Alabama’s Gov. Issued Moratorium On Landfill Permits

February 24, 2011

Alabama’s governor signed a moratorium on new landfills in the state Wednesday, potentially making it more difficult for a new 5,100 landfill to locate upstream from North Escambia.

Representatives from Citizens for a Clean Southwest Alabama praised the executive order as they fight an application for the mega-landfill Conecuh Woods planned for near Repton, Alabama.

But a spokesperson for Conecuh Woods did not agree, saying that Bentley’s order does not impact their application before the Conecuh County Commission.

“The rural areas of Alabama are prime targets for the location of landfills and other solid waste management facilities to collect and manage volumes of solid waste in excess of that generated by their locales and regions, including solid waste from out of state,” Bentley’s order stated.

His order specified that even if a landfill is subject to local approval, it must also be approved by the state before a permit is issued. But until guidelines are created, no large landfills can be approved. Large landfills are described as those accepting more than 1,500 tons of waste per day or greater than 500 acres in size.

Many governments in South Alabama and Northwest Florida have spoken out in opposition to Conecuh Woods, including Escambia counties in Alabama and Florida, the Town of Century, Atmore and Flomaton.

Conecuh Woods’ landfill, would include a 1,600 acre “disposal cell” from Range to Repton to near the Big Escambia Creek. Big Escambia Creek flows southward into Escambia County, Alabama, through Flomaton and drains through a North Escambia swamp into the Escambia River and then Escambia Bay.

“Nobody knows more than we do that Florida’s rules on water quality are tougher than Alabama’s,” Century Mayor Freddie McCall said. “If it comes into our river, Florida is in trouble immediately.”

Pictured top: Repton, Alabama, Mayor Terri Carter addresses the Century Town Council Monday night in opposition to a proposed 5,100 acre landfill in Conecuh County, Alabama. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.

Comments

7 Responses to “Alabama’s Gov. Issued Moratorium On Landfill Permits”

  1. eab on February 25th, 2011 7:48 pm

    Art….

    Your comments are excellent. The problem is, I think that most people really don’t think about where the garbage goes as long as someone else gets it. Anything that makes us think about this issue is probably of excellent long term value to us as a society.

    I’m not sure of the economics of recycling. Before I moved to this area 15 years ago, I lived in a community in Georgia that had been recycling for about six years. The contention by the local government then was that, other than aluminum, it cost more to process the substances than the city made from them.The long term advantage touted was that the land fills would last a lot longer and thus save money on acquisition and/ or closings.

    I don’t know anything about the prices now but I wonder how much profit is in it. I like the idea of a co op style approach and maybe someone *could* make money off it. Nice idea. Never heard that angle before.

    One thing I would guess is that if the prices are not there now, they will be one day. Maybe if those of us who live in this area have to start shipping our refuse to, say….Alaska, (no dig at Sarah,I was born in Fairbanks) it will get expensive. Then….who knows?

    Thanks.

  2. art on February 25th, 2011 3:13 pm

    eab, find a place with not so much population density and outside a safe range of clear watersheds and aquifers,,,but i see your point….as a matter of fact our country is running out of viable landfill areas esp with folks waking up and smelling the coffee perking (or the methane, whatever)…i say lets protect our waters and our lands and go for a recycling center. it could even be a Co-op opportunity….only make it where regular folk get paid too for bringing in their paper waste, cardboard, bottles and aluminum . why should we just give these away to ECUA? they are valuable resources. if we had a center like that in southern alabama or the florida panhandle, people with a little bit of entrepreneurship about them could make a serious chunk of pocket jingle.

  3. eab on February 24th, 2011 11:58 pm

    I agree wholeheartedly with the folks who don’t want the dump in Conecuh County.

    What do y’all want to do with the garbage instead?

  4. confused on February 24th, 2011 9:43 pm

    @ SEAN….your confused buddy!!!! Do your research….the Citiziens For A Clean Southwest Alabama has nothing to do with your illegal dumps. That would be your lazy commissioners…the same ones that might bring that environmental nightmare to your county. The reason Conecuh County has so many illegal dumps is because your county is the only county in south alabama that IS NOT a MANDATORY garbage pick-up county. All of the counties that surround you are MANDATORY garbage pick-up counties, thanks to their county codes and ordinances passed by their commissioners. Residence of your county are not required by law to have garbage pick up. So what happens? They dump it where ever they can!!!! Take it to your commissioners and get the ordinance added to the books. As for the landfill creating jobs and bringing money to the county….hahaha…that’s funny. Since the economy is in the DUMPS for every county at the current time, don’t you think the other 65 counties in the State would be begging for the landfill. Naturally they would be, but they see through the BS and $$$$ signs, plus they care about their future and environment. Nobody within the State of Alabama or Florida wants the landfill except for a hand full of citizens in Conecuh County that can’t make an educated decision on their own. I’m not saying you yourself are uneducated, but there are so many within Conecuh County that let others make decisions for them. Most of the people calling the shots about the landfill are people that stand the possibility of making money from the construction off the landfill. Haulers , realtors, construction companys, etc. I promise it will not be the other 90% of citiziens benefiting from the landfill. Only a hand full will make the $$$$, the rest will be left “holding the bag”. That’s why no other county in Alabama wants the nightmare. The citiziens make their own decisions, not a hand full of wealthy business owners or their corrupt commissioners.

  5. SEAN on February 24th, 2011 1:24 pm

    YOU ARE RIGHT NO MORE DUMPS FOR ALABAMA ESPECIALLY CONECUH COUNTY. THAT IS WHY THIS LANDFILL IS WHAT WE NEED. THERE ARE OVER 50 ILLEGAL DUMPS IN CONECUH COUNTY AND THE CITIZENS FOR A CLEAN SOUTH WEST ALABAMA HAVE DONE NOTHING TO TRY TO GET RID OF THEM. CONECUH COUNTY NEEDS JOBS WHICH WILL BE PROVIDED IN MANY WAYS WITH THIS LANDFILL PROJECT. CONECUH COUNTY NEEDS MONEY AND SO DO THE PEOPLE OF THIS COUNTY.

  6. art on February 24th, 2011 11:20 am

    protect your homes from pollution as much as possible…this dump is just too close to people and the beautiful water found in this area.

  7. tracy on February 24th, 2011 6:54 am

    NO DUMP!! WE DON’T NEED IT! WE DON’T WANT IT!

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News