tennessee totals approximately ---770,000 tons in all categories. 

It takes a national magazine to expose the reality of Tennessee solid waste–all loop  hole and little substance.  BURNT wrote to BioCycle editors about this–how could they know that Tennessee is the ONLY state which claims landfilling on class IV Landfills is actually diversion?  .

 

There is a big discrepancy.    Table 3 claims almost 40% recycling–4.8 million tons and yet when SPECFIC categories are stipulated, the amount is less than 800,000 tons.  
 For entire article click on:  http://www.jgpress.com/archives/_free/001782.html

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 BURNT Files Complaints Against Licensed Engineers over Nashville solid waste plan.

Nashville Solid Waste Plan Written By National Researcher Called “Fraud” 

BURNT, a Nashville, Tennessee citizens solid waste group has filed complaints with the Metropolitan Nashville Purchasing Department, Nashville Public Works, and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation that two licensed engineers, one an official with a national solid waste group, who wrote a "Solid Waste Plan" for Nashville used false figures to justify years of future landfilling

BURNT president Bruce Wood said “despite months of written and oral testimony by citizens, engineers O'Brien and White submitted a 'Solid Waste Plan" which was approved by the Metropolitan Regional Board that used false solid waste numbers that will cost Nashville government and business millions in excessive landfilling fees.” (see accompanying letters)

Wood said the "Plan" relies on false data that the engineers were obligated to correct. “The only accurate solid waste number Metro has is the amount of waste landfilled in Class I municipal solid waste landfills yet Table 3-1 [pg, 14] lists recycling totals for the private and public sectors down to 20 pounds–a hundredth of a ton out of a 1.2 million ton waste stream.”

On 3 February the State Solid Waste Disposal Board will decided whether to allow proposed solid waste regulations to go out for public comment. BURNT has asked the State Board to require more planning before amended regulations are released for public comments. 

Wood also challenged the findings of engineer O’Brien that “Total Public and Private Sector Recycling" is 421,405.46 tons or 33% of the waste stream. “This is a completely fabricated number. There is absolutely no way Metro Nashville recycles 33% of the waste stream.” 

Wood pointed out Table 5-2 of the “Plan” claims that from year 2008 to year 2017 ALL [100%] of the industrial recyclables will be recycled. “This is an incredible claim which has no basis in fact or reality. This false claim justifies and camouflages high landfilling.”

BURNT also contends the “Plan” failed to examine the full environmental and fiscal costs of landfills--Metro government and business spend approximately $25 million annually to landfill waste--to determine how to compost and divert portions of the waste stream.

To read BURNT's entire complaint and related BURNT indepth research:
Nashville_Purchasing_dept_Complaint_Jan2009.pdf
http://www.nashville.gov/recycle/pdfs/SWP121808.pdf
Nashville_MetroCouncil_Jan2009.pdf
Nashville_Solid_Waste_Board_Plan_Jan2009.pdf
TN_General_Assembly_Jan2009.pdf
TN_Solid_Waste_Disposal_Board_Jan2009.pdf

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January 5, 2009

• Solid Waste Numbers Completely Made Up  
• Metro Landfills 75% of Its' Waste and Recycles 28%?
• Waste Stream Measured to the 1/100th of a Ton--Out of a 1.2 MILLION Tons?
• BURNT files Complaint with Metro Purchasing Agent [attached file]
• see BURNT analysis written in May 2008 [attached file]
• see BURNT letter to the Regional Solid Waste Board
  

December 1, 2008.

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November 21, 2008

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November 14, 2008

What's Your Carbon Footprint?

