9/4 Letters: Spraying ‘garbage juice’ into the air doesn’t treat it

Regarding “Controversial garbage liquid spraying to begin” (Aug. 23): Recently a House bill was introduced to allow the bulk aerosolizing disposal of Lined Landfills Title D Leachate, which is collected from disposed trash and moisture. The lined design was devised to protect groundwater from the pollution generated by trash disposal. When refuse is brought to the sanitary landfill, it is buried with a myriad of other waste, which may recombine the constituents of the leachate. Non-hazardous materials may combine to create hazardous pollutants under the capped pressure/moisture environment of the landfill.

Dispersing these liquids spreads the droplets into a larger area, which in turn may dry without neutralizing treatment. Upon precipitation events, the deposited chemicals could then be transported in the stormwater runoff, converting it from a pollution point source to an uncontrolled area source. This is why leachate is analyzed to define the waste stream at prescribed intervals and sent to the appropriate permitted waste-water facility for the waste stream. As an engineer and environmental manager, it was part of my work scope to define waste streams and route them to the proper facility for treatment. Just spraying or aerosolizing is not treating the hazardous air and water pollutants.

Understanding Confederates

Regarding “Durham sheriff arrests ladder climber in Confederate statue destruction” (Aug. 15): After destroying a Confederate statue dedicated to “the boys in gray” in Durham this week, the offender stated: “It’s white supremacy, plain and simple. It had to go.”

I strongly disagree. Two of my ancestors participated in the Civil War and wore the “gray.” They both lived in central North Carolina. One was a farmer. Neither owned slaves. I don’t know what battles, if any, they were in, but they both spent the last months of the war in Union prison camps. Too many folks today think that all Confederate soldiers were fighting to preserve slavery. I disagree.

When I was sent to Vietnam in 1969, I believed that we were there to protect the United States from communism. That’s what we were told. I also believe my ancestors were told that the Yankees were coming, burning homes, towns and crops, and raping and killing innocent people. That kind of propaganda always happens in war. And it happened in the Civil War. My guess is that many young men picked up their weapons to defend their “homeland,” not to defend slavery. Honoring those folks, many who never came home, is not white supremacy, or racism.

This story was originally published September 3, 2017 at 6:00 PM with the headline "9/4 Letters: Spraying ‘garbage juice’ into the air doesn’t treat it."