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"Doesn't sell it, just collects it;"
If I were facing his $1M bill/fine, I'd sure organize real quick a "fire sale"
He apparently has a permit to store the mulch on his property but I have no idea why. It's been there for at least 15 years or so. He doesn't run a site clearing company as far as I know. Him and his son operate a road paving company that do work primarily for TxDot.
"Doesn't sell it, just collects it;"
If I were facing his $1M bill/fine, I'd sure organize real quick a "fire sale"
Yes they are.P.S. Zumwalt's good people
We’ll be right over!
Remember Dale, Bill, Boomhauer and myself are volunteer fireman in Arlen
School District To Close Schools Due to Compost Firefighting
Last Update: 1/11/2007 11:56:08 AM
Posted By: Vickie Jean Summers
http://www.woai.com/news/local/story...7-5370a6a39788
On Tuesday, January 16th, the North Side School District is closing O'Connor High School, Helotes Elementary and Krueger Elementary because of anticipated smoke from the firefighting efforts involved in the compost fire burning near Helotes.
The contractor hired by the state, Oil Mop, is currently staging and preparing to put out the fire. On Saturday, the contractor will begin the actual firefighting. It's expected that the smoke will be the worst on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Schools will already be closed on Monday for the Martin Luther King holiday.
There are currently no shelters set up because officials do not think it's necessary with the current shift of the winds. However the Red Cross will set up shelters, if needed.
Northside School District officials are monitoring the situation and will be determining if any other schools will need to be closed, or if these closures need to extend beyond Tuesday.
Kori, this weekend will be brutal for us.
I saw on the news that if they expand it to a 3 mile radius, it will affect my youngest's school, but no my oldest's. And they're right by each other!
Sounds like "good people" Zumwalt ain't so good after all, and is at risk of getting mulched.
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Mulch-pile owner faces 13 counts
Web Posted: 01/27/2007 12:57 AM CST
Jerry Needham
Express-News
The state's environmental agency has cited the owner of the burning mulch pile in Helotes on 13 alleged violations related to the heap, the subsequent fire and efforts to fight it.
Meanwhile, officials late Friday agreed on a plan to deal with the smoldering pile, estimated at 700 feet long, 250 feet wide and 80 feet tall.
The plan — unveiled Thursday — calls for a contractor to start building a clay-lined quench pit and sluice soon, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality spokesman Terry Clawson said.
The burning material will be pulled into the pit, where it will be doused and the firefighting water captured, he said, adding that plans call for the fire to be out by the end of February.
As for the allegations TCEQ made against Henry Zumwalt Recycling, they include
creating a nuisance condition;
storing too much material;
not having permits to operate a composting operation or to store compost; unauthorized burning of waste;
three counts of air pollution;
and no permit to discharge wastewater that subsequently contaminated two Edwards Aquifer wells.
A certified letter detailing the allegations was mailed to the recycling company's owner, Henry Zumwalt, on Tuesday, and officials released it Friday after confirming he had received it.
Agency officials wouldn't elaborate on the allegations, but Clawson said each violation is punishable by a penalty of up to $10,000 per day.
The allegations apparently stemmed from an investigation that started early last year. The letter to Zumwalt said the agency never received adequate responses to a May 2006 letter about the amount of material the facility was recycling.
One of the allegations says the facility wasn't supposed to have more than 75,000 cubic yards of material on site, but Zumwalt estimated 171,000 cubic yards were there.
That would be a violation of the facility's bond posted with the agency to ensure proper closure of the facility in case of bankruptcy.
Another claim states Zumwalt failed to ensure all recyclable materials were properly covered, contained or managed to protect them from degradation, contamination or loss of value.
Zumwalt attorney David Barton called the allegations "an outrage."
"It's purely retribution against him for filing a temporary restraining order and for being vocal about how bad this whole thing is being run," he said. "They know they aren't going to collect on this because of the things that have gone wrong. They know that these allegations are not going to get them any closer to that. It's just retribution."
When the state agency on Jan. 9 halted Zumwalt's 10-day effort to put out the fire with his own crews and equipment and brought in its own contractor for $1.75 million, Zumwalt filed a lawsuit.
His aim was to gain access to the rest of the property, to keep the state from using chemicals on the fire without Edwards Aquifer Authority approval and to try to keep TCEQ from charging him for the state's efforts, Barton said.
In contrast to Zumwalt's use of minimal water, the state contractor began dousing the fire with massive amounts of water and, less than a week later, two Edwards Aquifer wells began to show contamination with fire residues, prompting a halt to firefighting efforts Jan. 18.
