Proposed Landfill Draws
Criticism
Water quality, wildlife and proximity to historic site are all
concerns.
By Mary Landers - Savannah Morning News - July 6, 2003
The area between the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge and a historic
plantation on the Savannah River might be a good place for bald
eagles.
Or maybe a landfill.
But definitely not both, say local environmentalists.
Atlantic Waste Services is proposing a municipal solid waste landfill
for a 560-acre site at the intersection of Interstate 95 and Ga. 21.
All but two acres are in unincorporated Chatham County. The remaining
two are in Port Wentworth.
The owner of Atlantic Waste Services, Burke Wall, said it's too early
to discuss the proposed project.
"We don't even know if we're going to buy the property," he said.
Union Carbide owns the site, but Atlantic Waste has a contract to
purchase it subject to its suitability, according to attorney John
Hewson, who represents Atlantic Waste.
Unlike Wall, those who don't like the project have plenty to say
about it.
"It's sandwiched between the refuge and Mulberry Grove, two places
we're trying to marry," said Judy Jennings of the Coastal Group
Sierra Club. "They could be married but not if there's 125 feet of
garbage on top of them."
Mulberry Grove Plantation, a Georgia Ports Authority holding, is
where Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin. Its archeological record
ranges from a Native American settlement, to early colonization, to
plantation days and the Civil War.
GPA is studying the landfill proposal, said spokesman Robert Morris.
"At first blush we think it's not an appropriate use," he said.
GPA and others learned of the proposed landfill when the Coastal
Georgia Regional Development Center requested public comment on the
plan. The RDC, whose input is advisory, usually gets involved after a
rezoning request is made. Not in this case, though. Atlantic Waste
has not yet requested the required rezoning from the Metropolitan
Planning Commission, said Charlotte Moore, director of development
services.
Moore said Atlantic Waste wants RDC to learn more about public
concerns before it spends money on pursuing the landfill.
One concern will be the landfill's proximity to water, according to
Dave Kyler, executive director of the nonprofit Center for a
Sustainable Coast.
"In general it's a bad idea to have a source of contamination next to
the river," he said.
Flooding could swamp the planned stormwater holding ponds, flowing
pollutants into the Savannah River.
If built, the landfill would be worth about $5 million, and it would
generate tax revenues of $265,000, according to the RDC. The project
is expected to generate 2.5 tons of solid waste a year.
The Savannah National Wildlife Refuge has its eye on the property as
one to acquire, said Donny Browning, project leader for the Savannah
Coastal Refuges.
But aside from hopes of expanding the refuge, Browning has immediate
concerns with a landfill next door.
It could attract bald eagles to a hazardous last meal, he said.
Nationwide, 20 bald eagles have been poisoned by feeding on
euthanized pets disposed of in landfills.
The methane gas produced by a landfill also could prove hazardous
because the refuge uses controlled burns to manage the land nearby.
And then there's the aesthetics, Browning said.
"How would you like to visit a wildlife refuge for a quality
experience and smell a landfill?"
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