Demand for Investigation and Action about the Burning of Solid Waste by the Director of Public Works in Spindale, North Carolina

In consideration of the fact that an anonymous complaint was filed with the NC Department of Environmental & Natural Resources Division of Air Quality stating that the Town of Spindale had been openly burning solid waste for about a year, AND

In consideration that the Public Works Director, Mike Brooks, did willfully and knowingly lie and file false reports to the State of North Carolina, AND
In consideration that there are pictures which clearly show that the open burning referred to did occur at the Town of Spindale Public Works Facility, AND

In consideration of the fact that the Town of Spindale Public Works Director was given eight days of awareness of the complaint prior to the inspection of the burning site, AND

In consideration that the NC Department of Environmental & Natural Resources Division of Air Quality claims that there was no evidence on the site when the investigator arrived even though investigator Troy Harrison states in his own report that he was not shown the burning site, AND

In consideration that the Town of Spindale has not publically informed the citizens of Spindale of the extent, gross tonnage, or actual materials which were burned, AND

In consideration that the picture evidence shows clearly an automobile seat, paint cans, mattress frames, scrap metal, and myriad other materials either burning or burned, AND

In consideration of the fact that employees of the town and hundreds and thousands of citizens of Rutherford County have breathed in the toxic fumes of the burning solid waste, AND

In consideration of the fact that the EPA states that burning these materials produces dioxins, particle pollution, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, volatile organic compounds, carbon monoxide, hexachlorobenzene, and toxic ash; all of which create dangerous health conditions, including cancer, through inhalation or ingestion even in small amounts, AND

Finally in consideration that small children, the elderly, or people with preexisting respiratory conditions can be especially vulnerable to some of these pollutants,

We do hereby request an official investigation into this matter by the EPA, the North Carolina Governors Office, and the Sheriffs Office of Rutherford County for violations of the Clean Air Act, the filing of false reports to the State of North Carolina, the blatant pollution of our local and regional environment, the failure of the NC Department of Environmental & Natural Resources Division of Air Quality to investigate the actual burning site, the practice of allowing a violating offender eight days before investigating a burning site instead of making a surprise inspection, and the failure of the Town of Spindale to fully investigate and inform its citizens of the severe health risks of the burning of solid waste.