To report or not to report
I was asked by a guy to come and see about getting rid of 2 large piles of scrap from his yard.
There were 2 huge piles of scrap(piled by an excavator) probably 20 feet in diameter and about 20 feet high each.
I spent 2-1/2 hours with this guy listening to him prattle on about this and that(not scrap related just a bored old guy I guess)
So I tell him I will bring in an excavator and bins at my expense to get rid of the scrap(there were 2 complete pickups crushed in the piles as well).
NOW he shows me this spot about 20 feet in diameter where the grass is dead and he tells me there is batteries and other toxic stuff buried there-I said nothing when he told me this and just gave a blank stare.
The 2 piles of scrap and the toxic dump are at the top of a hill which runs downhill and into a creek bed.
NOW I heard nothing from him for several weeks-he was going to call me so I could arrange the machine and the bins.
I call him 3 weeks later and he says "my neighbour buried the piles with his excavator"
Burying scrap here I know is illegal and certainly burying toxic waste is as well.
My question/s are:
1. Why did he lead me on and then screw me like that?
2. Should I call the bylaw enforcement/DNR on this guy?
If I blow the whistle on him he will most certainly get jail time AND forfeit his property.
Being a nice guy, I hate making trouble and this is not sour grapes-I am genuinely concerned about the environmental impact as this creek runs downhill and drains into the ocean.
Any suggestions?
To report or not to report
Report? Depends. Will anything happen? Depends.
I'm not so sure that the penalties are actually that severe. Especially in Canada. He would likely get presented with what would amount to an expensive fine....paying to clean up the mess. Properly. Overseen by the DNR wonks. If he was lucky enough that the effluent plume of the bad stuff leaching out of his crap pile in the groundwater has not moved off the property, then he could clean it up himself by choosing the most competitive contractors to do the job. If the crap had started running off his property, then the gov't boys would step in and get the job done and he would lose any control of the cost to clean it up.
More to the point of reporting...I would think a gov't guy would see it as your word against his. And you have not seen anything being buried, but just were TOLD that it was buried. Would the gov't go through the expenses of going to a judge to get a search warrant, hiring a hoe to go out and dig to prove there was stuff there, and analysing what was found to see just how bad the whole mess truly is? For example, is there lots of groundwater in the area? Is it flowing quickly? Is the ground chemistry such that it would speed oxidation of the bad stuff so water can move it away? How much bad stuff is actually there? Was one motorcycle-sized battery buried or 100 large heavy equipment-sized batteries? Is the buried lead a bigger issue than buried steel? Finally, how busy is the local DNR? Do they have the equivalent of 20 Love Canals and a bunch of defunct steel mills and coal tar plants that they are handling? Then this item might be pretty small potatoes to them.
Is there a law in your jurisdiction that says you must report something that is suspected was done that is against the law?
All of these questions will colour the answer for this particular situation and the specific question (report or not?). For you, it comes down to your own moral compass.
But don't be surprised if nothing happens if a report is made.
Hope this helps,
Jon.