Board Votes to Place Landfill on Forrest School Road

Even after the overwhelming show of support from the community at the public hearing held on February 16, the Alcorn County Board of Supervisors voted to proceed with permitting the Forrest School Road property for a landfill. Over 80 concerned citizens attended the public hearing and many expressed their concerns about the site. Speakers were applauded by the engaged audience and many valid reasons were given that should’ve convinced the supervisors to explore other options.

The supervisors did not respond to any of the concerns raised by the speakers and their only response was to plan a vote on February 23 at their board meeting.

During the board meeting, Jeff Patterson made the motion to place the landfill on Forrest School Road and Jimmy Tate Waldon seconded the motion. Keith Fields and Jeff Rencher voted against it, and Gary Ross, Board President broke the tie by voting to place the landfill there. Again, no reasons were given for placing it there, other than they did not want to be dependant upon another county to take their garbage…which is a ridiculous statement since another county takes the household garbage already.

Opponents of the Forrest School Road site have continuously pointed out the many valid reasons why this is a poor choice and have offered solutions that include hauling and disposing of the garbage out of county at a cost of less than $20,000/year. This is a much cheaper, more sensible solution than spending more than $100,000/acre to install a new landfill. If they begin with the 6 acre cell described by the county engineer, they will spend over $600,000 before it’s even opened.

Local residents are also concerned about the board’s environmental compliance history. They have recently received a Notice of Violation from the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality for illegal dumping at the Farmingotn Landfill. This is just one in a series of NOVs they have received from the state. There’s no reason to expect they will manage another landfill any safer.

We will continue to fight this injustice through the court and regulatory systems. Keep our community in your prayers!

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