Anson citizens concerned over potential landfill expansion

WADESBORO — In answer to concerns raised by residents’ over Waste Connection’s proposed Phase 5 expansion of the landfill, located just outside the downtown area of Polkton, the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) held a public hearing on Thursday, October 26, at the Anson County Courthouse.

Fearing the Commissioner’s meeting room would not accommodate a large volume of expected attendees; the hearing was scheduled at the courthouse.

Jason Watkins, Head of Compliance for DEQ, moderated the hearing, and began by explaining who Waste Connections is, and what the Phase 5 proposal will allow.

“The landfill has been in operation since roughly 2000, and in order to continue to operate Waste Connections submitted an application for expansion both horizontally and vertically (of the landfill). The horizontal section as proposed would add about 65 acres of disposal area, and the vertical expansion would increase the overall maximum height of the landfill to approximately 70 ft., bringing the elevation of 490 ft., to a total overall elevation of 560 ft.,” Watkins detailed.

“The expansion would add roughly eight, eight and a half years, to maximum capacity,” Watkins said.

Following a brief synopsis of Phase 5, and after assuring residents that several DEQ representatives would be available following the hearing to answer questions and hear concerns, Watkins turned the hearing over to residents who wished to put their concern on record. Roughly ten citizens spoke before the largely packed courtroom, each hoping to sway minds and hearts before a final vote takes place on the proposed expansion.

Possibly the two biggest crusaders for the cause, Charles “Chuck” McGinnis and Bobby Johnson, stood before the microphone first, each detailing the personal and environmental damage they believe the landfill is causing Anson County.

“There are days we can smell the landfill all the way from Peachland to Lilesville. It is making our animals sick and keeping us housebound, there is no escape from it. Several times this year we woke up with burning eyes, sore throats and raw sinuses,” stated McGinnis. He went on to mention the soaring cost of his vet bill, $1000.00 in one month, due to his donkey’s [Charlie] burning and watering eyes, among other issues he believes stems from the chemical fumes he alleges is permeating the air.

“Our animals suffer the most. On numerous mornings, sulfuric acid is burning my donkey’s nose, to the extent that tears are dripping off their noses,” said McGinnis, his concern evident.

“What is it doing to the nearly 2,600 residents… Should we be treated as lab rats just because we choose Anson County as our home?” pondered McGinnis.

Bobbie Johnson agreed. “I cannot breathe, I have COPD, I have to use oxygen because of it… I deserve to know what I am breathing in,” he said.

Citing a study conducted in 2016, Johnson’s other concerns relate to the geography of the area where the landfill is built, concerned the proposed phase 5 will lower topography of the land.

“This has been known about for six years… there are streams that feed into Brown Creek, and under phase 5 they will be under the landfill,” decried Johnson, demonstrating a map of the landscape, marking six tributaries he believes will be impacted by the phase 5 permit.

“When it rains the water runs right through the waste, downhill to the sediment pond… it has nowhere else to go… the sediment pond has underground pipes that feed directly into Brown Creek… sediment from the landfill is flowing directly into our drinking water,” declared Johnson, incensed.

Another area resident whose health has been impacted by the landfill is Clifford Smith, a sleep apnea sufferer.

Smith relies on a CPAP machine to maintain his breathing and oxygen levels while he sleeps following a diagnosis last year.

“The smell is so bad some nights… it just sucks up into the machine so that I have to take it off,” Smith bemoaned, well aware of the danger he faces when not using the device.

“I don’t think that any of you that want to approve this landfill want to sleep like that… so why do you want me to do it?” he demanded, adding, “I don’t see how you people can put something on our county that you wouldn’t want on yours… why bring it here and keep dumping it?”

Smith continued, “This is a poor, rural area and it going to get poorer, a lot of us won’t make it… it needs to be stopped… not allowed to continue until it looks like a mountain in the sky … I don’t really see how you can do it to us.”

Discussing the day-to-day impact of the landfill, Joel Almond, shared issues he has faced living in the area for the last twenty years.

“Twenty years ago I came to a standing room only, for three hours, when we first talked about bringing the landfill here. They told us then, the county commissioners told us then, twenty years. I was forty—years old, I’m sixty now… I figured twenty years be done, I’ll be ready to retire… if I want to sell and move, I can do it then,” formerly theorized Almond.

“Now y’all tell me another eleven years, and another eleven years probably after that…to sell my house I got to tell everybody I’m backed up to a landfill… I’m not going to get what I could for my property if I was five miles away,” lamented Almond.

Almond went on to detail his inability to complete simple outdoor tasks such as mowing over the summer due to the noxious fumes emanating from the Carolina’s landfill, the rescheduling of important family celebrations due to the odor, or summer nights unable to enjoy a burger off the grill.

Protesting DEQ’s reliance on outdated environmental impact studies to determine the safety of landfill expansion, some dating back to 2016, concerned resident Laura Lainey, spoke out against the phase 5 permit.

“There had been approval for expansion by the commissioners in March of 2018 specifically, I would argue that a lot has happened in over five years… under normal legal circumstances the statute of limitations on any kind of approval like that is generally five years, so I am really surprised that an approval from March of 2018 would still be acceptable for an application in 2023,” Laney wondered.

“Landfill companies only have to monitor for thirty years after the landfill is complete,” Lainey raised. “After that it becomes a municipal and tax payer liability.”

Concerns may continue county wide over water safety, environmental impacts, and odor, but for Brian Johnson, it is the shame.

“I have a business in Charlotte, every morning when I leave, it makes my eyes water. The smell affects the opinion of everyone who drives through here, and we are a high traffic area,” stated Johnson.

Regardless of Phase 5’s approval, Enerdyne Power Systems, a member of the Landfill Group, is looking to construct a Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) facility at the Anson Landfill, allowing for a cleaner and less smelly environment for the residents of Anson.

According to their website, www.landfillgroup.com, Enerdyne will be “developing and constructing a Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) facility at the Anson Landfill. The primary constituent in landfill gas is Methane (just like Natural Gas) and our facility will process that landfill gas.”

Enerdyne is a member of Landfill Group and headquartered in Matthews. The project is expected to produce a profound and lasting impact on the environment through converting toxic odors into natural gas that can be harnessed for use in homes, businesses, and transportation.

The facility anticipates producing enough gas to “heat an average 13,000 homes and reduce landfill gas emission an average 22 tons of methane annually,” Landfill Group optimistically states on their website.

Most importantly, “Through the collecting and processing of the landfill gas, these projects help mitigate odor, which is a common issue in landfills,” explains Landfill Group’s website.

Prior to the public hearing, Commissioner Bricken shared his support for the project, saying, “I think one positive thing is this methane project with Enerdyne, it is really going to be huge. We need the right of way that is going to be going in, in order to support the pipe that is going to run underground from the landfill to the transfer station on 52. Tapping into the methane will bring additional revenue sources to the county as well as significantly reduce the odors…by taking out the methane you are taking out a lot of the pressure. Methane itself has no odor, but it acts as the conduit that carries the odor, it is lighter, it is a gas, so the odor particles adhere to the methane,” Bricken explained.

“Without the methane as a conduit, to lift the tiny particles of smell, it is going to reduce the smell by not having that pressure build up,” he added.

This is a developing story.