The Alabama Department of Environmental Management announced a proposed settlement agreement this week with the operators of the Big Sky Landfill in Adamsville, resolving 54 alleged violations of the landfill’s permit, including hazardous waste found in two “open pits” outside of the landfill’s permitted disposal area.

The landfill will pay a civil fine of $138,800 and within 60 days submit to ADEM a plan to address the violations, which were documented in a series of seven ADEM inspections conducted between June 2022 and March 2023.

“The Department has determined that the terms contemplated in this consent order are in the best interests of the citizens of Alabama,” the order states.

Those violations covered by the settlement included:

• 27 instances of waste not being properly covered at the landfill, or being observed blown outside the disposal area,
• 8 instances of leachate management violations
• 3 instances of waste not being properly compacted into the disposal cell
• 3 instances of waste slopes that were too steep
• 2 violations involving the improper disposal of hazardous waste

According to the settlement document, ADEM inspectors explored a gated side road during a November 14, 2022 site visit, finding “a small clearing in the woods where two open pits were discovered.”

Inspectors reported finding material identified as “auto shredder fluff” around the two pits. Samples taken the next day from the auto shredder fluff and liquid around the pits showed that both contained levels of lead high enough to classify the material as hazardous waste.

The liquid sample taken from the pit also showed a flashpoint of 87.3 degrees Fahrenheit, making the liquid an “ignitable hazardous waste.”

ADEM says the landfill then reported it had removed the auto fluff waste and buried it in the municipal solid waste disposal area at the landfill. This was also a violation, because the household trash area is not permitted to accept hazardous waste.

Big Sky did not respond to AL.com’s requests for comment on the settlement. ADEM said the department had no additional comments.

In its response to ADEM about the violations, Big Sky called the “open pits” “fluff storage areas,” and said it did not believe the auto shredder waste was hazardous.

The landfill also promised to re-train staff to properly cover the waste, and said it had purchased additional equipment to address the other violations.

Permitted to receive up to 25,000 tons of waste per day, Big Sky is one of Alabama’s largest landfills. It also gained significant notoriety as the recipient of the “poop train” shipments of waste from sewage treatment plants in New York City in 2018.

ADEM also noted in its consent order that the landfill had a history of previous violations for failure to cover, failure to control litter, failure to confine the waste, failure to compact the waste, leachate violations, failure to maintain drainage structures and the acceptance of unapproved wastes.

Those violations were addressed in a 2020 consent order between Big Sky and ADEM.

The most recent consent order will be available for public comment for 30 days before being finalized.