Governor dragged into Landfill Debate
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Governor dragged into Landfill Debate
Letter, proposed sign call Roberta “Bill Lee Super Dump”
Photo submitted by Darlene Price, Truth or Politics A digital image of a proposed landfill sign featuring the name of Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has circulated on social media in recent weeks. Many opponents of Roberta II have sought the help of political leaders, including the governor, to help stop the controversial project slated for North Scott County.
By Shane Gilreath
SCN Contributing Editor
[email protected]
Last month, Darlene Price, a McCreary County attorney and host of the online news program, Truth or Politics, sent a pointed letter to Governor Bill Lee expressing her deep concern over the Roberta II project. Price has not been alone and is but one advocate from Scott and McCreary Counties. Price may have, however, led the charge in what some have begun to call the “Bill Lee Super Dump,” a phrase that began circulating several months prior. In the letter, Price outlines concern over environmental and public health threats and asked the governor to intervene.
At issue, according to the letter obtained by SCN, is the permitting request tied to Roberta, and the proposed landfill that would add more than 700 acres to Scott County’s overall landfill industry, all the while Bear Creek running through the property.
Her letter outlines concerns shared by communities downstream, namely McCreary and Pulaski Counties in Kentucky, both of whom have hosted public forums to discuss possible contamination each entity could experience. The oft-mentioned leachate – the toxic liquid that forms when water filters through landfill waste – could contaminate Bear Creek, which feeds into Lake Cumberland and ultimately the Cumberland River, a drinking water source for millions and a backbone of regional tourism and wildlife habitats, the latter a concern for the National Park Service who recently weighed into the conversation themselves with a letter to the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.
Despite some disagreement from proponents of the project, Price warns that the landfill may import demolition and industrial waste from across the country, including asbestos, coal ash, hexavalent chromium, and so-called “forever chemicals” such as PFOAs, substances known for their persistence in the environment and links to cancer and other health risks.
More than 450 residents attended a recent TDEC meeting in Oneida (and dozens more in the two Kentucky counties), where Price says officials admitted there is no routine testing for many of these contaminants in landfill leachate or air emissions. In her letter, Price asked how regulators can renew a permit for a site near one with past violations and demanded environmental studies on endangered species and downstream impacts, an issue that even SCN has reported on.
“If you do nothing,” Price told Lee, “this will become your legacy.”
That legacy may already be feeling the ire of locals. A flyer demonstrating the proposed landfill sign has circulated, renaming Roberta after the governor.
For many in Scott and McCreary Counties, the fight is about more than a landfill, but a deeper concern for community health, protecting their water, land, and, ultimately, the future.
