Citrus County fights Dunbar sludge shipment

Citrus County commissioners met with the Department of Environmental Protection and the City of Fort Myers for the first time Tuesday, but they still have a lot of questions.

Citrus County leaders say they didn’t even know they were a part of the Dunbar sludge removal plan that is still waiting on approval from the DEP.

MORE: Citrus County considering fighting Dunbar sludge shipment

DEP’s South District Director Jon Inglehart made a special trip to the Citrus County commissioners meeting to ease their concerns.

“It is above the level that is safe for recreation use or contact,” Inglehart said. “Is it safe for contact in a commercial industrial site if blended? Yes, based on the preliminary assessment.”

But many in Citrus County made it clear they don’t want the sludge delivered to them and they plan to fight it.

“I’m gonna be short and sweet – we don’t want it,” said County Commissioner Scott Carnahan.

Citrus County is concerned about the arsenic-tainted material affecting them, so much so that they filed an injunction to stop it and are threatening legal action.

“Every time we seem to ask questions, nobody seemed to have the answers,” said County Commissioner Ron Kitchen. “If it’s safe, why don’t you keep it in Fort Myers?”

Richard Thompson, stormwater resource manager with the City of Fort Myers, responded by saying Fort Myers city council mandated the sludge be moved. He said he didn’t think Citrus County needed to be notified before a contract was signed with Lafarge. He assured county commissioners the sludge would not impact the people of Citrus County.

“The material is not toxic. You have more at Walmart,” Thompson said.

Citrus County commissioners asked why the sludge couldn’t be brought to a landfill. Thompson said it would take ten months to take it to a landfill versus 45 days to bring to Lafarge. Commissioners also brought up the lawsuit filed against the city by the Dunbar community.

Matt Brownlee, a spokesperson for Lafarge-Holcim, the facility that the sludge would be shipped to for treatment agrees.

“There’s no plans of it going from there to here with anybody ingesting or eating it,” Brownlee said. “Arsenic is prevalent everywhere. It’s in apple juice.”

The DEP is still reviewing the City’s final plan, waiting on answers from Fort Myers on how the sludge will be handled and kept from discharging on its way to Citrus County and during mixing.

They also need a report from Lafarge that could take another month.