INDIANAPOLIS | Past and present owners of a defunct dump west of Lowell are working with state officials to properly seal the 40-acre site and perhaps shut the book on environmental concerns that shook the public last fall, state officials said Tuesday.
Local officials warned in October of potentially fatal cyanide vapors and spent $50,000 to fence in the former Feddeler Landfill on Ind. 2 near Parrish Avenue.
Fingers were pointed at state regulators, and federal officials got involved. But follow-up tests showed no health threat outside the dump, environmental officials have said.
While certainly unsettling to the public, the flurry of activity has rekindled long-stalled efforts to formally close the site.
The Indiana Department of Environmental Management sought an injunction last year against the Feddelers, a Lowell family that operated the landfill until running into financial problems, and Dennis Hunter, who bought the construction and demolition debris dump at a 2002 tax sale.
Both parties have been cooperating, and legal action is on hold, said Bruce Palin, head of IDEM's Office of Land Quality. Since at least early February, the Feddelers have been trucking in dirt unearthed from construction in a nearby subdivision to begin covering roughly 20 percent of the landfill that lacks a proper cap -- two feet of soil with a grass cover, Palin said.
The Feddelers -- Robert and his daughter, Julie Brown -- want to help, but they're essentially broke, said Larry Kane, an Indianapolis attorney representing the family. The landfill operating company, R &M Enterprises, has been insolvent since 2000, Kane said, and Robert Feddeler, 69, is "basically retired" with limited income and health issues.
Hunter also has agreed to cooperate with IDEM, which Palin said could mean helping pay for state monitoring of the dump once it is finally sealed. Hunter bought the property through a limited liability company and later sold a frontage area to a landscaping firm.
"He purchased the landfill property at a tax sale, not knowing is was a landfill," said Vicki Wright, an Indianapolis attorney representing Hunter in talks with IDEM.
Federal, state and local officials have been working together for several months now and plan to host a pair of meetings next month to update the public. Afternoon and evening sessions tentatively are set for April 10 in Lowell, said Karen Thompson, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator.