Check out these links to find out:   

http://www.nature.org/initiatives/climatechange/calculator/
http://www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx

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For Immediate Release Tuesday  28 October  2008---2:30 p.m   BURNT President addresses Mayor's Green Committee       Nashville Electric Service ---Church Street         For More Information--Bruce Wood--615-327-8515          Office of Mr. Decosta Jekings, President, NES     Mayor's Office   Release --see attached file for COMPLETE File on State Solid Waste Reform   Nashville  Activist Addresses Mayor 'Green Ribbon Committee' Today BURNT President Speaks Today To Mayor's Environmental Committee   BURNT president Bruce Wood will speak to a Sub-Committee of the Mayor's "Green Ribbon Committee" today, Tuesday, 28 October at 2:30 p.m. at  NES Headquarters on Church Street [far left entrance near Freeway] .   Said Wood, "BURNT is in our 20th year and we have worked through research and citizen involvement.  We welcome the Mayor's effort citizens.  The people of Nashville can provide positive solutions to pressing problems.  BURNT hopes to provide some positive structural suggestions."   Wood will present particular solutions such as Metro participating more effectively in state solid waste reform--"We can not expect local governments to work with individual generators to compost."  And to invest in local education and research--"The Mayor's proposal for school curriculum revolving around health and environment are vital."  Wood will discuss environmental injustice.   HISTORY   Mayor Karl Dean appointed the Mayor's Green Ribbon Committee to make Nashville the Greenest City in the Southeast.  For months, meetings were not listed.  Bruce Wood is BURNT president, a 20 year old environmental group with a history of shutting down chronic polluters which improved commercial real estate in Nashville, working on environmental injustice, and sustained efforts for solid waste reform at the State Legislature and Metro Government.         For indepth reading and additional information:

AdvisoryHearingLetter072108SECONDDRAFT.pdf (application/pdf) 
BURNTAnalysisofMetro10YearStateSolidWastePlan.pdf (application/pdf) 
BURNTAnalysis--StateSolidWaste--28_October.pdf(application/pdf)
BURNTSolidWastePRESENToct2008.pdf (application/pdf) 
BURNTSolidWasteRecommendationsOct2008.pdf (application/pdf)

 

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October 15, 2008

October 13, 2008

Dickson County landfill
a disaster waiting for a solution

BURNT has worked on the Dickson County landfill since September 2005 at the request of the Tennessee State Conference  NAACP.  Highly polluted groundwater, illness, and death are byproducts of the failure to follow state and federal regulations governing leaking landfills and environmental injustice.

Court related documents:
dicksoncountychancerynov2007


 

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September 24, 2008
JUDGE RULES METRO SPRAY TRUCK DRIVER NEGLIGENT

Judge Thomas W. Brothers ruled in Circuit Court today that John Primm of the Metro Public Health Department breached his duties when he sprayed citizen Emmett Clifford with the pesticide Anvil 2+2 while spraying a Donelson neighborhood for mosquitoes on October 15, 2003. Judge Brothers stated that the department had a practice of turning off the spray when pedestrians or vehicles were visible near the truck during spraying and that this was wise. He added that it is clearly foreseeable that people would not want to be sprayed with a pesticide. John Primm was charged with the duty to shut off the spray and therefore he was found to have breached that duty and to be negligent in spraying Clifford with Anvil 2+2.
Read the complete story at www.nospraynashville.org/negligence.html

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April 16th, 2008

 "Zero Waste In Tennessee"

Recycling for Profit, Protect Our Water, & Stop Environmental Injustice

Dr. Neil Seldman, President of the Institute for Local Self Reliance, will speak Wednesday 16 April at the First Unitarian Universalist Church at 1808 Woodmont Avenue at 7:30 p.m. on "Zero Waste In Tennessee--Recycling for Profit, Protect Our Water, Stop Environmental Injustice." The public is welcome at no charge.

Neil Seldman is a national and international expert on managing solid waste as a resource for raw material in business and composting (NOT landfill). Neil Seldman is visiting Nashville from Monday 14 April to Thursday 17 April to speak with government agencies, large solid waste generators, and schools.

For more information, contact BURNT at 615-327-8515.

 

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April 8, 2008

• Working to improve mosquito management in Nashville

Metro Public Health Department (MPHD) made a few changes to their poorly managed Pest Management Department because of pressure from the public, BURNT, and other organizations. They improved their notification policies but then proclaimed that it was not necessary to shut off the spray when pedestrians are near and they also would not allow people to opt out their properties. BURNT has an attorney who has volunteered his time to file a legal appeal. BURNT has agreed to cover the expenses of this appeal to help protect the citizens of Nashville from the department's irresponsible policies.

