Pherron2008
New member
I need some idea of the depth range of a typical farm double bottom plow. The plow would be used to turn a field for prep for planting a crop for corn or hay or grain.
My reason for asking is bizarre, but important. My family owned and operated a dairy farm in Elkton, Md from the mid '40's for about 50 years. Toward the end of that period, the EPA discovered through the review of old documents that at the end of WWll, a large munitions plant adjacent to the farm buried millions of now surplus artillery shells, bullets, hand grenades, etc, on the farm we would be buying in a few years. - all done legally and under the supervision of the War Department.
Our family was totally unaware of this when we bought the farm several years later.
When the. EPA discover this contamination they declared a number of acres as a brownfield, and has spent about $7 million for removing the buried explosives. So far so good.
But then they said that since we were owners of the land, we had to pay for a portion of the cost of the cleanup. One reason given - our plowing had spread the buried munitions around, thus making the cleanup more expensive.
I am questioning this, thinking a plow typically turned soil over to a depth of about a foot or so. That is the reason for my question.
You can find full details at the EPA website under ,"Elkton Firehole".
By the way, if you think the EPA was unfairly billing the family for the cleanup of buried munitions we weren't even aware of, look up CERCLA. They can force participation in the cleanup cost even if the land owner was unaware of the presence of buried contaminants, and didn't even own the property when the contaminants were buried. This was our situation.
Thanks for any input
My reason for asking is bizarre, but important. My family owned and operated a dairy farm in Elkton, Md from the mid '40's for about 50 years. Toward the end of that period, the EPA discovered through the review of old documents that at the end of WWll, a large munitions plant adjacent to the farm buried millions of now surplus artillery shells, bullets, hand grenades, etc, on the farm we would be buying in a few years. - all done legally and under the supervision of the War Department.
Our family was totally unaware of this when we bought the farm several years later.
When the. EPA discover this contamination they declared a number of acres as a brownfield, and has spent about $7 million for removing the buried explosives. So far so good.
But then they said that since we were owners of the land, we had to pay for a portion of the cost of the cleanup. One reason given - our plowing had spread the buried munitions around, thus making the cleanup more expensive.
I am questioning this, thinking a plow typically turned soil over to a depth of about a foot or so. That is the reason for my question.
You can find full details at the EPA website under ,"Elkton Firehole".
By the way, if you think the EPA was unfairly billing the family for the cleanup of buried munitions we weren't even aware of, look up CERCLA. They can force participation in the cleanup cost even if the land owner was unaware of the presence of buried contaminants, and didn't even own the property when the contaminants were buried. This was our situation.
Thanks for any input
