There has been lots of discussion around Cumberland County for the last 18 months concerning the Board of Supervisors’ decision to bring a private dump to the county. Despite widespread opposition and at least one organized group, the Supervisors decided to enter into a Host Agreement with Allied Waste, a mega-trash company headquartered in Arizona.

What makes it possible for the dump to be located in the spot they have chosen is that Watkins Abbitt, friend to the dump industry, introduced and got passed HB 2129 (2005), which changes the distance that a dump can be located to a public water intake. It had been 5 miles; it is now 3 miles. Here is the official summary from when the bill was introduced:

Summary as introduced:
Siting of landfills. Reduces the distance that a landfill can be sited from a groundwater supply. Currently, a landfill cannot be constructed within five miles of a groundwater public supply intake. The bill prohibits the construction of a landfill within 500 feet of an existing groundwater supply. The bill also increases the acreage threshold for allowing a landfill to be constructed or expanded in a nontidal wetland. Under the existing law, permits may be issued for the construction or expansion of a landfill that impacts less than 1.25 acres of nontidal wetlands. This bill would allow the issuance of a permit for a landfill that would impact less than 3.5 acres, provided that the wetlands are replaced on a two-to-one basis with wetlands of an equal or higher environmental value as determined by the Director of the Department of Environmental Quality. (emphasis mine)

Anyone with a brain can understand that the closer a dump is to a public water intake, the more chances it will be violated by runoff and leachate from that dump. Here is the summary for the bill how it was passed:

Summary as passed House:
Siting of landfills. Reduces from five miles to three miles the distance that a landfill can be sited from a surface water or a groundwater supply intake or reservoir. However, a landfill can be constructed as close as one mile from any existing surface or groundwater supply if the landfill meets certain conditions. The bill also increases the acreage threshold for allowing a landfill to be constructed or expanded in a nontidal wetland. Under existing law, permits may be issued for the construction or expansion of a landfill that impacts less than 1.25 acres of nontidal wetlands. This bill would allow the issuance of a permit for a landfill that would impact less than two acres. The bill authorizes the Director of the Department of Environmental Quality to issue a permit for an expansion of a landfill located in a wetland only under certain specific conditions, such as the proposed site has to be at least 100 feet from any surface water body and one mile from any tidal wetland and that there is a minimum two-to-one wetlands mitigation ratio. (emphasis mine)

Obviously, nobody would want a dump built in their backyard. The trash has to go somewhere. But for Abbitt to make it so easy is a sell-out of his own constituents. Here is the record of money taken from Abbitt from waste companies.

AEGIS Waste Solutions Inc	$1,900
Synagro Technologies Inc	$750
Waste Management Inc	$750
Allied Waste/Brunswick Management Facility	$500

So, as we see here, Abbitt thinks a dump is a ‘local issue’, but takes plenty of money for his re-election from those industries that operate dumps and haul and process human waste sludge. Where I am from that is called hypocrisy.

Now YOU have a friend in the dump business. Unless of course, the dump is going to be located in your neighborhood; then it is a ‘local issue’.