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Agenda - 10-21-2008 - e 6 early
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Agenda - 10-21-2008 - e 6 early
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10/20/2008 11:16:52 AM
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10/15/2008 3:12:52 PM
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BOCC
Date
10/21/2008
Meeting Type
Regular Meeting
Document Type
Agenda
Agenda Item
6
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Minutes - 20081021 - Transfer Station
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1 Steve Wing is on the faculty of the UNC School of Public Health faculty and he has been <br />2 looking at environmental justice issues in public health. He said that the United States as a <br />3 whole is experiencing increasing production of waste, and this is a problem in counties all over <br />4 the country. He said that North Carolina is the only state of the Union where there is published <br />5 research showing convincingly that communities of color and low-income communities bear a <br />6 disproportionate burden of solid waste facilities. This includes transfer stations. He said that <br />7 wealthy communities in this country contribute a highly disproportionate amount of solid waste <br />8 because they consume more. If these communities can put their waste in low-income <br />9 communities and communities of color that lack political clout, it breaks the feedback loop that <br />10 would lead them to want to do something about reducing the amount of waste produced. He <br />11 said that this is the basic important policy message about environmental justice. If wealthy <br />12 communities have to deal with waste, they will find ways to deal with it and will have the political <br />13 clout to make those changes. He said that the School of Public Health has worked with the <br />14 Rogers Road community for years. He said that one of his classes worked with this community <br />15 and there are clearly exposures to landfill gases near there. He urged the County <br />16 Commissioners to strike the Eubanks Road site from the list. <br />17 Neloa Jones offered some of the same insights, critical observations, and comments that <br />18 have been made at the beginning of this process. She said that she has been disturbed about <br />19 the subjective nature of the weighting factors. She was disturbed about the flawed matter in <br />20 which the criteria have been applied. She said that, both the EPA and the National Justice <br />21 Advisory Council have indicated that, with the exception of the exclusionary criteria, all other <br />22 criteria should be applied to all remaining potential sites. In addition, it is recommended that no <br />23 site be revealed or eliminated before all criteria have been applied. She quoted, "Once <br />24 unsuitable areas are eliminated, the technical criteria and community-specific criteria are <br />25 applied to all remaining options." This was on page 18, EPA Waste Transfer Station Manual. <br />26 She said that this process has not occurred in Orange County. She pointed out North Carolina <br />27 Senate Bill 1492, which has now given the N. C. Department of Environment and Natural <br />28 Resources the authority to deny permits for transfer stations when, "the cumulative impact <br />29 would have a disproportionate adverse impact on a minority or low-income community." She <br />30 said that the cumulative impact of hosting landfills for 36 years is disproportionately adverse. <br />31 She is confident that, had the criteria been applied appropriately, the Eubanks Road site would <br />32 certainly not be on this list. She asked the Board to vote tonight to remove Eubanks Road from <br />33 this list of possible sites for a transfer station. <br />34 Rev. Robert Campbell said that he just turned in 240 community-specific criteria input <br />35 forms. He said that members of this community and other organizations have come together <br />36 tonight with one voice to say that 36 years of dumping Orange County garbage in their <br />37 community is enough. He said that it is time for historic change and it needs to begin here. He <br />38 said that they all make this urgent request to take the Eubanks Road site off the list. He said <br />39 that they have suffered 36 years of foul-smelling air, contaminated groundwater, aggressive <br />40 flocks of birds and buzzards, rats, and wild dogs. He said that to place the transfer station on <br />41 Eubanks Road means once again that there is no environmental justice for this community. <br />42 Hillsborough Town Commissioner Mike Gering said that the Town Board has not reviewed <br />43 this information but the two top candidate sites are in Hillsborough's Economic Development <br />44 District. He said that his board will be reviewing this information and he would like to have <br />45 access to information to determine how the technical criteria evaluation resulted in the scores <br />46 for these sites. <br />47 John Kizer said that his home is on site 696 and this site is #7. He is concerned that his <br />48 home is identified as a potential site. In light of the comments from the County Commissioners <br />49 at the beginning of the meeting, he will wait until the next meeting to make his comments to see <br />50 if his property remains on the list. <br />51 Ralph Warren deferred his comments until the next meeting also. <br />
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