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Misinformation
This section gives you a little summary of what some people have spread around that is incorrect as the persons are either misinformed, or
information claimed by the landfill applicant that is not entirely true. Our research has uncovered quite a bit of "nonsense" in regards to what
the applicants do versus what they say, etc. We are not here to spread rumors - we are here to put truth to the situation and reveal things
to the public that everyone needs to be educated about. Out fight is not without merit for these reasons and many more. Because frankly, if
not we wouldn't be wasting our time!
C & D Landfills are inert (harmless). They only accept non-toxic, non-hazardous materials:
First, there is no way that they can with full certainty account for every item that is put into that site. It is impossible.
Second, recent studies show C&D landfills may be more hazardous than municipal landfills. C&D landfills are far more prone to fires and
explosions. Please see the article where one landfill had several fires and one fire burned for months!
Third, the smell of decomposing gypsum wallboard is awful and a threat to human health. It causes burning eyes, respiratory issues,
headaches, etc.
Finally, there is NO LINER in this landfill. Although the operators have stated that there is a liner, this site will merely have a clay barrier
between our precious water and toxins seeping into our aquifer. Research shows that clay barriers are insufficient and do not prevent
groundwater contamination.
Hernando County Officials, both elected and non elected have operated in the best interest of the citizens of this country in regard to
this landfill.
While we acknowledge that the current members of our County Government were not involved in the 1998 Settlement Agreement in which
Judge Springstead took it upon himself to place an "overlay" over the property in order for a C&D Landfill to operate, they certainly have not
stepped up to the plate to protect Hernando county residents of 2010. To the contrary, while being told numerous times that there is
nothing they could do to change the Permanent Mandatory Injunction, we discovered that in 2009 they went back to Court and "modified"
the settlement in three areas that were NOT to the benefit of the people of this County. The three areas being: striking the elevation
restriction (now they may construct "Mt. Croom"); eliminating the County spotter so that the County is not on the line when the groundwater
is contaminated; and eliminating a "tipping" fee paid by the landfill operator to maintain Wildlife Lane. So what happens when our roads are
falling apart and our water is contaminated - who gets to pay for the clean up and maintenance? We do. Check out the official documents
page for the Original Settlement package which contains these facts.
There will be no effect on property values.
Already depressed property values will be greatly affected. Property in the immediate area will be the first to see their investments fall
further and perhaps below mortgage values. However, this landfill, surrounded by the Withlacoochee State Forest, will start a “trickle down”
effect. If our forest becomes unusable, many people that stay at the hotels won’t come, businesses in the I75/SR50 corridor will see a vast
decrease in business, tourism in the County will suffer, and if wells are contaminated nobody will want to purchase property anywhere on the
East side of this County. If the residents surrounding this landfill want to move to get away from the awful smell, the traffic and to move
somewhere with clean water - we may not even be able to give our homes away. Foreclosure will be the only option. How is that good for
the economy?
We don’t need an attorney. We just all need to band together and demand it be stopped.
We wish that were the case but unfortunately the only way to stop this landfill is with an attorney.
Many of us spent many hours contacting County and State officials both in person, by phone, and emails. DEP was contacted. We contacted
various environmental organizations. Ironically, they all said the same thing –“ Get an attorney”. Our attorney has the ability to GET US
HEARD. He knows all the legal jargon and ways to do things and not to do things. We are grateful that we found an excellent environmental
attorney who cares about our quality of life to the extent of reducing his hourly fee schedule so that we can pursue this fight.
The landfill operators say they want to be “good neighbors”.
Most of us have good neighbors - that's one of the blessings of living in the country. Our good neighbors don’t tell us what they are going to
do irrespective of our thoughts and they don’t tell us untruths. Good neighbors don't shut down a portion of a road claiming they own the
easement causing residents great distress in trying to access their properties and causing response times for emergency vehicles to be
dangerously slow. From the first meeting in 2008 that the landfill operators held, we were told that we were going to have a landfill whether
we liked it or not. In March 2010 they approached our attorney to have a meeting so that we might discuss some possible negotiations that
would make their landfill more appealing to us. At that meeting nothing positive was discussed. They came in with the same “you’re going to
have a landfill whether you like it or not” attitude, they were very hostile, made threatening statements and stormed out of our attorney’s
office.
They also are asking for an easement through our forest so they can get to their landfill site. They state that they are “land locked”. They
want to destroy forest and gopher tortoise habitat for this easement. Do they think we don’t know they own the 10 acres to the West of the
site which eliminates the land locked issue? In one of their documents trying to support their landfill they state that in 2001 when we went
to the BOCC meeting to rezone the property for a motocross course, we said we’d rather have a landfill than the motorcycles. I was at that
meeting and I don’t recall the word landfill ever being mentioned. In fact, if you look at those minutes of the meeting it states the issue is to
rezone property zoned M for mining to recreational. Had the County not done it’s homework to know it had an “overlay” for a landfill? Just a
few examples. We could go on for days about everything we've discovered. But the bottom line is: these people are NOT good neighbors.
They have only one goal in mind: profit for themselves regardless of the consequences it has on the community, the forest and our precious
resource already in serious jeopardy that support life and growth - water. How do they really think they are being good neighbors?
