Thanks all who attended yesterday’s call. We look forward to seeing you face to face soon. Please take the time to read over the recap below – a lot of good information. Thanks again and be well.
Vice Chair of CCLA C. Schools
April 26, 2020 – 3:00 p.m. Via Phone/Video Conference
- Pledge of Allegiance – Butch Pond
- Prayer – Barry Miles
- Welcome – Tim Kennell– Commended the members, citizens, and the teams who are actively doing their part in fighting the proposed mega-dump. It has been two years without any visible progress especially no trucks taking dirt out of the proposed site. The last landfill fight had gotten to that part in their progress. Well done to all!
- Letter Writing Campaign (Board of Supervisors, Governor, VDOT, etc.) – Tim Kennell – He has heard from one or more supervisors that they have not received emails, letters, or calls from citizens regarding opposing the project. Please email, write letters, call you supervisors to let them know how they can support us to get rid of the proposed landfill. Tell them clearly you do not want the landfill in the county and you expect them to actively follow your concern. CCLA has been sending out letters to the Governor and has been dealing with VDOT, DEQ, etc. DEQ will reach out to the county and ask a count of people contacting them in opposition of the landfill – we need to have numbers to represent. The Board of Supervisors (BOS) contact information is on the county website, if you have to access. If not, reach out to CCLA dba LoveCentraVA and we’ll provide you with that information. Keep letters going to VDOT, DEQ, Governor, Delegates and Senators as well. We need to have a presence. One on call member suggested to make a phone call to follow up on your letter/email.
- Filing of Notice of Intent (NOI) and Application Part A – Betty Myers –
- March 20th DEQ sent a letter to Green Ridge/County Waste/GFL stating that the application was insufficient. Green Ridge/County Waste/GFL sent their response back to DEQ. DEQ is looking at that now. Nothing new at this time.
- CCLA sent a letter to DEQ asking them to put a hold on the application due to COVID 19 situation. We have yet to receive a response. CCLA sent a follow-up email. Still waiting of for response. As a next step, CCLA is now reaching out to the Governor.
- CCLA has also sent a letter to the Cumberland County BOS. The letter was submitted with a spreadsheet of discrepancies of what was reported to General Assembly along with CCLA’s documentation. We have a response date of April 30. We are waiting for their response.
- CCLA sent by certified receipt, a letter to Cumberland County BOS, asking for an updated FEMA floodplain review. This was sent by return receipt, which was collected, without a response to date. Please note that these letters were sent during the COVID 19 pandemic and the County may be only able to handle matters keeping the county operating.
- CCLA has been working with legal counsel. Over the last week, the lawyer prepared a letter on the inappropriateness of the proposed landfill site for CCLA to submit to the DEQ. The letter was sent by snail mail to Director of DEQ, Mr. Paylor, which should be received tomorrow, Monday April 27th. Once we receive confirmation that the letter has been received/signed for, we will publicly share that information. A copied correspondence of this letter was sent to Senators, House Representatives, Delegates, within the state of VA, Mr. Strickler, who is Mr. Paylor’s authority was also sent the letter. CCLA will also inform media and radio stations. We are going to public with these concerns! The leadership team met yesterday (Saturday, April 25th) and we decided to consider this our initial move on the state level legal battle. Mr. McSweeney did an exceptional job in this letter. We are all quite impressed and hope you will be as well when presented. These are your major points to fight with, more issues may arrive as the legal case progresses, for now these are the top issues.
- Financial Status – Mike Setaro, Treasurer – Thank you all of your money, time and efforts! Everything is appreciated. The initial retainer we paid the lawyer has been depleted. That expense needs to be replenished. We need continued donations to continue. Please donate as you can. $10, $20, $50, any amount will help the effort. We have made a lot of progress, a lot of momentum, we have made great efforts and have indeed delayed County Waste (Green Ridge/GFL). Continue your donations and will continue the fight. Thank you again for your support.
- Fundraising – Betty Myers – Mike is right! Due to COVID and social isolation, the Eager Beavers cannot schedule events and what we did have planned, we had to cancel. As a result, the funds that we were expecting to be brought in did not come in. We do appreciate what you can do very much. Any amount is appreciated. We are getting ready to start the legal battle and we need to keep the lawyer fighting for us. Mr. McSweeney is it for the long haul! Chris Rankin added that time and effort is also very important. Help us research, write letters, whatever you can do to help the effort is also greatly appreciated.
