Several Anson County residents approached county commissioners during their March 1 meeting with concerns ranging from coal ash to funding the Agri-Civic Center.

Multiple people spoke to the commissioners about their concerns that Duke Energy will send coal ash to the landfill in Polkton. Duke officials say Anson County is a backup plan if the other facilities it plans to use for coal ash disposal are unavailable.

Cary Rodgers, Denise Lee and her grandson, Justin Lee, and Janet Dyson all brought their concerns to the board and brought a copy of a resolution they want the county to pass. The resolution would bar coal ash from the county.

Denise Lee is a member of Pee Dee Water, Air, Land and Lives.

“When the contract for the landfill was originally debated and approved by the commissioners, we were told that the landfill company had no plans to use the railroad,” she said. “All along, citizens concerned about the truth of that statement are now faced with the reality that our suspicions were correct. (Duke Energy’s Riverbend and Sutton power plant coal ash excavation plan) also states that no radioactive material can be disposed of in this landfill. The catch here is if you don’t look for it, it doesn’t exist.”

Lee listed pollution, space and the possibility of accidents as other concerns from coal ash and said Duke should keep its coal ash on its own property.

“We call instead for solidifying coal ash with concrete and storing it in above-ground vaults on power plant property — the ‘saltstone’ disposal approach originally developed by the U.S. government for storing hazardous radioactive waste,” she said. “We ask our commissioners to take a bold stand and pass a resolution which prevents this unnecessary burden on our water, air, land and lives. If Waste Connections is serious about being a good neighbor, then we ask them to endorse this resolution.”

Lee’s grandson, Justin Lee, also asked commissioners to protect the county from the waste.

Justin Lee said he is going into the Marine Corps when he graduates high school and wants to know that his family will be safe while he’s gone.

“I want to go fight, so I’m not going to be here long,” he said. “I don’t know if my family’s going to live on base with me or if they’re going to stay home with my family. If they do, I want them to be able to drink water from the faucet. I want them to be able to breathe the air. I don’t want them to have to pay for water bottles. I want to go fight for my family’s safety, my family to have clean water, clean air, to breathe and drink.”

Board Chairwoman Anna Baucom assured the teen that the board wants the same thing.

Cary Rodgers, a member of the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, read a resolution that the league and Pee Dee WALL want the county to pass. It is based on a resolution belonging to another county.

The resolution lists the spill of coal ash waste into the Dan River in 2014 and concerns about toxins.

Janet Dyson asked the board what power the county has to bar coal ash, and county attorney Scott Forbes said he was not sure, but would research the issue.

The commissioners did not vote on the resolution or any other aspects of the coal ash issue during the meeting.

SPEEDING, STAFFING, SPENDING

Truett Wright also approached the commissioners with several concerns. He said the county board should give more money to the sheriff’s office, hire more deputies to enforce speeding laws, reevaluate the upcoming Agri-Civic Center, avoid adding liquor-by-the-drink and bar coal ash from the county. He also mentioned high tax rates and staffing issues with the animal shelter.

Wright addressed the board last month about problems with speeding and sheriff’s office funding and staffing. This month, he targeted the upcoming Anson County Agri-Civic Center, saying the county needs to build up tourism before spending money on the property.

“The civic center, it needs a lot of rethinking,” he said. “The present plan calls for office space and conference rooms. We don’t have anything to draw people to the county. Other counties have facilities to have the meetings. We need something to bring the county in line with tourists and money-spending people. A facility that would be built that could offer craft shows, indoor gun and knife shows, antique car, tractor pulls, all these would bring people,” he said.

Truett mentioned regional conference centers in Hoke and Cabarrus counties as examples.

“This is what Anson County needs: something to bring people to spend the money,” he said. “We don’t need an office space and a conference center, we need to attract people to get their money spent in Anson County.”

Wright said focusing on the center would be a mistake with the other issues Anson faces.

“Liquor by the drink: Norwood got it,” he said. “It didn’t bring any business. They didn’t even get a new restaurant. So we need to be looking at something other than liquor by the drink and a civic center. We’ve already got enough drunks, drug addicts, meth labs and lawbreakers as it is.”

Baucom said she didn’t understand Wright’s concerns about the Agri-Civic Center.

“I believe it includes space for events — shows, horse shows,” Baucom said. “I don’t understand. Maybe I’ve been to the wrong meetings, but that’s my understanding.”

Wright said the center would be a good idea once the other issues he complained about were completely resolved.

“So we shouldn’t look to the future and build a civic center?” Baucom said.

Wright said it could be looked at eventually, once the county begins hosting events to draw people.

“We just can’t build a building and hope they take notice,” he said, saying there need to be tourists to bring in revenue.

County extension office director Janine Rywak said the Union County center is normally booked for at least a year and a half for weekends, and that it can be difficult to get in on short notice on weekdays. She also said she has already had an inquiry from a business in South Carolina about hosting a knife show at the Anson center.

Baucom said she thinks the center will help keep local events, such as the high school prom, in the county and encourage growth in tourism.

Reach reporter Imari Scarbrough at 704-994-5471 and follow her on Twitter @ImariScarbrough.

Imari Scarbrough | Anson Record Organizer Denise Lee speaks about the potential effects of dumping coal ash in Anson County during a February meeting of Pee Dee Water, Air, Land and Lives.
https://ansonrecord.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/web1_IMG_3988.jpgImari Scarbrough | Anson Record Organizer Denise Lee speaks about the potential effects of dumping coal ash in Anson County during a February meeting of Pee Dee Water, Air, Land and Lives.
Residents urge Anson commissioners to ban coal ash dump

By Imari Scarbrough

iscarbrough@civitasmedia.com