We Followed the Trucks

Soil is moving around our community, and we have it on video.

Over the past weeks, we watched trucks roll up to a property at 11025 Old Highway 60 in Kevil carrying brownish-grey dirt and dump it there. We also watched trucks leave that same property loaded with a different soil, a terracotta color, freshly dug out of the ground. We stayed with those loaded trucks. They drove straight to the entrance of the DOE site, the old Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant. We have that on video too, trucks coming and going at the gate.

That is what we saw with our own eyes. The question is what it means, and so far no one in a position of authority has given us a full answer.

What the state has confirmed

We are not guessing in the dark here. There is a paper trail, and it tells part of the story.

Kentucky's Division of Waste Management has confirmed that soil was excavated from the PGDP property, from an area it calls Leasing Parcel A, and moved to a private property in Kevil. The division reviewed sampling data on that soil, found it acceptable for unrestricted residential use, and sent the company a letter saying so.

Then comes the part that should give everyone pause. In that same letter, the division told the company it does not have the authority to regulate radiological constituents. Translation: the state's waste office signed off on the ordinary contaminants, but not on the radioactive ones. It pointed the company to a different agency, the Cabinet for Health and Family Services and its Radiation Health Branch, for that piece.

So the soil got a passing grade on one test from one office. The radiological question was handed off. We have not seen anyone confirm that part was closed out.

Where the records and the video part ways

Here is where it gets murky. When we first raised the Old Highway 60 address, a state official believed it was the same property that shows up in the records. After a closer look, the division agreed it is a separate parcel, down the road, with its own water permits for soil removal. The division also said that piece falls outside its purview, and that it does not believe any soil went from Old Highway 60 to DOE.

We respect that the records say what they say. But we watched trucks leave Old Highway 60 and drive to the DOE gate. Records and reality do not seem to line up, and when they do not, the honest move is to ask why, not to look away.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/5d7a20_cdb57762306b447888f0fbc74f9b1409/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

The questions we still need answered

We are documenting, not accusing. These are fair questions, and the people who can answer them work for the public.

Is the soil we watched arrive at Old Highway 60 the same soil removed from the PGDP property? Has it been screened for both regular contaminants and radioactive ones, and did it pass? What is the terracotta soil being hauled from Old Highway 60 to the DOE site, and who is tracking where it goes? And on the original load that did get a review, did anyone ever confirm the radiological piece the waste office declined to touch?

None of these questions are hostile. They are the questions any neighbor would ask when dirt from a Superfund cleanup site starts moving through the county on flatbed trucks.

What we did about it

We did not just film it and post it. We filed formal violation reports with the two agencies that are supposed to be policing this.

The first went to the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet, the state lead on the Paducah site. Its Division of Waste Management is Kentucky's lead regulator here, and its Environmental Response Team runs around the clock for exactly this kind of concern.

The second went to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which holds federal oversight on PGDP.

You can do the same. If you see something moving that does not look right, report it:

• Kentucky EEC Environmental Response Team, 24/7 for spills and hazardous substance concerns: 1-800-928-2380 or 502-564-2380. You can also use the DEP Complaint Submittal form on the Cabinet's website (https://dep.gateway.ky.gov/eForms/Home/AnonymousForms).

• EPA, report online at https://echo.epa.gov/report-environmental-violations. EPA says this route reaches the right staff fastest.

What should happen next

We are sharing our footage and our notes so the record is complete and public. We are asking state and federal officials to close the gap between what the paperwork says and what we filmed, and to confirm, in writing, that every load has been screened for radiological contaminants before it moves.

Clean answers should be easy to give. We filed the reports. Now we are watching for the response, and we will keep watching until we get one.

Protect McCracken County