85 Comments

Thank you for highlighting this. I live in Bristol and while I rarely smell anything at my home (thank God), I drown in gasses and odor at work, and thousands of residents — and many friends and colleagues — are gassed every night for hours. Their kids are sick — they all have similar symptoms that concern me, and I'm not their parent: headaches, nosebleeds, nausea…. People cannot sleep at night. They are being forced to flee in some cases, and that’s happening more often over the past month. A couple people who are under the spell of the city council for some reason are trying to discredit the effort the community has exerted in organizing to raise awareness and get relief. This is a crisis. People cannot breathe in their homes. No one is exaggerating here. There are not enough words to describe the health impact, much less the anxiety and exhaustion. Thank you for making the plight of this town known. No one else seems to care. After all, it’s “just” Appalachia.

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This is criminal. There are four schools (two elementary, one middle, and one high school) and a university in Bristol TN that are located in the affected areas. I don’t know how many schools are in the Virginia area. Students are breathing the toxic gasses at home and then in their classrooms at school. It gets trapped inside the building. It’s on their clothes and in their back packs. The health impaired and the elderly are at great risk. Animals are having seizures, vomiting and dying. No one in the Bristol VA leadership seems to listen or care. Randy Eades, the Bristol VA City Manager AND the city attorney, has been invited to speak to the Rotary and Chamber of Commerce. Perhaps they should ask the “gassed residents” who deal with the onslaught daily to speak to their organizations. This community needs HELP. We are asked to wait for another attempt to “fix” the “smell.” Meanwhile, the community continues to suffer.

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My son Michael, lives in Bristol Tn. his own health is compromised as he moved to Tn. for a peaceful and healthy lifestyle for his family. He is now living in a nightmare!! First I think they should rid Tn. of the main culprit “ Randell Eads” who turns the other way! My 3 grandchildren attend the schools affected. Something and someone has to do something for these people!! I plead as a mother and grandmother to get help there . God bless all these people living in these conditions!! 🙏🙏🙏🙏

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Bet they torture us a little more with the gasses after this article. Thank you for helping to bring awareness. Seems that everytime there's a protest or news broadcast the smells are worse 😕😭

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My Mother, daughter and sister live across the street from the landfill. My sister has chronic lung issues, sinus issues and feels drained of energy 24/7. It is nothing for my daughter to wake up.puking, constant stomach issues, headaches and most recent, nose bleeds. My 90 year old Mother lives on anti nausea medication and tylenol, at 90 years old she should be enjoying what time she has left instead of being constantly sick. I could go on and on about the issues with the "leaders" of this City, but itwould be a book, and not a very nice one either. 🤬

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Daily headaches, nausea, burning eyes and throat! I’m now stuck in a decision to wear my CPAP to live or don’t wear it because I can’t take the smell seeping through it. My teen daughters have been suffered headaches, and having to leave school because of them. Our homes, schools, and businesses are full of these smells and toxins!

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I live 20 minutes away from said dump on the Tennessee side and it is horrible so I could not imagine those closer. Sad very sad that it hate to take my dog out at night because that smell gets inside.

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Something has got to be done.. There is no way anyone should have to live like this due do shortcuts an bad management .An to top it off the landfill has never made a profit. So why even think about keeping it open.. fix the problems an close it.

Bristol city va. Management an shortcuts are killing the people that are paying them an that they work for

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I live in Bristol Tennessee too! And my 79 year old mother as well. We both suffer every day and night! There no getting away from it!! To say it's Hell on earth just isn't a strong enough quote! I worry about my entire family and friends! Apparently they could care less about poisoning our entire community! I'm a 51 year old man that crys at night from the misery! Both my nostrils have sores that will not heal, I cough constantly, headaches not to mention the mental part of it all because guess what...I live here! There's no place to go to escape!!! If it keeps going we will die here as well! I really hope and pray it's not to late already! Please for the love of God if anyone that could possibly help PLEASE Please help us! So sad to watch my hometown go through this! So Unbelievable

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Erin and others reading these comments. I can assure you this is one of the biggest disasters that is unfolding. I am sure when you started your journey you had some unhinged residents like the above that wants any attention even if its negative. Some people in the community I guess are very lucky to not be suffering which might be 5 out of about 15,000 people. Again there is major suffering, corruption, and a faulty system. I have never seen anything like this in my life. I thank you for picking up on this story and further looking into this disaster. I moved down to get away from the mess up north but little did I know what was awaiting me.

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founding

Dear Karah Waller;

So sorry for all your misery & you know it's not a mystery...

