Officials at the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), in response to the Incident Complaint filed earlier this month, will send inspectors to the Smith Dump by the end of this week.The Smith property owners have been claiming they do not accept any hazardous materials at the dump site that would create a threat to the groundwater or nearby waterways, but pictures of materials that have been dumped at the site dispute that.
Just getting DEQ to agree to conduct an inspection is a great victory because that agency has, until now, been very reluctant to intervene on any land were agricultural activities may be occurring.
The pictures that were sent with the Complaint apparently convinced them it was worth a look.
How exactly does giving them prior notice help? If Smith knows inspectors are coming, can't they just bulldoze over any obvious trash? Does the inspection include digging?
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