News Release No. 109
MISSOURI DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES PARTNERS WITH
MERAMEC REGIONAL PLANNING COMMISSION TO CATCH ILLEGAL DUMPERS
Volume 33-109
Contact: Renee Bungart
(For immediate release)
(573) 751-4465
JEFFERSON CITY, MO, APRIL 18, 2005 -- The Missouri Department of Natural Resources recently turned over video surveillance evidence of three people illegally dumping trash in Phelps County. The illegal dumpsite, located alongside Phelps County Road 6630 near the community of Duke, has been an eyesore and a problem to local residents for years.
The Meramec Regional Planning Commission (MRPC) requested the department's assistance to help catch illegal dumpers at the site. The department installs cameras near dumpsites in an effort to stop illegal dumping throughout the state. Environmental investigators Craig Abbott and Terry Ball installed the cameras at this site, and within days investigators were able to identify two Phelps County residents and one Texas County resident dumping numerous bags of household trash, burn barrel residue, waste oil cans and a car battery.
The department turned over the video surveillance evidence to Phelps County Prosecuting Attorney Kenneth Clayton. Criminal charges have been filed in Phelps County based on the video evidence.
MRPC, with funding from the Ozark Rivers Solid Waste Management District and USDA Rural Development, has been cleaning dumpsites in the Ozark region. "Setting up surveillance cameras to catch illegal dumpers enhanced our cleanup program," said Tammy Snodgrass with (MRPC). "There is finally a tool that allows us to identify those illegally dumping on public and private property. We hope that the money collected through fines against these perpetrators will be used to offset the cost of cleaning up these dumpsites, which takes some of the burden off of taxpayers," added Snodgrass.
The Department of Natural Resources' goal is to educate citizens to choose legal disposal options, such as obtaining commercial trash service or using a permitted landfill, transfer station or recycling facility for environmentally safe disposal. MRPC takes that approach one step further by cleaning up the sites and continuing to monitor the sites to ensure that dumping does not reoccur. For the Phelps County Road 6630 site, MRPC is working cooperatively with the Phelps County Commission, Phelps County Road Department, Phelps County Sheriff's Department, Department of Conservation, U.S. Forest Service, Department of Corrections, local property owners, and volunteers from Briggs and Stratton and Brewer Science to clean up the site. "So far we removed 78.59 tons of trash, 30,025 pounds of metals and approximately 350 tires and there is more trash yet to be removed," said Snodgrass, who serves as MRPC environmental programs manager.
The department's illegal dumping surveillance camera program began about three years ago. The department continues to gain the support of residents and county governments throughout the state in addition to other states that have similar problems. Since the program began, 30 people have been ordered by the court to pay a total of more than $20,000 in restitution used to clean up the dumpsites.
For more information regarding this story or on waste management opportunities please feel free to contact the Missouri Department of Natural Resources' Solid Waste Management Program at (573) 751-5401 or the Meramec Regional Planning Commission at (573) 265 2993.
For news releases on the Web, visit www.dnr.mo.gov/newsrel. For a complete listing of the department's upcoming meetings, hearings and events, visit the department's online calendar at www.dnr.mo.gov/calendar/search.do.
Department of Natural Resources
P. O. Box 176, Jefferson City, MO 65102
1-800-361-4827 / (573) 751-s3443
E-mail: oac@dnr.mo.gov
Revised on Monday April 18 2005