Can a community built on a toxic landfill ever really be "green?"

Last year, I wrote a blog post (http://activerain.com/blogsview/115441/Albuquerque-Mesa-Del-Sol)  about the new, greatly-hyped "green" development envisioned for Albuquerque's Mesa Del Sol. I've been enthusiastic myself about the concepts Mesa del Sol is focusing on, and wanted to spread the word about the "green" emphasis for the planned housing there.

Iimagine my surprise this past week when I suddenly got two comments on this old post, both questioning how Mesa del Sol could possibly be considered green when it is built on an old, City of Albuquerque toxic landfill (according to commentor Patricia Tapia) and adjacent to radioactive waste from the Sandia Labs Mixed Waste Landfill (according to commentor Joe Edwards)!

This is the first time I had ever encountered this accusation, and certainly the publicity that Mesa del Sol has been getting here in Albuquerque has never mentioned this issue to my knowledge. If true, it's a big concern!

So I decided to check it out.

I checked the Bernalillo County sites, the city of Albuquerque sites, the Mesa del Sol site, and didn't notice anything that mentioned "toxic waste" or "landfills" in connection with Mesa del Sol (not surprising, when you think about it!) Nor could I find any maps that showed Mesa del Sol on the same map with any of these alleged dumps. So I collected a bunch of different maps:

1. A map from the Albuquerque City government site that shows the location of city landfills
2. Maps from Mesa del Sol, showing the location of the proposed developments
3. A map showing the location of the Sandia Laboratories Mixed Waste Landfill.

Then I copied each, resized them all to the same size, and created an overlay map, to see whether my commentators above were accurate. Here are the maps, labeled 1,2, and 3 respectively, followed by the overlay map.

You decide!

1. The map of Albuquerque area landfills, with landfills indicated by the yellow-and-green amoeba-like blobs:
2. Map showing location of Mesa del Sol development.	.
3. Map showing the location of the Sandia Laboratories Mixed Waste Landfill in blue.
Take a look at what happens when the maps of the Mixed Waste Landfill at Sandia Labs (blue) and the city of Albuquerque landfill map (yellow) are comparably sized and overlain on the map of the Mesa del Sol area:

The blue indicates the Sandia Laboratories Mixed Waste Landfill, containing radioactive waste. The green-and-yellow  blobs show the City of Albuquerque landfills.

It  seems, as best I can tell, that the commentors were correct! Part of the Mesa del Sol development does lie right on top of an old landfill! And the Mixed Waste Landfill on Kirtland Air Force Base is indeed only a couple of miles from Mesa del Sol.

So the question remains, is it really possible to have green, eco-friendly homes on top of toxic waste??

I suppose the answers might depend on exactly what the development plans call for in the area directly atop the old landfill, and the areas closest to the Mixed Waste Landfill. So watch for my next post. I'll be taking a look at the more detailed development plan for Mesa Del Sol, to try to figure out exactly what, if anything, is going to be built in those exact areas!