Sources:  www.infact.org     www.ebic.org

Judge Odell Horton, of the Western District Court of Tennessee, 

Ordered WMI to pay $91.5 Million in a 1996 FRAUD CASE. 

The Judge said, “What is troubling about this case is that

FRAUD, MISREPRESENTATION, and DISHONESTY

apparently became part of the operating culture of the Defendant Corporation....

There was no reason for the Defendant to undertake such conduct other than GREED.”

For the period 1970 to 1991:  WMX Paid over $36 Million in Fines and Penalties

·          10 Criminal violations

·          23 Antitrust Cases

·          22 Civil Cases

·          87 Administrative Cases

Plus:  81 Actions Against Chemical Waste Management led to $15 Million in Fines & Penalties

For the Period 1991 to 2000:

·          $3.3 Million Fine – Chemical Waste Management – Sauget, Illinois - 1991

·          $11.6 Million Fine and Conviction – Chemical Waste Management -1992

For PA Superfund Violations

·          $60,000 Class Action Settlement for Water Contamination in PA  -  WMI  - 1994

·          $91.5 Million Payment in FRAUD Scheme – WMI – 1996

Federal Judge in Tennessee Ordered the Payment

·          $100,000 Fine by OSHA for Deaths of 3 Employees in New York – 1997

·          $125,000 Fine in Virginia for Medical Waste Violations - 1998

·          $220 Million – Settled stockholders class action suit – 1998

For alleged Inflated Stock and Overstated Earnings

·          $186,700  - Penalties for Florida violations at recycling plant - 1998

United Waste Management – Hazardous Storage and Improper Training

·          $5 Million – Settled California fraud case on rail-cycle project – 1998

Stock Fraud, Phone Tapping, Stolen Computer Files, Water Reports Falsified, and False Information Disseminated About Opposition

·          $7.5 Million – Settlement of 2 law suits in Illinois over property tax removal – 1999

2 School Districts Sued WMI and County for removing a landfill from property tax rolls.

·          1999 – WMI’s history of violations and legal problems was used to reject the

company’s take over of a hauling operation in San Luis Obispo, California

       San Luis Obispo, Board of Supervisors member Peg Pinard stated:

       “You take the whole batch together and you see it’s not just one bad apple, but all

     these companies and the employees violating the law time after time.”

This is the company which is on the honor system to monitor, test, calculate and report  Pottstown Landfill’s air pollution.   This is the company which just paid for a cancer study around the Pottstown Landfill.

Ø       Why would anyone believe Waste Management’s cancer study, clearly an attempt to cloud or nullify shocking childhood PA Cancer Registry statistics and other significantly elevated cancer statistics around the Pottstown Landfill?

Ø       Waste Management is a major polluter in our community, with a clear vested interest in cancer statistics around the Pottstown Landfill.   Why would PMMC Administration allow a private meeting with Waste Management about the cancer study this company paid for?

Waste Management, Inc. (WMI) (WMX)

The World’s Largest Waste Disposal Corporation With Revenues Over $10 Billion

·          WMI enlisted services of 139 lobbyists in 32 states. (1998)

·          WMI gave over $1.6 Million in state and federal campaign contributions (1998)

·          WMI was investigated by the FBI for attempts to influence officials in Ferris, Texas

·          WMI was accused of bribing public officials in Chicago, Florida, and Ohio

This is the company meeting behind closed doors, in the Cancer Department at PMMC,

to report a cancer study, which it bought.   Isn’t is interesting that WMX would want to meet with our cancer department about its own cancer study the very day that DEP is holding a public hearing on 3 Pottstown Landfill air pollution permits?  The majority of area physicians have previously spoken out to protect area residents from landfill expansion.  Isn’t this meeting an attempt to manipulate silence and/or support of PMMC physicians?   

Waste Management bought the Pottstown Landfill in 1984.  Since that time, Waste Management has requested and received 5 expansions.  The Pottstown Landfill went from 40 acres in 1984, to over 300 acres.  It has become one of the higher mountains in the area and Waste Management now wants another vertical expansion.

We believe Pottstown Landfill is one of the nation’s worst landfills.  Its gas is radioactive and it is leaking radioactivity.  It has asbestos, medical waste, residual waste, radioactive slag, toxic and radioactive sewage sludge, incinerator ash, construction and demolition debris and many other dangerous wastes.    Hazardous chemicals, included in massive amounts of these dangerous wastes, break down in the landfill gas and leachate.  They continuously escape, for decades, into the air and water of Greater Pottstown Area residents.    Children face far greater health risks from the kinds of hazardous substances emitted with Pottstown Landfills air pollution.   

In the area around the Pottstown Landfill (Pottstown Borough and five municipalities), Childhood Cancer Rates have rapidly increased since the late 1980’s (PA Cancer Registry Statistics). 

Childhood Cancer Rates Around The Pottstown Landfill:                 

                              Late 1980’s about 30 % above the national average

                                    Early 1990’s about 60 % above the national average

                                    Late 1990’s soaring to 92.5 % above the national average

                                    Late 1990’s almost 100% higher than the state and tri-county

 In the same area around the Pottstown Landfill:

            Leukemia rates were almost DOUBLE the state

                                           Pottstown Landfill emits radiation and benzene into our air

                                                        Both radiation and benzene are linked to leukemia

                                    Breast Cancer –  51.4% Higher than National Average – Ages 30 to 44

Higher than the national average in every age group                  

Cervical Cancer is 2 ½ to 3 times higher than the tri-county            

Lung Cancer is 22% to 33% higher than the tri-county

                                    Brain Tumors and Cancer – far higher than all surrounding communities

                                Elevated Infant Mortality

There are 7 Pending Pottstown Landfill pollution permits, which threaten to increase health risks, especially for the Greater Pottstown Area children.  

29 schools and day care centers and over 30,000 residents are within 3 miles of the Pottstown Landfill.   If the following permits are issued the air, water, soil, and health will be further jeopardized for decades, in an already toxic damaged area. 

1.       Permit to legalize radioactive dumping in the Pottstown Landfill

2.        3 Permits, involved with a proposed 99 foot vertical expansion over 31 acres of Pottstown Landfill’s Eastern Expansion, too close to the Pottstown Airport, violating two FAA  safety regulations. Waste Management would be permitted to transport 8,000,000 to 12,000,000 pounds of waste (much of it harmful to human health) in 300 trucks every business day, and dump it in the Pottstown Landfill. For decades health threats to our children and others would increase as a result of the hazardous gases and leachate produced by all this waste.

3.       3 Air Pollution Permit Requests. 1. Increased NOx emissions. 2. Amend an operating permit which does not include a section of the landfill operating since 1998, the Eastern Expansion.  3. A Plan Approval for a pipeline and new flare which have already been installed and operational, without a permit or public comment.

It is clearly time to CLOSE the Pottstown Landfill,

NOT issue permits which threaten to make a bad situation much, much worse.