The MPHD's mosquito management program has a long history of inexcusable protocol failures, policy failures and medically unethical practices that have jeopardized the health and safety of citizens in our community. These failures have risked citizens' health to disease as well as from the misuse of pesticides. These actions resulted in the serious injury of at least 5 citizens and two civil lawsuits. See our link in the column on the top right for more information or www.nospraynashville.org for details about the issue and how to sign up for notification of the department's pesticide spraying.

October 30^th, 2007

• Halloween Rally
  Come to BURNT's Halloween Rally and protest Metro use of human and industrial waste as fertilizer on agriculture fields and golf courses.

• PUBLIC MEETING NOTICE--Concrete Over Dickson County Landfill.
  Major, four lane road construction close to the Dickson County Landfill is planned. Read about BURNT's concerns and attend the public hearing.
  
  

October 29^th, 2007

•  Letter: The National Vehicle Mercury Switch Recovery Program.
  Tennessee has joined a new national program to remove and recycle mercury switches from vehicles.  Mercury is a toxic metal that can negatively impact our environment if not managed properly. The above letter is a letter to the Department of Environment and Conservation urging the organization to join The National Vehicle Mercury Switch Recovery Program.
  
  
• BURNT  Flyer to the National NAACP Convention--2007

  BURNT attended the 2007 National NAACP Convention in Detroit and distributed approximately 400 copies of the brochure above. It is an encapsulated form of our 2006 Brochure on Environmental Injustice, which is listed on the AOL Search "Environmental Injustice, Landfills."

  BURNT is active with the NAACP as one of the few national organizations with active Branches and a national policy to fight environmental injustice. In fact, we became active with the NAACP because most of the Nashville pollution problems we fought were in minority and poor neighborhoods. We continue to work on the Dickson County Landfill. Landfill pollution of groundwater is a state wide problem, as is environmental injustice.

October 23^rd, 2007

• Zero Waste in a State That Landfills
  BURNT is fortunate to have two Board members--Bruce Wood and R.C. Bartlett--participating in the State Solid Waste Reduction Task Force. This group is mostly made up of local public works managers from across the state--urban and rural. BURNT appreciates being part of this planning effort. There is a lot of talent in Tennessee government--our challenge is to work effectively with those involved.
  
  Letter: Solid Waste Reduction Task Force.
  BURNT's goals for the Task Force are clear from the above letter--abandon the 1991 Solid Waste Act (which BURNT members went to the State legislature to support) which has become a paperwork exercise of reports, quotas, and landfill, landfill, landfill.
  
  
• BURNT Asks State Sanctions Against Metro Health Board.
  Following years of air permit appeals based on Health Board denial of public hearings, due process, and citizen participation, in October 2005 BURNT filed a formal complaint with the State Air Quality Control Board. The Board members were interested and instructed State staff to investigate. Following lengthy submittal of documents and interviews, BURNT wrote a letter to the State asking for resolution based on a legal brief filed on 16 October 2007 in the Court of Appeals in the appeal of the North American Galvanizing Permit.
  
  
• BURNT at the State Legislature.
  For the second year in a row, BURNT helped pass legislation which was used by the Tennessee Conservation Voters (TCV) to rate members of the General Assembly on environmental issues. Visit Tennessee Conservation Voters.
  
  
• Burnt: A Day Late for State Water Board Public Comments, Passes Them Along.
  Twice a year, the State Water Quality Control Board  has open mic--anyone can say what they want.  Unfortunately, due to our work load on North American Galvanizing, BURNT was a day late for the  comments--life in the fast lane as a volunteer. However, we passed the comments linked to some employees and will send them to the Water  Board. From enforcement to composition of the Board to sewer sludge to impact of agriculture on water, we brought up good issues in a good way EXCEPT.........a day late.

October 8^th, 2007

• Wastewater Agreement Would Add Sewer Lines
  In relation to BURNT's letter to the Department of Justice The Tennessean recently published an article detailing the damage done by Metro's dumping of raw sewage until 2001 and what has been proposed to fix it. Bruce Wood comments.

