EDITORIAL/Landfill stench worsens

A majority of Madison countians do not want a third landfill, but the developers are persisting to the point of almost bribing supervisors.

Concerned citizens opposed to the third landfill held a press conference prior to Monday's regular meeting of the Madison County Board of Supervisors to talk about the stench, fumes, environmental hazards and other risks even though the matter was removed from the agenda at the last minute.

The controversial project is currently stalled after the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality said Madison County will need to update its Solid Waste Plan but did not order them to do so.

The question now is will Madison County update its Solid Waste Plan to determine if a third landfill is needed. They should not.

Butler-Snow attorney John Brunini, representing landfill developers NCL Solid Waste LLC, wrote a letter recently urging the Board of Supervisions to updated the Solid Waste Plan even offering to pay for it.

What a stinker that is! At the very least, the study should be independent.

A second letter from Brunini asked for the item to be pulled from the agenda to allow NCL "additional time to meet with the Board Attorney and other interested parties to more thoroughly evaluate the options and alternatives available to the parties prior to any final action by the Board concerning the request made by NCL" in the first letter.

What that's telegraphing is some kind of collusion since the board attorney is Mike Espy. Now who the other "interested parties" are remains to be seen, but it probably has something to do with a trail of Benjamins.

NCL's lobbying efforts are well-funded and it's been obvious from the get-go they are very well connected politically.

"I would point out that NCL is alone in protesting Ridgeland's effort to annex that area," Ridgeland Mayor Gene F. McGee told the Board of Supervisors on Monday.

Cynthia McGilberry has voiced opposition to the proposal since NCL ramped up a push to get the project started last year. She said the existing Little Dixie landfill, next door to the proposed site of the new landfill, already negatively impacts her life.

"I smell gas fumes and it is awful," she said. "We are exposed to environmental hazards and great risks. I have grandchildren that I will not let play outside. We live within one mile of the proposed landfill and already live one mile from the current landfill, and we experience an awful stench."

Are supervisors going to jump into the garbage pile and order up a new study paid for by the landfill developers?