HILLSBOROUGH - The Orange County Board of Commissioners began a discussion of its contentious solid waste transfer station tonight with an announcement that the Environmental Protection Agency received a complaint about the county’s trash operations.

The complaint was filed by residents who live near the existing landfill, upset with the county’s decision last year to operate a trash transfer station on the same site. The county has since reopened the site search, the decision largely based on community reaction.

The solid waste transfer station will be a facility to collect trash and ship it to a landfill outside the county after the current landfill is closed.

The EPA’s Office of Civil Rights wrote in a cover letter that it had received an “administrative complaint.” It said it had not decided whether to accept the complaint for investigation, reject it, or refer it to some other agency.

It also wrote that it must try to resolve such complaints informally if it accepts them.

A large portion of the complaint was blacked out by the EPA to remove names and identifying information of complainants. But Robert Campbell, a Rogers Road neighborhood resident, said after tonights’s meeting that it was the same complaint he and others had filed last year with the federal government.

Rogers Road is a neighborhood near the county’s landfill on Eubanks Road, north of Carrboro. It is a predominantly black neighborhood of modest homes, and residents there have alleged racial and economic discrimination in the location of the landfill and solid waste transfer station.

The complaint also names the towns of Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Hillsborough, the Orange Water and Sewer Authority and the state divisions of Waste Management and Water Quality.

Campbell said last year he and others had filed the complaint, but declined to share it with The News & Observer.

It cites “disproportionate and adverse impact of contamination of groundwater, household well water supplies ... and air,” and says, “The proposed Orange County Regional solid waste transfer station will add to the burden and the struggle of the residents of the predominantly African-American and low-income [words blacked out] communities and continue the legacy of no true compensation ...”

It also asks that the landfill be closed immediately.

The announcement by the county’s attorney came after a brief closed session. Geoff Gledhill said he had also advised the board and county officials not to discuss the complaint until the county responds.

The board then heard from consultants Olver Inc., with whom it has contracted to help it with the new search process. They discussed at length the process of developing and ranking criteria, and how to incorporate public input.

Consultant Ed Shuffler told the board it was important to decide early on its methods, for example whether it would limit itself to land freely offered for sale, or pursue condemnation of the best site.

“We just want to know up front how you want to approach that,” Shuffler said.

Board members briefly discussed watershed protection and the need to keep the station out of water supply watersheds, even those used by other counties. “We protect other people’s water with the same vigour we protect our own,” said board Chairman Barry Jacobs.

Shuffler and colleague Robert Sallach said after the meeting that they’re aware of the history behind Orange County’s siting process, but that it wouldn’t affect their work.

“We’re trying to design a process so it isn’t prejudiced by previous decisions,” Sallach said.