Waste Transfer Station Update: Decision Pending
Please attend the BoCC Meeting - Monday, December 7th, 7pm, at the Southern Human Services Center, 2501 Homestead Road, Chapel Hill.
On December 7th (D-day), the County Commissioners will decide what to do with the county’s trash after then landfill closes. After years of work and roughly $500,000 in consulting fees, they are considering 3 options:
(1) 100+ acres on west Hwy 54 (Howell Property);
(2) 10 acres on Millhouse Road (Paydarfar site);
(3) partnering with Durham.
None of these options conform to the county’s “process” and there are important options that have not been considered. The full economics of a Waste Transfer Station have never been disclosed; and the commissioners have not explained the impact of replacing a revenue producing landfill with a costly Waste Transfer Station – regardless of where it's placed.
With your help, Orange County Voice has worked hard to oppose the Bingham site and to offer forward-thinking alternatives to handle the county’s trash in the short and long term. We discovered acres of wetlands on the Howell site and forced an analysis of alternatives – which are still being worked. Below is a recap of our work over the past year.
Recap of OCV’s Work on a County Waste Transfer Station.
Presented strategic and economic alternatives to siting a WTS in Bingham which is too far, too expensive, and adversely impacts the entire county. As alternatives, we suggested:
-- Using the Durham and other vendor transfer stations until a sustainable solution could be found,
-- A search for 10 acre sites in non-residential areas,
-- Looking at Waste-to-Energy in partnership with other counties, and
-- Decentralizing the entire operation
All of these options are all better than siting a WTS in Bingham Township which lacks road and utility (water and sewer) infrastructure. Bingham is a not a fiscally or economically sustainable option.
• Discovered and documented acres of wetlands on the Howell site (in March) that were not disclosed in the county’s original environmental assessment. The wetlands have since been confirmed by the county consultants and the Army Corp of Engineers. According to the county’s process, the site should be immediately disqualified because of these wetlands.
• Presented a petition with nearly 1100 signatures opposing a WTS in Bingham Township.
• Provided important research on emerging technologies, such as Waste-to-Energy, which offer long-term alternatives to landfills
• With community support and funding, mobilized a legal action that’s prepared to proceed if the Howell site is selected.
• Corrected misleading reports and mis-information about costs, operating assumptions and environmental impact, provided to the commissioners by the county staff and consultants.
• Asked for full disclosure of the fiscal impact of shifting from a revenue-producing landfill to a cost producing waste transfer station.
We remain committed to an informed and proactive campaign to keep a WTS station out of Bingham – not only because the residents don’t want it, but because there are better options for the entire county.
We appreciate the difficulty of the decision that the commissioners face and hope that they realize that a WTS in Bingham Township is not fiscally or economically sustainable.
For more information on the Waste Transfer Station and it's history, go to Hot Topics/Waste Transfer Station
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