All landfills are different.  They are monitored differently and cannot be treated the same.

Take for example the West Lake Landfill.  Given that this particular landfill is one of the country’s “most monitored sites of its type,” the EPA have concluded that the best way to deal with remediation there is via a permanent cap at the site, as opposed to moving the landfill which will actually be “more dangerous to local communities than leaving it where it is.”

What should also be understood is that landfills were originally created as a solution to the fact that people were causing great harm to their areas by just dumping waste without any consideration for the public’s safety.  In addition, landfills such as West Lake Landfill (and it is important to remember all landfills must be assessed independently as no two are the same) are able to protect the ecosystem by containing waste that pose a hazard to the environment.

Financially, moving the West Lake Landfill is not good either. The cost of excavation would be over $600 million and at taxpayer expense.

Therefore, when looking at landfills, it is imperative to realize that each case must be regarded as a separate entity since there is just no “one size fits all solution when dealing with these types of sites containing our country’s legacy waste.”