Basnight working to stall landfills

Moratorium bid holds up budget

A proposed moratorium on new landfills in North Carolina is tying up approval of an $18.9 billion state budget just days before the start of the new fiscal year.

Senate leader Marc Basnight, a Manteo Democrat, is fighting for a provision in the budget that would usher in an 18-month moratorium on landfills just as waste companies are seeking approval for five giant landfills in rural North Carolina counties. Two of those landfills would be in Basnight's district.

But Basnight is up against a different moratorium -- on what are known at the legislature as special provisions. House Speaker Jim Black, a Mecklenburg County Democrat, wants no such provisions in the budget bill because they have little to do with the spending plan.

Black has a strong argument for keeping out such special provisions. He has taken heat across the state and drawn the scrutiny of state and federal investigators, for special provisions he inserted into last year's budget that helped two key groups of political contributors -- optometrists and chiropractors.

"You all have promoted doing things in the sunshine," Black told reporters. "I'm trying to do things differently around here."

Black suggested that the Senate run a separate bill for a landfill moratorium.

But Basnight said he doesn't want to take the chance that the House would pass a separate bill, which would be subject to intense lobbying by the industry. One company looking to create some of the landfills, Waste Management Carolinas, alone has seven lobbyists working the legislature.

Basnight also said the landfill issue affects the budget because the landfills could cause serious environmental damage if they are not constructed properly.

"It would be awfully costly," Basnight said. "Remember, we've never dealt with a landfill this size before."

The moratorium is one of a handful of issues, including several state construction projects and pay raises for teachers and state employees, that House and Senate leaders are wrestling with as they try to hammer out their differences on a budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1. Legislative leaders have raised the possibility of working this weekend to try to reach an agreement.

Sen. Clark Jenkins, a Tarboro Democrat, filed a bill at the start of the session for a moratorium to give the state time to study its standards for permitting landfills. Instead of dealing with the bill separately, Senate budget writers stuck the moratorium in their budget proposal.

The five proposed landfills would make North Carolina one of the nation's top importers of garbage. The largest, in Camden County, which is in Basnight's district, would bury up to 3 million tons of trash a year, creating a mountain of garbage 270 feet high and visible for miles. Much of the waste would be shipped in from other states. Other landfills are proposed in Hyde, Columbus, Brunswick and Richmond counties.

Spokesmen for the waste disposal industry say the landfills are needed for North Carolina's trash. They say many of the state's landfills will run out of space within the next 10 years, and the state currently ships out roughly a million tons of trash a year.

"The moratorium exacerbates that looming capacity issue for North Carolina," said Greg Peverall, a consultant for Waste Management.

Peverall said Waste Management needs to have a strong lobbying effort at the legislature because it is up against Basnight.

"Senator Basnight is a very, very powerful man in North Carolina, as exemplified by him being able to insert the moratorium into the Senate budget," Peverall said.

Molly Diggins, state director for the Sierra Club, which supports environmental causes, said the giant landfills that are in the works should tell state officials they need a moratorium to examine their regulations.

"We've been caught off guard, and we are just now being overwhelmed by out-of-state haulers targeting us for dumps," Diggins said. "We haven't taken a serious look at solid waste issues for several years."

She said Black was being disingenuous by raising the special provision issue.

"If the House doesn't want to put it in the budget, then they ought to take up [Jenkins'] bill," Diggins said.

Camden County Manager Randell Woodruff said the landfill would be a boon for Camden County, which has become a fast-growing bedroom community for those who work in the Hampton Roads, Va., metropolitan area. Woodruff said it would generate roughly $3.5 million in new taxes annually at a time when the county needs to build new schools for its rising population.

"You can't keep pace when our property tax base is pretty much based on residential and farm land," Woodruff said.