MILLIONS OF US ARE SICK, SAD & SUFFERING DOWNWIND & DOWNSTREAM. IRL COURAGE & WELLNESS WISHES!

WAY TO GO! DON’T BACK DOWN & LEARN MORE EVERYDAY!

Maybe for more help & guidance reach out to Louisiana Bucket Brigade. They perfected air sampling methods, protection, is another nightmare that can last decades.

Not only do we feel your pain & misery we’re living it too.

If it's in the air, it's effectively made it into the land & water resources too. If powers at large, industry & political in both states deny or claim “NON-ATTAINMENT” & won’t take action for containment status for their critical life impacting excuses continuously contaminating communities than you should move & also demand set back zones for all the aspects impacting all communities’ LAND, AIR & WATER RESOURCES.

Seriously; protect yourself first. Trick is where to move that isn’t a nightmare. WE/ME all have to learn IAQ-Indoor Air Quality BLDG Biology. Test everything Land, Air & Water too.

Many homes & BLDGS have never been properly sealed or will keep away from vapors from underground issues penetrating inside homes as well as mold prevention & impacts etc.

Everything that contaminates us impacts our health mentally & physically. The science of BUILDINGS = all our health.

Polluting poison on purpose profits must stop it! #PPOPP

The only thing anyone understands in money. List all the companies & talk directly to their environmental depts too.

MEANwhile, negotiate a buy out for your family & plan where your next “SAFE” place is for you & your community.

You/me/we together have to be our own detectives & learn prevention & protection skills & tools that we use & CAN DO.

Education & Empowerment is we all need to survive & thrive inside our homes & communities everywhere. It’s SCIENCE!

You’re already making our world a better place by learning & reaching out & sharing what we all need to learn & CAN DO.

Every community has waste issues. Start talking with social media about all of it so we can protect our kids’ lives & future.

The tools & resources we require is in the palms of our hands.

You are, we are & we need more like you & Erin Brockovich!

SQEEK ON! You came to the right person for inspiration!

ASK QUESTIONS THEN ASK MORE QUESTIONS UNTIL YOU GET ALL THE ANSWERS TO YOUR SATISFACTION.

Technically issues are rocket science. Way to go & grow Y’ALL!

Corporations allow their products to pollute us inside & out.

Stop buying products contaminating air in homes & landfills!

STOP SMELL YOU LATER & LATER & LATER CONTAMINATION = CONDEMNATION

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It's so bad here the chemical toxic trash smell is getting in our house and hurting our health plz and help is greatly appreciated

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I also live in Bristol TN, about a mile from the landfill. The smell is in the fabric in my car, in the fabric of my furniture, and fills my house every morning when I wake. There is no escaping the smell at home. The benzene levels alone are over 50x the legal limit. This is completely criminal. If there is a class action lawsuit filed, I want in. We’ve lived here 8 years and our quality of life has diminished incredibly in the last year due to the stench and the headaches and nausea it causes my family. This is criminal. I hoped that by moving away from my home town (along the incredibly polluted Pigeon River) that I’d leave some of the pollution behind. I had no idea that I’d be moving to an area with worse pollution than what I grew up near. I sure hope someone can help us because it’s clear that Bristol VA does not care.

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I live on Tennessee side off Volunteer Pkwy not as bad, but taking my husband to work over at exit 10 the smell wa unbearable, I got a really bad headache, nausea, and gagging, it was so bad, someone Help our community 🙏😥

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founding

ASTDR- refused to do studies after President Obama said they should for us, EPA did do anything else wither... You can document & map your own health issues. Test LAND, AIR & WATER. However, once you have the science you may be stuck in full discolcure even though IRL criminals get away with ruining your/our property values & health. Lawsuits can wait you out but if you work with them to buy out & improve their methods it's benefits all of us everywhere. ALL 4; 1 = HUMANKIND

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I can’t help but notice a wide swath of Bristol seems to be blaming every recent health issue on the landfill gas. No one had allergies this fall - it had to be the landfill. Your pet sick? Landfill gas. Headache? Runny nose? Upset stomach? It must be that dastardly landfill gas! There is definite correlation between landfill gases and symptoms of odor irritation and *no one is denying that* but to blame everything on the landfill is myopic. If your child is having nose bleeds and chronic headaches, that requires a trip to the doctor, not a Facebook post. Driving around for the sole purpose of finding smell and fumes - and then complaining about how it makes you feel? Beyond idiotic and practically masochistic. We all want the landfill to stop spewing its noxious fumes and the fact of the matter is, the City of Bristol VA is working to fix the problem. To say otherwise is disingenuous and perpetuates a false narrative to those that don’t know any better.

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