Landfill Permits

Although a state law has effectively barred Waste Industries USA Inc. from building its Black Bear landfill in Camden County, the company is still asking the county to renew its permits for the project. Ven Poole, vice president for corporate development with Waste Industries, described the permit request as a matter of procedure. "It has to be renewed every two years," he said. Because the permit that is being requested is the same as the permit which lapsed, Poole said he expects the permit to be approved. "It meets all the same criteria, so there should be no problem," he said.
But County Attorney John Morrison is recommending that county staff not re-issue the permits at this time because of the state law banning the type of landfill Waste Industries wants to build. "They can't renew," Morrison said. Instead, Morrison is recommending that county staff extend the landfill developers' application for the re-issuance of the permits. That would allow Waste Industries and its subsidiary, Black Bear Disposal LLC, to have their permits re-issued should they prevail in a court battle with the state. The company is asking in a lawsuit to either move forward with the project or be reimbursed millions for their expenses to get the project to a late approval phase.
Waste Industries has asked a Wake County Superior Court judge to declare unconstitutional legislation that effectively barred it from moving forward with the landfill project. The legislation prohibits the construction of waste dumps within five miles of a national wildlife refuge. The landfill in Camden would have been built within a mile of the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. Waste Industries says the legislation is unfair because it is aimed specifically at blocking the company's efforts to build a 490-acre landfill in Camden. (John Henderson, THE DAILY ADVANCE, 6/24/08).