October 1^st, 2007

• Burnt in the News.
  The Tennessean recently published a 'three star' letter by BURNT President Bruce Wood, explaining how we've "traded the environment for paychecks."
  
  
• Letter to the Department of Justice.
  BURNT continues battle against the Federal Government secrecy and Consent Decree which covers up years of failure to eliminate sewer overflow and requests that the Department of Justice vacate the Consent Decree with the State of Tennessee and Metropolitan Nashville.
  

September 24^th, 2007

• A column in the Tennessean supporting curb side recycling and BURNT's not-too-thrilled (and yet to be printed) Letter to the Editor .
  
  
• State Means Business on Smoke Ban
  
  BURNT congratulates Tennessee government and the people of the State because on "...1 October 2007  smoking will be banned in all public places in the state, including restaurants, hotels, sports arenas, and other workplaces." We have long understood that government--local, state, and national--are agents of change in the environment. Environmental injustice, tradition, and bad science hurt government decision making but BURNT is part of making that process better. 
  We also understand the broad sweep of changing human behavior to make healthy survival possible.  From tobacco to seat belts, we can change our behavior in response to the lessons of public health.  Now, we are each confronted with multiple chemicals taking precedence in our environment and bodies and we must recognize this as a serious challenge and an issue not to be taken lightly.
  
  
• New Data on Multiple Chemical Sensitivity.
  A look at how chemicals effect our bodies and acknowledgment that "chemical sensitivity does exist as a serious health and environmental problem..." An early look at a problem which has grown and continues to effect our bodies and the environment.

September 3^rd, 2007

• Summit for a Sustainable Tennessee
  BURNT is proud to belong to Summit for a Sustainable Tennessee. Taking place November 15-16th at David Lipscomb University in Nashville it is "an opportunity to bring together interested conservation organizations from across Tennessee in order to create, prioritize, and advance a statewide conservation agenda and action plan for implementation." If you are interested in attending visit the website above for more information.
  
  
•  NAWQA: Pesticide National Synthesis Project
  United States Geologic Society information on contamination of fresh water lakes and rivers with pesticides.  Reflects on multiple chemicals in our bodies and environment.
  
  
  
• BURNT--Part of 'Commodores in the Community'
  
  
  BURNT finally made the local establishment when a group of Vanderbilt's finest, the incoming class of 2011, visited with BURNT under the "Commodores in the Community" program. Eighteen freshmen were bussed to Tennessee Waste in Antioch to visit with Phillip Nappi, owner and manager.  BURNT worked with Mr. Nappi when he first opened on Georgia Avenue with two bobcats, a few trucks, and a determined commitment that money can be made out of solid waste by reconciling construction and demolition waste. Tennessee Waste now has 50 employees and recycles 62% of the construction and demolition waste it picks up. 
   
  The students were next bussed over to Granbery Elementary School where BURNT officer Sherry Force explained her school drop off and food waste composting operation.  When told the composting unit at Granbery was a smaller version of a composting unit at Disney World, one of the students said "Is there anyone who does not think that Disney World is the coolest place on earth?"   Well, yes, at least one- but BURNT's Bruce Wood has learned to not bust people's chops unless really necessary. 
   
  So, BURNT gave the students a broad introduction to multiple chemicals and their effects on our bodies and the environment, what can be done to not only solve but make money off environmental problems, and the pressing fact that we have problems that must be dealt with for the sake of our planet's future. As incoming freshman, whether they realize it or not, our future will soon be in their hands.
  

August 27^th, 2007

• Federal Take-Over of State Enforcement for Sewer Overflow
  
  BURNT learned that the Federal Justice Department and the US EPA intervened in the long running enforcement by the State of Tennessee against Metro Sewer and Water for sewer overflow into the Cumberland River. These led to secret negotiations which violate the Tennessee Open Records Act, which requires all government business be public.  BURNT wrote to officials seeking a public hearing. There will be a review in Federal Court, the Consent Decree will be put on the web, and questions are being formed about the process and the penalties.  What we really want to know is why the Federal government intervened in State Enforcement against a local government, why Sewer overflow into the Cumberland River has been allowed to continue for 17 years, and is the pattern the same in scores of other cities where the Federal government has intervened?
  
