After spending more than two years approving plans to build a massive regional landfill, the Camden County Board of Commissioners faces stiff opposition from local citizens that could potentially lead to a rejection of the plan and a breach of contract with the landfill’s operator.

Black Bear Disposal LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Waste Industries Inc., wants to build a landfill in the county that would accept waste from all states east of Interstate 75, according to the franchise agreement signed by both parties Nov. 4, 2002. By allowing garbage to be deposited in this rural part of northeastern North Carolina, Camden County could receive host fees that county officials estimate to be as high as $4 million a year, which is almost one-half of the county’s annual budget.

But if some local citizens had their way, the landfill will not be
allowed to operate. Resident John Thompson has formed the Camden

County Citizens Action League in an attempt to thwart the project. “There’s a lot of things going on with this deal that is not right,” Thompson said. “From the beginning, the county has gone about this project in secret.”

County officials had meetings in 2002 to approve zoning for the landfill, contract negotiations, and the eventual signing of the contract, public records show. Because no objections were raised within a year, the contract became official.

However, the county launched an investigation after Thompson and others said the meetings might have violated North Carolina’s open meeting laws. County Manager Randall Woodruff and County Attorney Herbert Mullins conducted the investigation and presented their findings to the Board of Commissioners at a meeting Dec. 6.

Mullins told the commissioners that the franchise agreement between Black Bear LLC and Camden County was not advertised according to North Carolina statute. “We found nowhere that the contract for the landfill was advertised,” said Mullins, according to the Daily Advance of Elizabeth City.

Although county officials did not hold open hearings before the franchise agreement was signed, there was no violation of open-meeting laws, said David Lawrence of the Institute of Government at UNC Chapel Hill. “There is no statutory requirement for a public hearing before the county may award such a franchise…and therefore there is no issue about the effect upon the franchise validity of not holding a hearing or giving notice thereof,” Lawrence said in a letter written to Mullins.

Lawrence warned the county about potential lawsuits stemming from a breach of contract with Black Bear Disposal. “Were the county to attempt to revoke or void the franchise, it would have the effect of revoking, that is, breaching the contract with the franchise,” he wrote. Lawrence said the cost could total several million dollars because of the investment made by Black Bear Disposal, which includes the purchase of the land for the project.

But as Thompson and the Camden County Citizens Action League see it, safe drinking water is priceless. “Once the water table becomes contaminated, no amount of money can fix it,” Thompson said.

In a public meeting Feb. 10, the Board of Commissioners voted 4-1 to give Black Bear Disposal and Waste Industries permission to move forward with the project. Commissioner Mike Andrews cast the only dissenting vote. “What this means is the county is totally out of it now,” Randall Woodruff said. “It’s now between Black Bear and DENR.”

Among Black Bears’ obligations is the necessity of having permits issued by the N.C. Department of Environmental and Natural Resources. The permits are expected in the spring or early summer, Waste Industry executive Jerry Johnson said.
Johnson said his company will lay a liner over a layer of clay to meet requirements by the state to stop leachates from seeping into the water table.

Camden County is a rural county that borders Virginia in the costal region of northeastern North Carolina. There are no incorporated townships in the county. “We don’t even have a Wal-Mart or a Food Lion here,” Woodruff said.

Nevertheless, the county has grown because of new residential developments built for workers in Virginia’s Hampton Roads. Currently there is a moratorium in place for any new residential projects, a move necessitated by stress put on the county’s financial ability to provide necessary infrastructure, especially for much-needed schools.

“We’ve always been a rural farming county until the residential growth started,” he said. “By Wake County standards, it might not sound like much, but we are one of the fastest-growing counties in North Carolina.”

Indeed, the Local Government Commission told Camden County officials that they can’t go forward with plans to borrow $9 million to pay for a new elementary school because the debt would exceed acceptable levels, according to an article Jan. 21 in the Daily Advance.

“So, yeah, it seems like a good idea to have something that could generate several million dollars a year to the county,” Randall said about the host fees from the landfill.

But Andrews said past county government administrations approved too many subdivisions. “We have painted ourselves into a corner with this landfill deal mainly because past county commissions were just rubber stamping new subdivisions,” he said. “So we need to take 82 million people’s trash to pay for it,” he said.

Like Randall, Andrews is aware of the financial risks inherent in reversing the landfill deal.