Garbage divides House, Senate

The House removes most of the stringent requirements of the Senate's landfill bill

RALEIGH -- North Carolina lawmakers are wrestling with how much the state should tighten permitting requirements for new landfills to prevent the state from turning into a dumping ground for out-of-state garbage.

The state House voted 83-31 Monday to pass landfill legislation that lacks most of the more stringent regulations the Senate endorsed and waste haulers oppose.

Omitted from the House version were stricter buffer requirements for landfills proposed in ecologically fragile areas, tougher financial guidelines for companies proposing to build them and a statewide trash tax to fund cleanup of old unlined landfills.

"They stripped a lot of stuff out of the bill," said Sen. Charlie Albertson, a Duplin County Democrat who oversaw the Senate version. "Is there anything left besides the title?"

Albertson said the Senate would reject the House changes. That sets the stage for the two chambers to appoint a panel of negotiators to try to work the differences between the bills in the waning days of the session.

For the past year, state lawmakers have been reviewing the state's regulation of garbage disposal sites after putting a one-year hold on reviewing permits for new landfills.

They did so because of concerns that privately owned regional landfills proposed in rural eastern and Piedmont counties could transform the state into one of the nation's top five importers of garbage and debris -- a point that Albertson repeated.

"I don't know of many people who think we ought to build these mega landfills in the state," said Albertson. "Our state is so fragile, particularly our coastal areas. We have to make sure we put things in place to prepare for the future to protect the environment we have."

Private solid-waste companies are attracted to North Carolina by inexpensive rural land, the absence of a surcharge on garbage that some other states levy, and the state's central location on the East Coast.

The largest, proposed in Camden County by Raleigh-based Waste Industries, would bury up to 3 million tons of trash a year -- creating a mountain of trash 270 feet high. Much of the garbage would be shipped in by truck, train or barge from states along the East Coast. Regional landfills also have been proposed in Hyde, Columbus and Scotland counties.

'Big business'

"Garbage has turned into big business," said Bill Bland, whose house in South Mills overlooks the site of proposed Black Bear landfill in Camden County in northeastern North Carolina. "I don't think three or four or five county commissioners in a small local government can get the big picture of the impact that mega landfill is going to have on the area. I really think it's the state's duty to lend some guidance."

But David Barnes, a lobbyist for the Carolinas' chapter of the National Solid Wastes Management Association, which represents waste haulers and privately owned landfills, said North Carolina's current regulations are not lax and the state should stick with them.

"What we are concerned about are arbitrary siting restrictions,' Barnes said. "There is no evidence the current landfills have caused environmental damage with liners and monitoring wells."

The Senate version contains requirements that appear to be aimed at derailing some of the proposed large regional landfills. One restriction would bar landfills from being built within five miles of a national wildlife refuge, for example.

The Black Bear landfill would be near the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. The Alligator River Recycling landfill, a construction debris landfill, would be near Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge.

The Senate bill includes a $1.50 per ton trash tax on disposal of municipal garbage and construction debris. The House version does not. Proceeds from the tax would be used to assess and clean up the 600 to 700 abandoned landfills built before linings were required to keep toxins from seeping into the ground. The money would also be used to pay for litter reduction programs and grants to start or enhance local recycling programs.

Rep. Lucy Allen, a Franklin County Democrat, told House members that the legislation was critical to the state's economy and environment.

Allen said the bill would not prevent local governments with existing landfills from expanding them.

She said the state needed to assert its authority to regulate landfills to protect waters from improperly designed landfills.

"Water knows no political boundaries on the map," Allen said.