[GreenYes] landfill in the swamp?

[Heelsrnum1@aol.com]

Has anyone researched long-term impacts of municipal solid waste landfills constructed IN the water table?  The Green Swamp is subject to frequent hurricane events.
David Mickey
Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League
336-769-0955

The Wilmington Morning Star: http://www.wilmingtonstar.com
Anti-landfill marchers ask help in keeping swamp green By Todd Volkstorf 
Staff Writer 
April 14, 2002  
    
SHALLOTTE | Environmentalists rallied here Saturday, armed with signs, pamphlets and information they say proves that a landfill in the Green Swamp is a terrible idea.

Members of the Leland-based Swamp Watch Action Team marched through town to publicize a public hearing scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday at Whiteville High School in Columbus County.

“We need people from Brunswick County in Whiteville,” said Gean Seay, one of the group’s co-founders. “It’s not a done deal,” she said, because the necessary permits have yet to be granted.

A year ago this week, the Columbus County Board of Commissioners voted 6-1 to allow Riegel Ridge LLC to build a 760-acre landfill in the heart of the Green Swamp, which is known for its rare plants and animals.

In exchange, the county would get about $1 for each ton of waste that enters the facility and free disposal of its residents’ household garbage.

That, said Nancy Pritchett, is the reason Columbus County wants the landfill: money. Ms. Pritchett, a New Hanover County commissioner, said it’s unfortunate that Columbus County doesn’t have the revenue stream of other counties, but getting one from a landfill in the Green Swamp is wrong.

She said because of its proposed location, and “when not if” it leaks, it will affect the entire region.

“It is the worst deal they could make,” she said.

Riegel Ridge LLC has said a state-of-the-art liner and more than six feet of compacted soils should prevent the site from contaminating surrounding areas.

However, Sheila Moore, also a Swamp Watch Action Team co-founder, said leached chemicals from tons of household garbage would eventually find a way out.

The proposed facility would accept up to 1,500 tons of garbage a day from up to 100 miles away and for up to 23 years. To landfill opponents, those numbers represent the coup de grace for the various watersheds and aquifers connected to the Green Swamp.

“This is an insane place to put any kind of dump. Why are they doing it?” Ms. Seay asked.

She said the Green Swamp’s elevation averages about a foot above sea level, and that alone should be enough reason not to put a landfill there.

“It makes no sense,” she said.