July 21, 2009

EDGEFIELD CTY, S.C. --- SC DHEC tells News 12 they have told the Edgefield County School District to immediately clean up and shut down their dumping site behind a local middle school.

School District Facility and Maintenance Manager James Courtney talked with News 12 moments ago and said he is about to call local companies to bid out a contract to have the trash removed from the site. He says, DHEC told him this morning they were not permitted to have the site there. He also says DHEC informed him it wasn't a secure site, which could allow other people who wanted to dump their trash, to do so at the site.

News 12 showed you the trash behind JET Middle School on Monday. The trash, we're told, is dumped back there before it is either broken apart and recycled or burned in a pit dug by the school district.

DHEC tells News 12, they had investigators out at the site on Monday and learned there was no permit issued to allow that site to be a landfill. The School District said they did not think they were involved in an illegal dumping site.

News 12 was told they only put yard and wood debris in a pit dug by the school. But, we found several chemical containers in the pit. The School District says they do not think those containers came from their employees, rather from trespassers leaving their trash on the school property.

But, school officials could not confirm where those chemical bottles and containers came from on Monday, without looking at the bottles themselves.

The state says they will come back out and inspect the site once again, as soon as it is cleaned up completely. They add, the investigation into this "dumping ground" is continuing, but will not say whether or not criminal charges will be handed down. But, we've been told it is a possibility.