- News Media – Christal Schools –
- News – there are many reporters following the story and CCLA is keeping them informed. Virginia Mercury is one that followed this from day one. Also, Farmville Herald, Powhatan Today, NPR, Richmond Times Dispatch along with local radio stations. You can help this area by writing letters to the editors. That will keep this story and the fight on the radar.
- Organization – first, The Sierra Club, who has been an incredible help in organizing our efforts, assisting with community building, giving advice and guidance, and more. They are the reason we’re able to have this community call today! Thank you to Gustavo for his work and dedication. Secondly, I’d like to mention AMMD a local partner. They gave citizens of Pine Grove, me being one, care packages yesterday – information, mask for safety, bar, clementine – wonderful community effort. CCLA will do our best not to overlap meetings in the future as AMMD also had a meeting today at 3:00. Also, The Southern Environmental Law, Chesapeake Legal Alliance, and The Center for Health and Environmental Justice have joined our efforts.
- Social media – CCLA works diligently to present factual, accurate, and timely information. The best place to find that information is our website www.LoveCentralVA.com. We also post on Facebook and we have almost 900 followers. We send emails to 1,426 subscribers on a weekly basis. Our newest method is snail mail. We sent out 82 letters to local residents to inform them of today’s call and will continue to send letters as needed. To back-up Mike’s point, if the 1,426 citizens in our email database gave $10 each, that would be $14,260.00…it all adds up. Again, time and effort are valued. If you want to be added to any of these lists, please contact CCLA.
- Board of Supervisors Meeting – Betty – The April Board of Supervisors meeting was held electronically. They had less people of the conference than we have here today. There was only one public comment submitted. Residents need to submit comments which are due in by 5 p.m. the date of the meeting. Betty also discussed the need to contact the Board members as this information is used to show support for folks who are against the landfill. Don’t be surprised if the Board members don’t answer, but do keep documentation of the contact. Tuesday, April 28th, is the public hearing for the budget and to set the tax rate for the coming year. It appears the tax rate will remain the same and no capital improvements will be completed. This is due in part to the $500K the county received from the landfill company last year. Comments from the public must be submitted by 5 p.m. the day of the meeting either by e-mail or calling the county offices. Please let your voice be heard.
- Question and Comments –
- Butch Pond – looking forward to seeing face to face, give hugs.
- Stephanie – representing AMMD, originally from Cumberland, participates with this group, commends us on our persistence. What is the best way to get funds to CCLA? Betty – you can go to our Website and click the “Donate Now” button and pay through Pay Pal. You can also send by mail to LoveCentralVA, PO Box 238, Cumberland, VA 23040. Please make checks out to LoveCentralVA, LLC. Also, we will post the Pay Pal link on facebook and pin it to the top of the page. Thank you.
- Gustavo, Sierra Club – The Environmental Justice Collaborative, will have a meeting coming up and he will let us know the date/time of the meeting. He is also asking DEQ how they plan to proceed in light of the virus and what their next steps will be An Environmental Justice Act, Senate Bill 406, was signed by the Governor finally last week. This Bill will become law on July 1st. This means DEQ will have to look at environmental justice issues, population, people of color, etc.
- Citizen who lives in Powhatan – new to the call, first time attending and wants to write a letter. Are here any points from our information that he can find to use? Betty referred him to the website. Christal suggested doing a search on the website, if able, and facebook page for “Fact Sheet” as CCLA had listed that information. Also, feel free to email us at NoMegaLandfill@LoveCentralVA.com and we’ll send some information.
- Citizen – asked if The Army Corp of Engineers are involved. Betty said we are in the process of contacting them as well. The citizen shared about an old water of body crossing that may impact the permits. Betty suggested her to email us with that information.
- Sam Citizen from above – suggested, when you email or write the BOS, cc a person of authority who will make them respond; suggestion to cc that important person.
- Closing Prayer – Barry Miles
Next Meeting – TBA
Thank you for your involvement and for joining us today!!!
Cumberland County Landfill ALERT!! dba Love Centra Va, LLC.
Website: LoveCentralVA.com //Facebook Page: FB.me/LoveCentralVA
Email: NoMegaLandfill@LoveCentralVA.com
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 238, Cumberland, VA 23040
Phone: 804-308-5748
“There Will Be No Landfill!”