NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Middle Point Landfill is pushing back against Murfreesboro officials, who announced they received their 4,000th odor complaint about the facility, with Republic Services calling the city's statements "sensationalism."
Republic Services area president Rob LaTourette told NewsChannel 5 Investigates on Tuesday that he cannot acknowledge the existence of complaints from Murfreesboro's public portal because the city has never shared them with the company.
"How we perform and interact with the public is vital to our existence, and if we don't know what they're saying, we can't treat that with the due care that it needs," LaTourette said.
The city established its complaint portal four years ago and announced Monday that it had received its 4,000th odor-related complaint about the landfill.
Middle Point Landfill operates its own complaint portal, which LaTourette says has been shared with the city. He questioned why Murfreesboro won't reciprocate with its data.
We asked if it made a difference since Middle Point also has a complaint portal, which has been around longer than the city’s and most likely has many of the same complaints.
LaTourette said without knowing which complaints have been repeated over time, it’s hard to tell where problem areas still exist.
He claims the company has seen a "drastic decrease over the years of complaints that they know about, because of our diligent efforts to run a good landfill with environmental protection and all of the systems in place that are operating as they should."
City cites violations and contamination concerns
Murfreesboro Mayor Shane McFarland said complaints on the city's portal had increased "significantly" in the past year, but violations were also a major concern.
Middle Point Landfill received what McFarland called an "alarming" seventh violation from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation in the last 10 months.
"I think we thought at some point that Middle Point Republic, BFI, that they would listen to the residents and try to put their best foot forward," McFarland said on Monday.
LaTourette said the TDEC violations were all minor and quickly corrected. When asked about what TDEC noted was a "major" violation in March, LaTourette described it as leachate (liquid) from the landfill exceeding a certain level at one sump pump in a "protected, controlled, sequestered area of the landfill."
"It's considered major on the website, but it's in all practicality very minor," LaTourette said.
The City of Murfreesboro argues that contaminants leaking from the landfill have been found near the Walter Hill Recreational Area and near the intake pipe for the Stones River Water Treatment Plant. City officials say the contaminants contain harmful "forever chemicals" that "have been linked to cancer, immune system damage, and reproductive health risks," along with aluminum and ammonia discovered in the leachate.
Legal battles continue
Middle Point Landfill operators were notified last month about what the city alleged are ongoing violations of the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act.
City leaders say these violations continued even after Murfreesboro sued the landfill operator in 2022.
"My interpretation of a major concern for the public would be where any of our gas or liquid from the landfill exceeds the boundaries of our site and interacts with the public, interacts with the air, interacts with their water and nothing like that has occurred here," LaTourette said.
LaTourette criticized the city for not seeking "a practical explanation about what's going on" before making public statements that he says are "scaring folks about what's happening to their water."
Murfreesboro City Council members voted unanimously in July to reject a proposed settlement with Middle Point Landfill, choosing instead to continue their lawsuit against the facility's operators. The rejected settlement would have required treatment systems for PFAS chemicals, an odor management plan, and a new joint complaint portal.
Republic Services is now asking a judge for permission to file a counterclaim against Murfreesboro that would require the city to share costs of any necessary PFAS remediation. The motion states that the city "has disposed of waste containing hazardous substances at Middle Point Landfill for decades."
Future of the facility
LaTourette said current estimates show the landfill has between 5-7 years before reaching capacity. He expressed confidence that Middle Point can work with the city to find solutions.
"It's never too late to dust off an old situation or an old relationship. With folk's right intentions and balanced mindset, you could always get back to a productive place," LaTourette said. "We could evolve together, we really can, with the existence of Middle Point on a lesser scale."
The latest developments follow years of legal battles between Middle Point Landfill and the city of Murfreesboro, involving a lawsuit that was later amended to include more alleged EPA violations.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates also uncovered years of reports that documented the amount of methane escaping the landfill was well beyond state and federal limits.
Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at Levi.Ismail@newschannel5.com