  Read the letter to Governor Bredesen and Mayor Bill Purcell in which, "BURNT requests State and Metro government to hold a public hearing on enforcement of Metro Sewer Overflow, why failing septic tanks were tolerated for years, leakage of sewage into groundwater, and the environmental injustice inherent in this pollution of the waters of the State."
  
  BURNT Calls for a Public Hearing
  
  
• Metro Sewage Talks Closed to Public
  An article in the Tennessean detailing the federal governments involvement in Metro's secret sewage talks, including commentary from our own Bruce Wood as well as a brief history of Metro's sewage problems from 1980 on.

August 26^th, 2007

• Mom, Daughter Spur Each Other to Public Service & their tips on How To Get Involved.
  An article and a follow up that echo BURNT themes and speak to our conscience. Two local women prove that you can make a difference.

October 19, 2008

BURNT has worked on the Dickson County landfill since September of 2005 at the request of the Tennessee State Convention of the NAACP.  Severe groundwater pollution and rampant illness and death are by-products of willful violation of regulations requiring cleanup of polluted groundwater. 

Compost  NOT Landfill

>>BURNT writes to State Solid Waste Board 

Meet  1  December--
==============

         BURNT   Speaks To The State Solid Waste Board
On 1 December 2009, a BURNT member spoke to the State Solid Waste Controll  Disposal 
Board following the submission of written comments ion 25 November (see below) and a
letter on 1 December [attached] .   These opportunties are very important to us--we learned
a long time ago  we must move the dialogue NOT muscle through our opinions.    Our
fundamental advantage is that we are research based with positive solutions that provide
maximum benefits available to all parties

BURNT is the only party invovled in Tennessee solid waste which has a cohesive position
based on national research from sources such as COOL2012  and Institute for Local Self
Reliance.    Our basic solid waste policy has three steps

     1.  compost all organic food waste (12% of the waste stream), yard waste (13%), and
unrecycled paper (30%), with incremental implementation starting with idneitifed commercial
and insititution sources such as food stores. fast food, restaraunts, schools and colleges.  
Keep it within county of generation, if possible

      2.  maximum emphasis on re-use, recycling, and prevention of construction waste

      3.  eliminate or reduce drastically all local government reports except to report problem areas and get assistance from the State.   

Obviously, the waste companies, landfill owners, and haulers want to look at a system like this
very closely.  Yet, if they think it through what we propose is in their interest

     ---based on events in the last 10 years in Tennessee and elsewhere, landfill owners have
a  very large unrealized liability for deficient landfills--caused, in part by poor government 
regulations.  They need to reduce risk and demonstrate improvement. 

      ---composting waste and mining methane OUTSIDE THE LANDFILL is an important 
opportunity for big buisness which requires financing and management.  Perfect for these corporations

     ----market share of the waste stream is more important than destination of waste to a 
landfill.  Composting lengthens landfill life and is barrier of entry for competitiors.   

      ---the weakness of multi-national solid waste corporations is that a local company with 
five trucks determines pricing.  This is rare among huge industries. 
 
The State of Tennessee has not done well in the landfill business.  TVA Coal Ash Landfills
in Harriman (Tn) and  New Johnosonville have a two (2) billion dollar [$2,000,000,000.
Dickson County is a festering wound spreading dangerous, life threatening pollution
through ground water and surface water.  Coffee County, Cedar Ridge, and unknown 
future problems ---landfills are not a good area for Tennessee government.  Not to
mention  that this Tennessee is the ONLY state which credits landfilled construction
waste as recycled and this loop hole caused the growth in Class IV landfills to rise
from 12 in 1994 to 80 in 2009. 

The regulations  proposed by the State require an additional 168 cities (any city
over 3,000 population) to file annual and five year solid waste reports ---such five year
reports are likely to cost   $7,500 for each city or $1.3 million. 

BURNT presents a positive program.  We say--make business and jobs not landfills
that pollute water and people.

please see attached letter to  the State Solid Waste Disposal Control Board