"Toxic Landfill Gas Building Up at Lakeside Dump"

"COLUMBIA, SC — Hazardous chemical vapors are leaking through the top of an industrial waste dump along Lake Marion and are suspected of contaminating shallow groundwater near the surface of the 36-year-old site.

Nearly 20 different chemicals, some at concentrations above safe drinking water standards, have shown up in groundwater atop a plastic liner installed decades ago to protect the environment from the now abandoned waste dump near Pinewood, according to a recent consulting study.

State regulators have known about the issue for about three years, records show, but they said the contamination isn’t a threat to Lake Marion."

Sammy Fretwell reports for the Columbia State November 10, 2014.