Pollution gripes irk scrappy recycler

GALLUP, N.M. (KRQE) - George Pollock is no fan of New Mexico’s Environment Department.

"Every EPA system in the world’s been out here," said the owner of Gallup Mobile Recycling. "You name it, they’ve been here."

Two Environment Department inspectors visited the business located next to Interstate 40 east of Gallup back in February after citizens reported seeing junk like old refrigerators being buried in the ground.

In an e-mail, Jim Winchester, an Environment Department spokesman, said inspectors "observed freshly disturbed soil and heavy equipment in operation, consistent with potential burying of items."

KRQE News 13 visited the recycling yard and asked Pollock why inspectors showed up.

"I have not a clue," he said. "Just to harass me and hassle me as far as I’m concerned."

However, inspectors also reported seeing "what was essentially ‘a lake of apparent antifreeze’ upon the surface," according to Winchester’s e-mail. A person who saw the "lake" said the antifreeze was two-inches deep and approximately 30-feet-by-60-feet, which meant it covered about 1,800 square feet.

Pollock denied the antifreeze existed.

"That is absolutely--excuse the language--(bull manure)," Pollock said. "I mean, that’s retarded. There is no antifreeze here."

News 13 saw no evidence of antifreeze on a recent visit to the recycling yard. But even if such a lake existed, the state couldn’t do anything about it.

That’s because Pollock leases the land from the Navajo Nation, and state inspectors have no power over it.

Then just last month, Pollock’s name surfaced in connection with an illegal dump site on private land near Pinehaven about 12 miles south of Gallup. The 3.5-acre parcel contains a 26-foot cabin cruiser boat, a school bus, several old cars, a large pile of tires, a battered, old mobile home and what appears to be the remnants of a wood building.

Roger Scarbro, who lives next door to the dump site, said it’s been a mess for nearly a decade.

"It was already a junkyard, and it was here long before we moved out here," Scarbro said. "We knew it was here."

But Pollock said his only connection to the Pinehaven site came in 2008 when the property owner hired him to bail a bunch of cars parked there. Four years later many of those bailed cars remain at the site piled next to the road.

News 13 asked him why he didn’t move the bails from the site.

"I went broke," Pollock said. "I lost about a million bucks. I was just running for my life."

In fact, Pollock said he still owes the property owners money for the crushed cars he sold. But, he said, he deposited none of the garbage on the site.

"I’ve never been connected with that property," Pollock said.

Property owner Celia Pierce told News 13 she and her husband, Harrison, have begun cleaning up the site. She said Pollock still owes them about $13,000.

As for the Gallup Mobile Recycling yard, Pollock insisted he’s following the rules and is only trying to make a living.

Sgt. Anderson Harvey of the Navajo Environmental Protection Agency described the recycling center as a "junkyard." He said he’s concerned about the condition of the site, as well as petroleum storage tanks and petroleum products being stored on the site, which is next door to the Navajo Nation’s Fire Rock Casino.

"I am concerned about the site," Harvey said. "It’s a mess."

Albert Damon Jr., executive director of the Navajo Nation’s Economic Development Division, said his department is reviewing Pollock’s lease.

But Pollock said there will be consequences if his lease is canceled.

"If they force me off, they can clean it up," he said. "If I go on my terms, I’ll do it.

"If they want me to leave, hell, I’ll leave. I got no problem with that. I employ 52 people. I’ll fire ‘em all and leave town. I’m 82 years old. I don’t need this crap."