Extending the life of the landfill?

The obnoxious (if I'm generous) comments appear to be from the solid waste director, not the County Manager.  I previously assumed it was from Clifton as well (partially because of his comments about Efland community last year), but either the N&O changed the story or we just mis-read.I'm planning to be there tonight.

Gayle's statement was indeed obnoxious, but in his position, I'm not sure I would feel any differently. It's going to be a painful decision for everyone. On one hand there is the hardship continued use and expansion of the landfill will create for the Rogers Road neighbors. On the other hand, there is the economic hardship shipping our waste out of county will impose on everyone else, including those who are already struggling to continue living here. Both are social and economic justice issues, as is the idea of sending our waste out of our own community to some other community. I don't see this issue any differently than I do the siting of Community House on Homestead Rd, except that this one has a racist history to it. There is no easy or acceptable answer that is not going to impose a hardship on one group or another. Do we continue imposing on the Rogers Road community at the cost of significantly increasing the cost of living in Orange Co? Are we willing to justify trashing someone else's community to avoid the hard decisions here within our own?I really would not want to be a county commissioner tonight any more than I would have wanted to be a town council member a couple of weeks ago.  

I am sure we will once again be treated to claims to the contrary, but the landfill was always planned to be a 40-50 year facility. It was approved in 1972, which means the plan was for it to serve until 2012 or 2022, which is exactly what is happening.Here is what I wrote about this issue in my landfill history piece elsewhere on OP: "[Chapel Hill Town Manager] Peck also discussed the future prospects of the site as a park 40 or 50 years in the future.  Peck's statements are interesting because it has sometimes been suggested by Rogers Road neighbors that the landfill was originally proposed to be in operation for 20 or 25 years and that the community has already put up with the landfill for longer than originally represented.  But this is clearly not the case.  Numerous newspaper articles and minute entries from 1972 reflect that the plan had always been for a 40-50 year landfill at Eubanks Road." Here's a link to the full blog post:http://orangepolitics.org/2009/11/chapel-hill-endorses-bingham-site-for-landfill

Opened with presentation by Mr Wilson. UNC students, Rev Campbell, Tish Galu of Justice United, CJ Suitt all spoke about the impact to the community and how this extension just makes it worse.  And where is a plan (and funding) for remediation?  RENA proposed allocating 5% of tipping fees to mitigation fund.BoCC comments started with Ms Foushee delivering a great response about how she realized recently how the board (including herself) have failed to address the community (while only caring about the $).  She won't vote for this extension without a plan.Mr McKee echoed that we need a plan for the community in addition to what the staff has presented. Ms Hemminger echoed Ms Foushee.Mr Jacobs also objected to the language in the memo.  "Offended" that that characterization was made, much less in a public document.  We should do more for remediation, including the illegal dump sites specifically.

Mr Jacobs said "we should be done with committees, and ready for action". Should work on remediation in parallel.Ms Pelissier echoed others.  Felt shame -- board should be active, not waiting for staff.  Want a plan for remediation.  Mr Yuhaz.  Agree, but want to engage municipalities too.  Want to know how we can be creative with legal restrictions on use of tipping fees.  Ms Gordon agree.  Clearly an incomplete proposal in front of us.  Something definite. Something soon.  Before we decide.Mr Clifton - staff didn't expect a vote tonight.  New to position, but issue has been studied to  death.  County shouldn't be in this business at all.  Looking to keep costs down.  If we're serious, need to come up with $.  Towns not serious.  Not to defend his remarks, but Mr Wilson has been listening for a long time, without guidance from leadership.  Staff supports doing what board directs.    

Mr Clifton suggested if they deal with illegal dumps on Rogers Road, everyone would want dealt with across the county.  Ms Foushee responded that before they ask, they need to say Thank You for bearing  burden for 40 years. 

 I consider this whole debacle the biggest policy failure in Orange County history. These commissioners and many that came before have had multiple opportunities to craft a mitigation package that addressed the realities of our solid waste situation and fairly compensated the Rogers Road community. Commissioners over the past two decades have ignored citizen input, swept the issue under the rug, and procrastinated in the vain hope that the issue would just go away.Barry Jacobs & Alice Gordon have been on the Board for several terms. It is absurd that they would speak on this issue as if they finally understand the situation and are now trying to craft good policy. Valerie Foushee has had ample time to lead on this issue - in fact they all have had opportunities, except newest member Earl McKee. Pelissier, Hemminger, & Yuhascz all had opportunities during the recent transfer station considerations to address the landfill/Rogers Road issue but did not. We should be maximizing the landfill's potential instead of shipping our waste over the horizon to some other God-forsaken community's mega-landfill. If leadership had been forthcoming years ago, the community would have been fairly compensated, a process for their input institutionalized, and design changes made to the landill operation to lessen local impacts. It may be too late now. The failures of the past, against a backdrop of flammable racism may have tied a knot too tight for us to undo. What a waste. 

I agree with you completely. The only thing I would add is to include the towns of Chapel Hill and Carrboro as culprits. As you know but some may not, the landfill was owned and run by Chapel Hill until the 1990s. The only mitigation measures that I am aware of for the Rogers Road residents (EVER) was the county paying for OWASA connection for a small subset on the Chapel Hill side of the road whose wells had failed. Since both towns have citizens along the road, the towns and the county need to work together to improve this situation now.

 enters the noses of all in the area - including the children at Morris Grove Elementary and other nearby neighborhoods. Fuller translates to a higher landfill and that translates into odors traveling longer distances. This decreases property values and hurts tax revenues. Is it really a saving?

I started writing a comment responding to some of the above criticism of Carrboro, but it got so long that I made it into a separate blog post elsewhere on OP:http://orangepolitics.org/2011/04/rogers-road-before-rogers-roadPlease take a look.