Waste transfer station headed out of the county

Residents of the community that has housed the county’s landfill for 37 years will no longer need to fear the county directing more trash through their neighborhood.

A decision Monday by the Board of County Commissioners avoided placing a site anywhere in Orange County to route the county’s trash to a different landfill.

Instead, the county will try to contract with the city of Durham to use its waste transfer station, though it might only be a temporary fix.

County staff estimates the landfill will reach capacity in 2012, and a waste transfer station would collect county trash and move it to a landfill outside the county.

The commissioners’ actions appeased residents of the historically black and low-income Rogers Road community, many of whom were present at the meeting to protest the consideration of a site on nearby Millhouse Road.

Community residents have felt victimized by the county’s waste management policies in the past.

In addition to approving the pursuit of a Durham agreement 6-1, the board supported an amendment removing the Millhouse Road site from future consideration.

Commissioner Steve Yuhasz provided the only dissenting voice.

“I see Durham as an intermediate solution,” he said. “If we are going to have a clear, transparent, fair process, we need nothing off the table.”

A third choice for the board, a transfer site off N.C. 54, was also met with some resident disapproval at the meeting.

If the county successfully contracts with Durham, it buys three to five years to research more favorable options for waste removal.

Commissioner Bernadette Pelissier said the county should not rule out building another landfill.

“If we really want to stick to our values, we should take care of our own trash,” she said.

Her proposal to look at that possibility was rejected 4-3.

In November, community activist Rev. Robert Campbell was invited to the White House to speak with officials from the Environmental Protection Agency about water and air quality issues in his neighborhood which the community believes are due to the unlined landfill.

In a letter, the Environmental Protection Agency said it would consider an investigation if the board left the Millhouse Road site on the table.

The search for a waste transfer site began in 2007, and has seen the input of both Chapel Hill and Carrboro governments, not to mention countless residents of the affected areas.

Campbell said he left with a renewed faith in government.

“The decision that was made tonight and the discussion that came forward shows that government is listening to the people,” he said.

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