Officials with the state environmental agency say they commonly seek reimbursement from property owners for addressing environmental problems on their land.
But Zumwalt's attorneys say the fire apparently was started by an arsonist and that, when no public agencies would assist, he was attempting to extinguish it with his own resources when the state forcibly intervened.
Although the facility is registered with TCEQ as a recycling facility, the agency alleged it violated elements of the state's landfill rules and that it also should have registered as a composting facility.
"He used the word compost in a conversation probably," Barton said. "But they know, or should know if they'd read their own rules, that this does not qualify as a composting operation."
"The 13th charge they've got in there is that he failed to prevent the unauthorized discharge of wastewater from his property," Barton said. "They won't even let him on the site. The wells that were fouled were fouled because of the water being put on there by Oil Mop (the contractor)."
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So, life in San Antonio news isn't just murders and car wrecks, isn't so boring after all!
Will they ever catch the arsonists who broke in and started the fire?
Prime suspects: beered-up jackass males, 18 - 25 years old.
I can smell the ing smoke here in the library and it's making me ing sick. I'm not used to this contaminated air. I need to get back to the Southeast Side quick.
Does anybody need further proof that Mexicans shouldn't be in libraries?
We drove by the mulch fire yesterday. That thing is becoming a national landmark. Eveybody slowed down to gawk at it.
My husband joke that they should have a 'Scenic View' sign by it. There were cows happily grazing right next to it, and would have made the perfect picture.
I had to bump this thread because I'm sick of this frickin mulch fire.
Now they aren't tearing it apart with bulldozers and SAWS refused to let them use water because they fear for the freakin' aquifer. BEXAR Met or someone else wanted to let them use their water but SAWS put a restraining order against that and got the City Council to back them up.
So basically at this point, they are doing nothing, I believe. (If anyone knows more, please tell me).
Well for the last week, the mulch fire smell at our house has gotten stronger (we live a few miles from it). And the other night, we slept with our bedroom window open and now I'm dying. My eyes swelled up to the point I couldn't see (I felt like Johnny Blaze), my throat, sinuses, and head are killing me.
I'm not a hypochrondriac and in the beginning I didn't even believe this fire was going to be a huge problem, but at this point - what the ? Yesterday I took medication (NyQuil/DayQuil etc) to try to ease my sinus pain and help my throat, but to no avail. Today it's the same thing and my head is hurting even worse.
Can someone put out that frickin' fire?
It was really bad at my house in the beginning of the week, but I haven't smelled it in the past few days. My neighbor down the street said that every time her daughter (who goes to O'C) blows her nose, it's black.
The smell literally makes me feel sick.
I don't think they'll ever put this thing out.
It's really disgusting. I understand about protecting the environment blahblah, but people right now are really sick from this. If it's this bad at my house, or your house .. what about the people right next to it?
Lawsuit
Whoever is running that project must be dumb as a brick. I could have already put that thing out without using water or chemicals if I was in charge.
Can you please call them and tell them what to do?
No kidding! Nothing is worse than smelling it IN your house when the windows are closed. I was reading an article in the real estate section and they are having a hard time getting people to look at houses there. Iron Horse Canyon has some pretty pricey homes too. I'm sure there will be plenty of lawsuits.
I suprised Jim "Ah fight fer yew" Adler, Wayne Right, Larry Parker (
CC, please go volunteer your services. We beg you!
Larry Parker ( Larry Parker got me 2.1 million...oops wrong state. I still remember that stupid commercial)
I take it you remember it too!
Are you bragging about your bladder size?
Easy...they just need to get a few swimming pool gunnite guns and put a thin cap of concrete on the pile...by my calculations it would take less than 2000 yards of gunnite mix to cover the whole pile 1/2" thick. No air, no fire.Can you please call them and tell them what to do?
email the mayor of Helotes and tell him that. He's pissed off!
hey...theres no smoke at MY house...LOL
Here, fixed it for you
But think of the animals! O'Connor had to move all their animals
I still want to know who owns the cows that were grazing right next to it. They are ready to eat being smoked and all
Kori, have you driven by that thing? It's huge!
ing BexarMet can go to ! NOW they have the "extra" water to help with the mulch pile. Where was all this water when we, their customers were put on restrictions WAAAY before any SAWS customers were? I spent $10K on grass for my backyard and about a month later they put us on several weeks of ZERO watering. Way to go assholes!
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