Cumberland County Landfill Awareness (CCLA) held their monthly Community Townhall meeting this past Sunday. The meeting was very informative and fun! The CCLA’s Leadership Team shared the latest information, events, Mr. Bishop became an auctioneer and had the crowd laughing and worked up!
Mr. Cecil Youngblood opened the meeting with a wonderful prayer before the meeting began. Meeting highlights are below…
Lives Threatened by the Landfill
Laurie Halligan shared how the personal stories of people impacted by the proposed landfill touched her personally. She wishes to share these stories with the public and has begun a series of stories, “Lives Impacted by the Landfill” that will be shared on CCLA’s website www.lovecentralva.com and facebook page. If you want to share your story or know a story that people may want to hear, please contact Laurie at lahallig@gmail.com. She will be willing to come to you, meet you, whatever works for you. In the meantime, check out yesterday’s story about the Youngblood’s https://lovecentralva.com/2019/01/21/lives-threatened-by-the-landfill/.
Status of County Waste’s Proposed Mega-Landfill, Litigation/Legal Update, Bills
Proposed Mega-Landfill – the next step for County Waste is to file the Notice of Intent (NOI). The latest information we have on-hand is from mid-December – “County Waste intends to submit Notice of Intent for constructing a Municipal Solid Waste Landfill to DEQ in late January 2019 and the Part A siting application in April 2019.”
Litigation – On January 2nd of this year, the rezoning appeal was settled out of court. That case has been withdrawn. Other legal cases are being pursued at the county level. We will keep you up to date on the progress of these cases. CCLA currently has two lawyers working to help us put a stop to County Waste’s proposed mega-multi-state landfill. At the county level and at the state level. Per the state level lawyer, this will either be stopped by one silver bullet or by many silver bullets. CCLA and partners have many silver bullets in the works.
Bills – last Friday, January 18th, two bills were submitted and look positive for success in moving to the senate and then the house. If approved, it will then be up to the governor to sign into law or not. Depending on the result of these bills and the timeframe of County Waste’s proposed mega landfill, these bills could negatively impact progress where the proposed site is planned. As advised, we are waiting for the official date for these bills to be placed on the docket before taking action. We will keep you informed by email, website, and facebook of any action when needed. When action is needed, it will be needed urgently…so please stand by. The links that will help understand the Bills and the Committee Docket(s) are below. Note the Bills represent NEW WORDING added to existing laws and are not in themselves “stand-alone” legislation.
Bill SB1761 – http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?191+ful+SB1761
\SEE ARTICLE 10 IN THIS DOCUMENT. THESE ARE THE NEW PROPOSED WORDS ADDED TO THE LAW. (This committee meets on Tuesday, today, and of 1/21 this bill was not on the docket.)
Bill SB1762 – http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?191+ful+SB1762
SEE ARTICLE B. i and iii IN THIS DOCUMENT. THESE ARE THE NEW PROPOSED WORDS ADDED TO THE LAW. (This committee meets on Thursday. As of 1/21 there are no bills on the docket.)
Link to track the docket schedule – http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?191+men+BIL (enter the bill number SB1761 or SB1762 and click on the available link under Status, on the new page that opens, click on “committee dockets”)
Cumberland County Landfill Awareness (CCLA) – Mission and Vision, Leadership Team Members
Upon direction of CCLA’s legal counsel and partnering advocacy groups, the Leadership Team of CCLA finalized the Mission and Vision statement. The Leadership Team member list as there are some changes including Victoria Ronnau’s departure from CCLA, by mutual decision, on November 2018. As Victoria is no longer a member of CCLA, having no affiliation or business with the organization, it was her desire to start a focus on the statewide activist group “Enough is Enough” which serves the common goal to protect and preserve Virginia. We wish her well in her new endeavor.
Fundraising Team and Live Auction
After the official business was covered, Betty Rankin spoke about fundraising and introduced the fund raising team, “Eager Beavers”. CCLA, in addition to yardsigns and car magnets, now has t-shirts as a fundraising item! Mr. Bishop served as auctioneer for two baskets and a deer processing. He had the crowd laughing and worked up – excellent job! Very entertaining! The winners were Sue Castlemare, Jerry Toney, and Gabrela Ramirez.
Partnering with Pine Grove
Kevin Halligan shared about Saturday’s canvassing project…several members of the developing Pine Grove Preservation Group and volunteers, including CCLA members, began canvassing streets in the Pine Grove, Sunnyside, Deep Run and Clinton area on Saturday 1/19/19. The canvassing project is part of an effort to obtain information about those households living in closest proximity to the proposed landfill. We had mixed results on Saturday as we were welcomed by many homeowners and rejected by others. Future canvassing efforts will require a greater number of volunteers and it would be most helpful if more Pine Grove “neighbors” accompanied the canvassers in order that more doors might be opened to us.
Shared with permission – “This Sunday, a special meeting will be held at the Pine Grove Elementary School. This meeting is being held by a partnering advocacy group “The AMMD/Pine Grove Project” which was organized to continue the work of the Pine Grove Community to save, restore, and re-purpose the historic Pine Grove School (Rosenwald) to serve as a Cultural Center, with particular emphasis on the contributions of Native and African Americans in Cumberland County. All residents of
Pine Grove, Sunnyside, Deep Run and Clinton area are asked to join us: Sunday, January 27, 2019 – 2:30 P.M.
Contact: Reverend Muriel Miller Branch, storytellermuriel4@gmail.com”
FEMA/Floodplains
Ron Tavernier shared about his work to push for a FEMA floodplains map! It seems that the last time the floodplain map for the area was last updated in 2009. Per Ron, Cumberland County Supervisors and the County Manager have refused to request a detailed floodplain survey of the Muddy Creek, the swamp it forms and Maple Swamp – all of which share boundaries with the 1200 acres of the proposed mega landfills site. He has reached out directly to FEMA urging this be completed. More details to follow as this progresses.
Cumberland County Board of Supervisors… yes folks, it’s election time!!
Unplanned, yet extremely welcomed were two candidates who are petitioning to run for Board of Supervisors. Each spoke briefly to those present. We need candidates to run who will serve and hear the citizens and do what is best for the county! Consider running for election or if you know somebody who would make a great Board Supervisor, talk to them about it!
Punch, Goodies, and Social Time
After a closing prayer by Barry Miles, attendees then enjoyed homemade goodies and punch while socializing, talking with team members, and enjoying getting to know their neighbors.
Questions?
A lot of detailed, sensitive information was covered during the meeting that we do not feel comfortable sharing through social media. The information provided are simply highlights of the day’s topics. It is our sincere desire to be fully open and transparent with you. However, some matters must stay private until the timing is right to present/act upon and until such information is verified. We wish to provide only factual, accurate information in an effort to remove any confusion and unnecessary reactions/emotions/etc. If you have any questions, please email us at NoMegaLandfill@lovecentralva.com with your questions and phone number. We will either email or call you back to answer what we are at liberty to discuss. Also, as we are a small team including retired, workers, parents, etc. please be patient with response time. Thank you.