Aimeliik State Governor Browny Simer is urging the senators to have the Environment Quality Protection Board (EQPB) and the Environmental Health of MOH monitor health hazards that might result from the national landfill operation.
In a letter last month to members of the Olbiil Era Kelulau ( OEK), Siner said that there are concerns that the fires that broke out at the national landfill and the smoke could cause harmful effects to the Aimeliik State residents.
He said that according to the state representative serving at the Chemical Waste Taskforce, “all things harmful to our health are being thrown or stored at the landfill.”
He said the waste thrown at the landfill includes waste from the hospital.
“We feel that the carelessness or incapacity of staff managing the landfill are causes for the rapid filling of the landfill as well as the two fires that had broken out this year. We are concerned that the biohazards might leech into the small streams that may enter our bigger water sources and then be fed to our homes as well,” Simer stated.
He said the state needed OEK’s help to address the concern and called on EQPB and MOH to monitor the landfill to ensure it is being operated according to health and safety standards.
He is also urging OEK to help ensure that the national landfill will not harm the health of the state.
The National Landfill in Aimeliik opened in 2021.
The landfill, funded by the Japanese Government, has the capacity to hold 384,898 cubed meters of waste and will utilize the “Fukuoka method,” a semi-aerobic waste disposal technology developed in Japan.