Just Say No to Lead Landfills Left in Frisco

(This release was sent out at 9 am Monday morning….)

Saying they're frustrated with the ineptitude of Exide's public comment procedures concerning its plans to leave landfills of lead behind in Frisco, residents unveiled a system of their own on Monday that will funnel comments directly to the plant manager.

"Exide said they were interested in hearing from Frisco residents about their plans to leave over 9 million pounds of lead-contaminated waste buried in Frisco forever, but then directed everyone to a website that never worked," claimed Colette McCadden, chair of Frisco Unleaded, the local group that campaigned to close down the lead smelter and is now addressing its toxic leftovers. "So we're setting up our own comment system that will let Exide know exactly how we feel."

McCadden said her group had worked with Downwinders at Risk to establish a "No Lead Landfills Left in Frisco" web page where residents could send a prepared statement of opposition to Exide as well as add their own comments. She said they'd asked the company for an e-mail address where they could send public comments, but Exide never provided one. So they're using the e-mail address of the plant manager instead.

"It's clear that the company wasn't really serious about listening to Frisco residents," said Downwinders at Risk Director Jim Schermbeck. "At least now, they'll be forced to deal with public comments they were trying desperately to avoid."

When residents go to the new page, they can automatically "click n' send" a prepared message to Exide that says:

I'm opposed to Exide's plans to leave landfills full of lead-contaminated wastes on the site of its former lead smelter in central Frisco, including dumps in the Stewart Creek floodplain immediately upstream from the City's proposed Grand Park.

 

I want Exide to permanently remove ALL of its lead-contaminated waste from the Frisco smelter site and send it to a licensed, commercial hazardous waste disposal site – not "treat" it here in Frisco and leave it buried forever in downtown.

 

I also want Exide to apply for a full federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act hazardous waste permit that would require real public comment for its landfill clean-up instead of only comments to the company.

 

Residents can then add their own comment before sending the message directly to the plant manager.

Schermbeck urged everyone interested in sending a strong "No" message to Exide to take advantage of the new comment opportunity as soon as they can.  "Since this isn't an "official" Exide comment process, there's no telling how long the company will allow it to continue, so make sure they get your message today."