The location of Orange County's new waste-transfer station was at hand again Tuesday night at an Orange County Board of Commissioners work session.
This time the board heard public comment on preliminary exclusionary criteria for the transfer station's site first presented in a Feb. 11 meeting which specify requirements for site size and location.
Ed Shuffler of Olver Inc. the engineering and applied science consulting company that developed the criteria presented his work and fielded comments from the public and the board.
The preliminary criteria suggest that the site be at least 25 acres within 3 miles of several local highways and not in the endangered flora and fauna habitats.
Neloa Jones co-chairwoman of the Rogers-Eubanks Coalition to End Environmental Racism" questioned why some sites would be excluded before the criteria were firmly in place.
""I'm very disturbed"" she said. Your consultant is talking about excluding sites before developing the criteria. He's setting up a bias.""
Jones' complaint is that the community-specific criteria" which include considerations such as environmental justice and number of residents impacted" would not play a role until after a number of other possible sites have been excluded by the preliminary criteria.
Yonni Chapman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People suggested that the board add criteria that encompass the site's ""impact on human beings.""
Residents also questioned whether UNC involvement in the process was possible. Commissioner Alice Gordon asked Shuffler to consider approaching the University.
""This is all very hypothetical though"" she said.
Board Chairman Barry Jacobs seemed to think that cooperation with UNC is far-fetched.
They have a secret animal testing area on (N.C.) 54. Maybe we can piggyback on that.""
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