Community Group Challenges Proposed Toxic Landfill in Shepherd
Lawsuit challenges environmental laws for failing to protect human health
By Denise Rivette
A community group named Stop The Shepherd Landfill filed a lawsuit June 18 in Yellowstone County District Court challenging a license the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) recently issued to Pacific Steel and Recycling to build a 90 acre landfill for auto shredder residue north of Billings in Shepherd, Montana. The group claims the landfill site will store toxic pollutants and the impacts were not adequately analyzed.
Stop The Shepherd Landfill is challenging the license and the agency’s Environmental Assessment, which was finalized on June 11, 2024. According to the lawsuit, the Montana DEQ violated the Montana Constitution and the Montana Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) by failing to compile, analyze, and disclose relevant documents the agency had in its possession regarding PFAS, a pollutant the agency’s website refers to as a “forever chemical.” According to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences website, “per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a large, complex group of synthetic chemicals that have been used in consumer products around the world since about the 1950s.” The website also states, “People are most likely exposed to these chemicals by consuming PFAS-contaminated water or food, using products made with PFAS, or breathing air containing PFAS. Because PFAS break down slowly, if at all, people and animals are repeatedly exposed to them, and blood levels of some PFAS can build up over time.” Even the DEQ’s own PFAS Action Plan confirms, “Some PFAS pose a health risk and are known to have toxic effects.”
The complaint states, “The U.S. EPA has announced current peer-reviewed scientific studies have shown that exposure to PFAS may lead to:
Increased risk of some cancers, including prostate, kidney, and testicular cancers.
Reproductive effects such as decreased fertility or increased highblood pressure in pregnant women.
Developmental effects or delays in children, including low birth weight, accelerated puberty, bone variations, or behavioral changes.
Reduced ability of the body’s immune system to fight infections, including reduced vaccine response.
Interference with the body’s natural hormones.
Increased cholesterol levels and/or risk of obesity.”
The filing states DEQ never disclosed these impacts in their review or how the operation of the landfill will expose the public to the chemicals.
The group points to what it considers to be a failure by the DEQ to address the impacts of PFAS on the proposed landfill’s liners and why monitoring of the groundwater is only scheduled for 30 years after the landfill closes when the chemicals will last forever. “They should be required to monitor the liners and the water forever if they want to dump forever chemicals into the ground,” said Shepherd resident Jordan Ferguson.
The Environmental Assessment also discusses stopping operations when winds are blowing at more than 35 miles per hour, but the DEQ provided no indication that winds and dust at 25 mph would not carry PFAS from the site. “It is disheartening to watch the Montana DEQ ignore public concerns and turn a blind eye to the impacts of pollutants that it has described as ‘toxic,’” decried Tricia Mae who can see the proposed landfill from her backyard.
The group is also challenging as unconstitutional several portions of the Montana Environmental Policy Act, such as the requirement that a Plaintiff show significant impacts will in fact occur before the DEQ is required to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement. “The Montana Constitution requires the DEQ, not citizens, to thoroughly analyze the impacts of proposed actions such as this toxic landfill. When there are substantial questions about the impacts on the health of residents, the DEQ must prepare a more thorough Environmental Impact Statement instead of a cursory Environmental Assessment,” said John Meyer, the attorney at Cottonwood Environmental Law Center that is representing the group.
You can find out more about the situation by going to www.stoptheshepherdlandfill.com.