Supes sued for $60M over landfill

Supes sued for $60M over landfill

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A company trying to locate a third landfill in Madison County is now suing the Board of Supervisors seeking $60 million for what they call a breach of contract after supervisors opted earlier this year to not conduct a new solid waste study. 

NCL Waste LLC filed the suit in Madison County Circuit Court on Sept. 9. 

In August, NCL sued the county in circuit court seeking a ruling to order supervisors to conduct an updated needs assessment, something the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality has asked before considering any future permit. 

NCL argues that going back as early as 2008, the company began the process of developing a third landfill with Madison County on board.

In January, the MDEQ Permit Board tabled NCL’s petition, saying they would not look at the permit until Madison County provided an updated needs assessment. MDEQ did not require or order the county to update its solid waste plan. 

In June, NCL sent county supervisors a letter requesting the county update its solid waste plan, even offering to pay for the study. 

However, during the July 20 board meeting, supervisors voted in executive session 3-2 not to proceed with a new solid waste study at this time. District 1 Supervisor Sheila Jones, District 2 Supervisor Trey Baxter and District 3 Supervisor Gerald Steen all voted not to proceed at the time. 

In NCL’s newest lawsuit, the company alleges that when the property of the proposed third site was added to an amended solid waste plan back in 2002, the county then used that as leverage to negotiate cheaper disposal rates at neighboring Little Dixie Landfill.

NCL argues it entered into a host agreement with the county in 2008, and in subsequent years supported NCL’s permitting efforts.

In 2011, MDEQ denied specific setback requests from NCL and the county for the third landfill, putting the project in limbo. In 2014, NCL then hired an engineering firm to redesign the landfill before submitting a new application in 2017.

Fast forwarding to January 2020 and MDEQ’s tabling of the permit until an updated needs assessment was conducted, NCL is arguing that the county did not fulfill its end of the agreement to “support” the project. 

“As the agreement obligates Madison County to support, and not oppose, NCL’s efforts to obtain MEDQ permits, and as Madison County had a direct request from the MDEQ Permit Board to update the needs assessment, Madison County should have acted quickly, decisively, and affirmatively to provide the requested information,” the lawsuit argues. 

District 4 Supervisor Karl Banks, one of two supervisors voting to move forward with the needs assessment, said the three who voted no wanted to wait until an expansion plan for the Canton landfill and Ridgeland annexation of the area including the NCL site were concluded. 

NCL is seeking $5 million for “actual, consequential and incidental contract damages,” $5 million for the county having been “unjustly enriched and disgorging,” and $50 million for expected future lost profits. 

Heidelberg Patterson Welch PLLC of Ridgeland filed the lawsuit on behalf of NCL. 

On Monday, supervisors approved the hiring of Robert J. Dambrino III of Grenada, with the firm Gore Kilpatrick & Dambrino PLLC, to assist Board Attorney Mike Espy with the litigation. Dambrino’s rate of pay is $200 per hour to assist in the case. 






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