Marlboro County residents seek help against landfill proposal

Concerned Citizens for Marlboro County are planning to seek outside help in fighting a proposed Marlboro County landfill.

Blueridge Environmental Defense League spokesman David Mickey spoke to nearly 200 people, who packed a chapel in Hamlet, N.C., on Tuesday night to tell them about ways his organization could help them win the fight against the proposed landfill.

“Their motto is zero waste,” said Belvin Sweatt, one of the citizens organizing the fight against the landfill. “They’re going to get involved with us, helping to fight against the proposed landfill. If it comes down to it, they will help us get environmental attorneys that will work with us.”

Marlboro County resident Gertrude Bach said the people who gathered at the meeting decided to form a committee to fight the landfill.

But, Bach said, she feels Marlboro County Council members haven’t been forthcoming in regard to the citizens’ requests for more seating at council meetings and information about past meetings.

“We have been shut out of meetings,” Bach said. “They will not have it in a big place where everyone can attend.

“We have tried to talk to our council members and a lot of them are conveniently out of town,” she said. “None of them have attended any of the meetings.”

Marlboro County Council members Steve Blackmon, Ken Allen, Anthony Woods, Jeff Quick and Mickey Rogers attended the public interest meeting at Marlboro County High School regarding the proposed landfill, however.

Sweatt said many of the residents are frustrated with county council’s apparent lack of interest in what the citizens want. He said state Rep. Douglas Jennings Jr.’s support of the landfill proposal by MRR was raised again at Tuesday’s meeting. MRR is one of the two waste management companies competing for the right to build what residents have termed “a megadump” near Wallace.

“When we had the meeting back in Wallace in December, (Jennings) made the statement that that was the best Marlboro County could do,” Sweatt said. “But we are trying to let him know that we are worth more than trash.”

Marlboro County Administrator Cecil Kimery wouldn’t say whether county council supports the proposed landfill.

“I only speak for myself and I am not saying anything other than the county council has filed three lawsuits against them to prevent the permit being issued,” he said.

The lawsuits Kimrey mentioned were filed against the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control on Sept. 14 to prevent MRR from locating a landfill in Marlboro County with the potential to host 1,480,000 tons of waste per year, according to court documents.

The lawsuit requests a 120-day stay of the demonstration of needs document by DHEC’s Solid Waste Permitting Section to allow the approval to lapse.

MRR filed a motion to intervene Feb. 1, saying MRR could be adversely affected by the final order in the case.

Sweatt said the fight to stop the landfill from coming to Marlboro County is about more than trash; it’s about the elected officials acting in the interests of the people who elected them to office.

“We are still going to approach (county council) and tell them exactly how we feel about this proposed landfill,” he said. “We are the ones who voted them in and we want them to know that we can also vote them out.”