Fire at Hydro-Vac
Local Opinion by Dean Arnold, Publisher

Week of Nov. 12, 2001

There was a fire at Hydro-Vac services this week. The former non-hazardous waste facility is now used as a transfer station by BFI to hold garbage temporarily before they take it to a landfill in Alabama. I've seen pictures showing barrels labeled "Hazardous Waste" sitting in the transfer station and the same barrels thrown on the top of garbage piles. Local fire investigators say they don't have any reason to think hazardous wastes caused the fire, but experts tell me the stuff in those barrels is highly flammable.

The permit to dump garbage at the site next to Wheland Foundry is in the name of former Hydro-Vac owner Bill Foxworth, now a convicted felon on two counts for filing false reports to authorities. He faces up to two years and will be sentenced by Federal Judge Allan Edgar in February. I've wondered why we continue to issue a permit to a convicted felon, especially since BFI would be required to spend $3 to $4 million at the city-owned landfill if they couldn't use the temporary transfer station in Foxworth's name. This would cut the city's deficit in half.

Six weeks ago, I called Elizabeth Jayne who heads the Tennessee Solid Waste Division of the EPA, which issues the permits in question. She said she didn't know what the regulations were for convicted felons holding permits, but "you've advised us so we'll find out what the deal is." I called her this week and she referred me to her public information officer, But she's out ot town until next week.