Kevin Spradlin
Cumberland Times-News
May 15, 2008 11:59 am
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CORRIGANVILLE - A district engineer with the State Highway Administration said the agency's practice of collecting and burying animal carcasses is not illegal and does not violate environmental health regulations.
Robert Fisher, of District 6, said he received an inquiry from Delegate Wendell Beitzel about two sites in Allegany County where state highway workers were dumping road kill in pits and violated procedure by not burying them properly.
Beitzel was responding to a complaint lodged by Potomac Park resident Edward Evans. Evans accused state employees of illegally dumping animals and described overwhelming odor at locations in Corriganville two miles north of Sheetz on state Route 36 and another along state Route 36 between Barton and Westernport.
The practice is "customary and standard," Fisher said of burying deer, raccoons, opossums and groundhogs on state property. "Burying deer gets to be a problem even for all state agencies nationwide. I assure you there is no illegal dumping."
Brian Dicken is director of environmental health for the Allegany County Health Department. He said he didn't see where there would be an environmental issue.
"I think it's probably better to (bury the carcasses) than to leave it on the side of the road. Something's got to be done with it, obviously," Dicken said.
Frederick and Carroll counties have experimented with composting pits "with great success," Fisher said. The SHA has been working on a more affordable solution for the past 18 months. The agency could soon operate animal incinerators if permits with the Maryland Department of the Environment are approved.
But Fisher made no mistake about deer not being buried properly. It happened, he said, and it should not have.
"There's no excuse for not covering the deer," Fisher said. "We immediately took care of that" after hearing from Beitzel.
"We do regret that this situation took place," Fisher said. "We've taken strong measures to ensure it doesn't happen again."
In April, Beitzel met with Evans and visited the Barton site, where "a hole was clear full of water," Beitzel said. "It was really a stinking mess. But I'm satisfied that they responded immediately and took care of the problem."
Part of the problem in Barton, Beitzel said, was that the uncovered pit was near a stream. After a rainfall, water from the pit was entering the stream.
"They just had a pit, threw (the carcasses) in that pit," Beitzel said. "If a private owner would have done something like that on their farm, the animal rights folks would really raise Cain."
Beitzel acknowledged it was procedure for SHA workers to bury road kill. Other pits are located in Keyser's Ridge and Oakland. He said problems arise when those sites aren't managed properly.
Evans said he felt the state figured it could dump "trash" anyplace. Fisher countered there was no trash at either location and that it did not serve "as a landfill." Evans suggested the state should pay to dump the animals at Mountainview Landfill.
"Some states don't even pick them up," Fisher said.
The process will become much smoother once the animal incinerator permit is approved.
"We're making an effort because we don't like burying them," said Fisher, who called incineration an economical and reasonable solution.
Contact Kevin Spradlin at kspradlin@times-news.com.
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