Talking trash: Landfill issue appears set to explode onto front burner at County Commission meeting
HUNTSVILLE | With a group of angry citizens pledging to protest to Scott County Commission at its Monday regular session about apparent plans for a new landfill north of Oneida that would bring in trash by rail, it appears the long-whispered plan will finally explode into a front-burner issue.
Calls went out on Facebook Sunday afternoon for residents to attend Monday’s meeting of County Commission, which will take place at the Scott County Office Building in Huntsville. All meetings of County Commission begin at 5 p.m.
Oneida resident Ralph Trieschmann penned a letter to the editor that appeared in the May 8 edition of the Independent Herald, opposing a new landfill. However, there has been precious little revealed publicly about the landfill or what it might look like — other than an anonymous Facebook post that prompted the letter from Trieschmann, whose Timber Rock Lodge neighbors the proposed new landfill. That’s partly because the proposal for a new landfill is a matter of private enterprise that, to date, at least, does not involve local government entities.
At issue is nearly 700 acres of mostly vacant property adjacent to the existing Volunteer Regional Landfill off Bear Creek Road, originally named Roberta Landfill. According to information given to the Independent Herald, a purchase of the property has been proposed by Chattanooga-area developer Knox Horner, president and CEO of Capiche LLC. According to Horner’s LinkedIn profile, he is employed in the “Acquisition, Management and Consolidation of Solid Waste Management assets.”
Although the property is adjacent to the existing landfill and part of it is even deeded “Roberta Landfill Phase III LLC,” the goal would reportedly be a separate landfill. The existing landfill is owned by Waste Connections, which holds just over 800 acres of property. Together, the properties comprise approximately 1,500 acres of contiguous property extending nearly to New Light Road in Winfield.
Separately, multiple people with knowledge of closed-door business discussions have told the IH, local property owners have been approached by the hopeful developer about the possibility of facilitating an off-loading facility that would allow trash moved by rail on the Norfolk-Southern Railroad to be transported to the planned new landfill. One such location that has been discussed is the former Hartco flooring plant property in downtown Oneida. There has also been talk of building a railroad spur from the N-S rail line into the proposed new landfill, although such a project would require millions of dollars of capital investment to complete.
It is not clear that Norfolk-Southern would permit an off-loading facility, or if it did, whether such a facility would be permitted on a permanent basis or only on a temporary basis. An email from the IH to Norfolk-Southern last week seeking clarity on the issue has not yet been returned.
It appears that 23 acres of the property in question has already been permitted as a landfill by the State of Tennessee, and the governments of Scott County and Oneida would be powerless to stop a landfill from moving forward on that small parcel of property. It isn’t clear how much input local officials would have into preventing the remainder of the property from being permitted as a landfill, if any. Scott County adopted the Jackson Law in July 1989. The Jackson Law is a state statute that requires local government approval for the construction of privately-owned landfills. Under the law, such approval is necessary from the county commission, as well as the board of mayor and aldermen if the proposed landfill falls inside the municipal boundaries of a town. However, a TDEC memo revised May 6 states that Scott County’s Jackson Law resolution has expired, and that a request for a copy of a resolution re-adopting the Jackson Law had not been received by the state as of July 2010.
Landfill permits in Tennessee are handled by the TN Dept. of Environment & Conservation’s Division of Solid Waste Management. It approves four types of landfills, ranging from Class I facilities that can be used for disposal of non-hazardous household wastes and commercial wastes, to Class IV facilities that can be used for construction and demolition wastes, shredded tires and similar items. Following an application for a landfill and the necessary preliminary steps, TDEC issues two public notices and provides an opportunity for public input, after which a public hearing can be scheduled if deemed necessary by TDEC. According to the agency, the permitting process requires 16 to 32 months to complete.
Volunteer Regional Landfill, the existing landfill at Bear Creek, is a Class I landfill. It is one of 17 Class I landfills currently in operation in Tennessee.
The state’s shrinking landfill capacity has been a major topic of discussion in recent months, particularly in Middle Tennessee. The last Class I landfill in Middle Tennessee, located in Rutherford County, is expected to close within the next five years. When that happens, Middle Tennessee communities will have to find somewhere else to put their trash.
Landfill matters are not on County Commission’s agenda for Monday night, according to a copy of the agenda made available last week by the Scott County Mayor’s Office. However, each commission meeting includes an opportunity for members of the general public to address commissioners.