This section gives you a little summary of what some people have spread around that is incorrect as the persons are either misinformed, or
information claimed by the landfill applicant that is not entirely true. Our research has uncovered quite a bit of "nonsense" in regards to what
the applicants do versus what they say, etc. We are not here to spread rumors - we are here to put truth to the situation and reveal things
to the public that everyone needs to be educated about. Out fight is not without merit for these reasons and many more. Because frankly, if
not we wouldn't be wasting our time!
C & D Landfills are inert (harmless). They only accept non-toxic, non-hazardous materials:
First, there is no way that they can with full certainty account for every item that is put into that site. It is impossible.
Second, recent studies show C&D landfills may be more hazardous than municipal landfills. C&D landfills are far more prone to fires and
explosions. Please see the article where one landfill had several fires and one fire burned for months!
Third, the smell of decomposing gypsum wallboard is awful and a threat to human health. It causes burning eyes, respiratory issues,
headaches, etc.
Finally, there is NO LINER in this landfill. Although the operators have stated that there is a liner, this site will merely have a clay barrier
between our precious water and toxins seeping into our aquifer. Research shows that clay barriers are insufficient and do not prevent
groundwater contamination.
Hernando County Officials, both elected and non elected have operated in the best interest of the citizens of this country in regard to
this landfill.
While we acknowledge that the current members of our County Government were not involved in the 1998 Settlement Agreement in which
Judge Springstead took it upon himself to place an "overlay" over the property in order for a C&D Landfill to operate, they certainly have not
stepped up to the plate to protect Hernando county residents of 2010. To the contrary, while being told numerous times that there is
nothing they could do to change the Permanent Mandatory Injunction, we discovered that in 2009 they went back to Court and "modified"
the settlement in three areas that were NOT to the benefit of the people of this County. The three areas being: striking the elevation
restriction (now they may construct "Mt. Croom"); eliminating the County spotter so that the County is not on the line when the groundwater
is contaminated; and eliminating a "tipping" fee paid by the landfill operator to maintain Wildlife Lane. So what happens when our roads are
falling apart and our water is contaminated - who gets to pay for the clean up and maintenance? We do. Check out the official documents
page for the Original Settlement package which contains these facts.
There will be no effect on property values.
Already depressed property values will be greatly affected. Property in the immediate area will be the first to see their investments fall
further and perhaps below mortgage values. However, this landfill, surrounded by the Withlacoochee State Forest, will start a “trickle down”
effect. If our forest becomes unusable, many people that stay at the hotels won’t come, businesses in the I75/SR50 corridor will see a vast
decrease in business, tourism in the County will suffer, and if wells are contaminated nobody will want to purchase property anywhere on the
East side of this County. If the residents surrounding this landfill want to move to get away from the awful smell, the traffic and to move
somewhere with clean water - we may not even be able to give our homes away. Foreclosure will be the only option. How is that good for
the economy?
We don’t need an attorney. We just all need to band together and demand it be stopped.
We wish that were the case but unfortunately the only way to stop this landfill is with an attorney.
Many of us spent many hours contacting County and State officials both in person, by phone, and emails. DEP was contacted. We contacted
various environmental organizations. Ironically, they all said the same thing –“ Get an attorney”. Our attorney has the ability to GET US
HEARD. He knows all the legal jargon and ways to do things and not to do things. We are grateful that we found an excellent environmental
attorney who cares about our quality of life to the extent of reducing his hourly fee schedule so that we can pursue this fight.
The landfill operators say they want to be “good neighbors”.
Most of us have good neighbors - that's one of the blessings of living in the country. Our good neighbors don’t tell us what they are going to
do irrespective of our thoughts and they don’t tell us untruths. Good neighbors don't shut down a portion of a road claiming they own the
easement causing residents great distress in trying to access their properties and causing response times for emergency vehicles to be
dangerously slow. From the first meeting in 2008 that the landfill operators held, we were told that we were going to have a landfill whether
we liked it or not. In March 2010 they approached our attorney to have a meeting so that we might discuss some possible negotiations that
would make their landfill more appealing to us. At that meeting nothing positive was discussed. They came in with the same “you’re going to
have a landfill whether you like it or not” attitude, they were very hostile, made threatening statements and stormed out of our attorney’s
office.
They also are asking for an easement through our forest so they can get to their landfill site. They state that they are “land locked”. They
want to destroy forest and gopher tortoise habitat for this easement. Do they think we don’t know they own the 10 acres to the West of the
site which eliminates the land locked issue? In one of their documents trying to support their landfill they state that in 2001 when we went
to the BOCC meeting to rezone the property for a motocross course, we said we’d rather have a landfill than the motorcycles. I was at that
meeting and I don’t recall the word landfill ever being mentioned. In fact, if you look at those minutes of the meeting it states the issue is to
rezone property zoned M for mining to recreational. Had the County not done it’s homework to know it had an “overlay” for a landfill? Just a
few examples. We could go on for days about everything we've discovered. But the bottom line is: these people are NOT good neighbors.
They have only one goal in mind: profit for themselves regardless of the consequences it has on the community, the forest and our precious
resource already in serious jeopardy that support life and growth - water. How do they really think they are being good neighbors?