07-02-06: Time Out for Trash

Time Out for Trash

North Carolina is poised to become the East Coast's new dumping ground with six new mega-landfills. New landfill proposals include more than 10 million tons of municipal trash, shredded steel and construction debris each year. They are planned for areas that were part of the Great Dismal Swamp, that are in the 100-year floodplain, places where the water table is a few feet below ground level and near national wildlife refuges and state parks.

The state Senate wisely included a provision for an 18-month moratorium on new landfills in its budget, along with a study on what North Carolina needs to do before opening its arms to the deluge of trash (news story, June 29). Landfills that already have approvals can operate and grow as needed.

The state House is resisting the moratorium, saying the budget is the wrong vehicle for the measure. The problem is that the budget may be the only vehicle that can produce a time-out on new landfills. It's no secret that the waste lobby has megabucks to pour into lobbying and political campaigns. That's a powerful incentive for doing nothing. The cost of not enacting the moratorium will be a degraded coastal environment and a legacy of rubbish.

Jim Stephenson
Policy Director
NC Coastal Federation
Newport