UTMC

No, not the browser, and not the shiny stuff.
I couldn't find much useful information, so I thought I'd try the bottomless well of knowledge that is the UTMC.

Here is the situation: About three quarters of a mile from where I live, sandwiched between a mostly empty industrial park and the motorway, is an old toxic waste dump where, until 1987, the local steel mill unloaded waste from stainless steel production. Namely sludge and old tiles from the electric arc furnaces. Sounds harmless enough, but apparently this stuff, while mostly identical average ordinary construction rubble, is contaminated with asbestos and the aforementioned chromium (VI).
They switched to another dump then, but that one had to be closed last year as it was entirely and completely filled to capacity.
Not so the one in my neighborhood.

Now, until they find a way to turn chromium (VI) into metallic chrome, I agree they have to put it somewhere. And, apparently, the local dump has leaked before, but that was fixed.
So now they want to reopen it and, over the next 37 years, pile another 100 feet of waste on there.

On the one hand, I prefer if they put it somewhere already destroyed rather than tearing up a piece of land that may be used for something else, and almost all local political entities are trying to at least put regulations that will make the operator behave into the operating license (turns out they may even have a legal right to reopen the dump and the city may be forced by a court to license it). Also, reopening the dump would mean it would get some state of the art improvements and would be better monitored, so at least some consolation.

But I'm still on the fence, obviously, about potential dust and the aforementioned chromium (VI).

So, does anyone have any information on it apart from that it's toxic?
How bad is it in connection with electric arc furnace waste?
Does anyone have any experience?

**EDIT**
Fixed nomenclature

My understanding is that electric arc furnaces seem like a neat idea but in reality all that stuff has to go somewhere and if you burn it up into molecules/atoms what have you they will bond to something once you turn it loose in the atmosphere.

Dumps are supposed to be high and dry, not low and wet.

Heavy metals are bad news.

You're talking about chromium (VI)?

Nasty stuff. Very toxic and highly carcinogenic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromium

stiles wrote:You're talking about chromium (VI)?

Nasty stuff.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromium

Indeed. Fixed it.

Chromium 6, hexavalent chromium, is a very toxic heavy metal.

It can cause very bad things to happen to living beings.

There was a Julia Roberts movie in which this heavy metal was "the heavy".

Pintgudge wrote:There was a Julia Roberts movie in which this heavy metal was "the heavy".

And then George happens by on his Harley, in between jobs, lookin' for some tang. He gets his thang sprang, but ends up stuck as a stay-at-home dude while Ma Brock goes and investigates the baddies and their Hex. It hurts George. He sees packs of bikers bikering their bikes, and is sad. While good with kids, and generally a nice guy, he wistfully dreams of fondling and rubbing his junk on Officially Licensed Harley-Davidson products. So he blows and goes with those joes.

See what Chromium 6 can do to a person?

(There must be some of that shit in my backyard)

See!

I Tolj Ya it was Bad!