EDITORIAL: No Waste Haste: Landfills Can Be a Help to Poor Counties, but North Carolina Must Take a Stronger Hand in Regulating Them

By The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.

Jan. 22–North Carolinians are used to the state appearing on Top Five lists. Whether it’s the quality of life hereabouts or our barbecue, beaches and basketball, we’re tempted to regard such frequent accolades as our rightful due.

But when we’re faced with being on the Top Five list of garbage-importing states, it’s time to do more than pat ourselves on the back. It’s time for some serious study, hard questions and thoughtful answers.

Thankfully, the moratorium on large landfills enacted by the legislature last year provided all three. It gave state environmental regulators the time needed to create proposed landfill rules that at first glance appear to place sensible controls on an industry that may be necessary but is rarely welcomed.

Last year, privately operated landfills were proposed for six eastern and southern Piedmont counties. The largest, headed for Camden County in the far northeast, would bring in 3 million tons of garbage a year from out of state. Eventually, the mountain of garbage there would tower an estimated 270 feet, or roughly the height of some of Raleigh’s downtown skyscrapers.

Landfills were also proposed for Hyde, Columbus, Brunswick, Richmond and Scotland counties. Officials in those counties for the most part welcomed the jobs and investment the garbage would bring.

Such open arms, as well as the availability of cheap land and an eager work force, is why the companies chose the areas for garbage to be shipped in by truck, train and barge from as far away as New York. The legislature, to its credit, had the wisdom to see that North Carolina had best proceed carefully before allowing itself to become the garbage capital of the East Coast.

Ripple effects

The proposed regulations were presented last week to a legislative committee. They would toughen financial requirements for landfill operators, require state and not just local approval for large landfills, and impose fees to clean up landfills that might be abandoned in the future. Also a hefty surcharge would be added on garbage coming in from out of state, and environmental standards and monitoring rules would be tightened. The proposals are wide-ranging, in-depth and deserve serious consideration by lawmakers.

Giant landfills may be attractive to officials in rural counties struggling to create jobs for their residents. And the state certainly should consider local economic needs when making decisions on landfill applications. But with the potential environmental and societal impacts posed by a mountain of garbage rising from the fragile flat lands of Eastern North Carolina, the final decision must rest with those free to take a wider view.

A poorly run landfill can affect the environment many miles away. It would not be in the best interest of the state as a whole for counties to be free to develop a patchwork of landfill regulations.

Hard-pressed counties also should be spared the temptation to weaken landfill requirements in order to draw jobs. North Carolina has already faced unsettling accusations of environmental racism that ring true when landfills always seem to find their way to poor regions.

Leaks would hurt

The fees proposed by state regulators seem reasonable. The Easley administration last year suggested the state collect $2 per ton of imported garbage, a surcharge expected to net $22 million a year. Thirty-one states have such surcharges with the money most often going to clean up abandoned dumps.

North Carolina has had relatively good luck with large landfills. State regulators say leaks have been detected at only four landfills that used plastic liners. And private landfill operators say they can run landfills that are at worst environmentally neutral.

Such reassurances, however sincere, are not enough. The state would be smart to also require landfill operators to post sizable bonds to provide a pool of money in the event, however unlikely, that a high-tech landfill springs a leak. The potential for environmental damage, particularly in coastal areas with high water tables, is too great to take chances. The Camden site, for instance, is near the Great Dismal Swamp.

Garbage is a fact of life in the 21st century. Disposing of it in a safe way is a challenge. Whether or not this is a Top Five list the state wants to brag about is very much an open question. The work of the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources has at least offered guideposts to find the answer.

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Copyright (c) 2007, The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.

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