The Russell County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Monday night to end negotiations on a host agreement with a company that wants to put a private landfill on the former Moss No. 3 prep plant site in the Carbo area — a decision that drew an eruption of cheers and cries from residents who have urged the board to reject the plan for months.
It was a big victory for the group, We Say No to Moss 3 landfill, which has worked for months to get county leaders to turn down the proposed landfill. Opponents feared that the project would harm the environment, negatively impact the health of residents and create odor issues and traffic.
The agreement would have detailed what kind and how much trash would be accepted, how much the county would be paid and a number of other issues, and the project can’t move forward without it. It’s needed for the company, Nova Co. of Virginia, to proceed with its work to get approval for a solid waste landfill permit from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.
According to the resolution approved Monday night, the board voted to end negotiations because the most recent draft from Nova “proposed new additional terms adverse to the interests of Russell County and did not include provisions addressing fundamental terms of a host agreement, including how the amount of the host fee would be determined or structured.”
It went on to say that the county has spent a lot of time, effort and money on the negotiations and has determined that the negotiation of the host agreement “will not succeed.”
Asked after the meeting if the vote meant the end of the landfill project, board Chairman Steve Breeding repeatedly said that it means the county has terminated negotiations on the host agreement and said that is what he was told to say by an attorney.
Following the decision, dozens of people took to the microphone to thank the seven board members for listening to them and for their votes.
Jared Ring thanked the board members but also thanked three women, Amy Branson, Brandi Hurley and Jennifer Chumbley, who he said worked tirelessly together over the last six months to stop the landfill project.
“I’ve never seen anything quite like it,” said Ring, who said their hard work has brought the whole county together.
Branson, who wiped away tears several times during the meeting, said later that she got involved because “it was the right thing to do.”
“I feel shocked, elated, relieved, tired, thankful for the people around me, skeptical, vigilant. I feel like we still need to be watching. I’m feeling a million emotions. It’s been a lot,” she said.
The meeting was the continuation of a meeting held June 3, when a public hearing was supposed to be held on the host agreement. However, the final version wasn’t available because there were still questions about it, Breeding said then.
Nova Co. belongs to John Matney, who wants to open the landfill where he has about 1,200 acres. Matney has been working for years to clean up and reclaim the site, which includes an industrial park for the county.
On Feb. 14, Nova let DEQ know that it intends to submit a solid waste permit application to establish a landfill in Russell County.
On Feb. 22, however, DEQ informed the company that the letter of intent had been reviewed and found to be “administratively incomplete” and requested a lot of additional information, including a host agreement with the county.
Irina Calos, communications team lead for DEQ, said Monday that the Carbo landfill page on agency’s website is up to date and will be updated if additional information is received.
