Cumberland landfill, fiercely opposed by locals, would be state's first new mega dump in two decades
CUMBERLAND COUNTY — A Virginia political issue largely consigned to the dust heap of history in the late 1990s resurfaced this June when the Cumberland County Board of Supervisors voted to allow plans to go forward for the construction of a mega-landfill just a mile from the Cumberland–Powhatan border.
If the company behind the project, County Waste of Virginia, succeeds in obtaining a permit from the state Department of Environmental Quality to operate the proposed Green Ridge Recycling and Disposal Facility, Virginia will become home to an eighth mega-landfill, meaning a facility can accept more than 3,500 tons of waste per day.
The last new Virginia landfill of that size opened in 1997, according to state records.
Cumberland residents, like those before them who live near Virginia’s seven other mega-landfill communities, appear largely opposed to the venture, describing themselves as “blindsided” by a project that was approved by county leaders a mere 35 days after it was made public.
Their leaders themselves are split on the issue, with Green Ridge obtaining a narrow approval in a 3–2 vote after a marathon meeting that stretched into the early hours of June 29.
Read more: https://www.virginiamercury.com/2018/07/24/cumberland-landfill-fiercely-opposed-by-locals-would-be-states-first-new-mega-dump-in-two-decades/