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Landfill Questions? <br />by B.W. Sprinkle <br />Many questions have been raised since the <br />first of the year regarding the intentions of the <br />Landfill Owner's Group (LOG) and Joyce <br />Engineering with respect to the Orange County <br />landfill site selection process. As I have attended <br />LOG meetings, Landfill Search Committee (LSC) <br />meetings, and poured over the information <br />generated by these groups plus the additional site <br />information prepared by Joyce Engineering, the <br />stated goals of the LOG do not seem to coincide <br />with their actions. The LOG, Don Wilhoit, and <br />Gayle Wilson have publicly stated that the Orange <br />County landfill is not part of a regional agreement <br />with surrounding counties but will be built and <br />chosen based solely on Orange County's future <br />needs. However, problems with this definitive <br />statement occur when you look at the facts. A <br />different picture emerges in which the LOG and <br />Joyce Engineering are seen as manipulators who <br />have not been satisfied with the decisions of the <br />LSC and have therefore covertly worked to get <br />the LSC to change votes and rubber stamp the <br />LOG's own plans. When the LSC has refused to <br />go along with the script written by the LOG and <br />Joyce Engineering, the LSC has been threatened <br />with being disbanded and therefore ending the <br />public input into the site selection. The LSC was <br />formed as a committee of Orange County citizens <br />to chose the next landfill site. Twice the LOG has <br />coerced the LSC to change its vote on which sites <br />are active apparently because the sites chosen by <br />the LSC were not the sites the LOG wanted. This <br />has raised a lot of questions concerning the <br />integrity of the LOG and it's true long term goals <br />for the Orange County landfill. i have listed <br />some of the questions raised by this whole <br />process and have prepared facts taken from the <br />LOG and Joyce Engineering's own <br />documentation and public statements which <br />contradict the publicly stated policy that the new <br />landfill is for Orange County only. It is not <br />possible to answer all of these questions in one <br />newsletter, so therefore I will focus on one or <br />two questions and try to answer them as fully as <br />possible in this newsletter. Subsequent <br />newsletters will contain in -depth coverage of <br />other questions listed below or new questions as <br />they might arise because of the selection process. <br />Some of these questions are.... <br />What size landfill does Orange County <br />really need to meet present and future <br />needs? <br />Why has the LOG consistently <br />maneuvered and coerced the Landfill <br />Selection Committee (LSC) to add large <br />sites to the active list when the LSC has <br />unanimously endorsed site 17 (Pia each <br />occasion that sites were individually <br />voted on? <br />Why have the Joyce Engineering <br />reports issued to date on site 11 been <br />misleading and evasive? <br />Why has the LOG categorically written <br />off site 3 when this land was purchased <br />by the county expressly for use as a <br />landfill? <br />Why do the actions of the LOG differ <br />so radically from the published goals <br />presented to the public through LOG <br />staff reports and press releases? <br />Is the LOG and Joyce Engineering <br />laying the ground work for the eventual <br />location of a regional landfill in Orange <br />County which will serve Orange, <br />Durham, and Wake Counties? <br />This first article will deal with the question, <br />"What size landfill does Orange County really <br />need?" The information presented below contains <br />references to documents and meetings which are <br />part of the public record. This information is <br />presented as it appears in the public record <br />without any attempt to manipulate meanings or <br />definitions to prove a point. The reader can <br />verify that this information is true and can draw <br />his own conclusions based upon the evidence. If <br />this evidence is looked at objectively I am sure the <br />reader will come to believe, as I do, that there is a <br />hidden agenda concerning the selection of <br />a new landfill, and that only the LOG and Joyce <br />Engineering know what this agenda is. <br />The official goals of the LOG with respect to <br />the landfill selection process are set forth in a <br />document issued to the public on March 1$, 1992 <br />titled Draft Pro sal for DeveloRing A Solid <br />Waste Mana ement Action Plan. This-document <br />contains background information regarding <br />J <br />