Hodges Mine Landfill Opponents Seek Restraining Order

Opponents of a private landfill in Bartow County say a hearing before Superior Court Judge Shepherd Howell is their only chance to temporarily stop the construction-and-demolition dump proposed on Hodges Mine Road.

More than 70 opponents packed Commissioner Steve Taylor's conference room a week ago, voicing concerns about the Southern States dump first proposed 25 years ago, The Daily Tribune News reported.

The county was required to gather comments and send them to Georgia's Environmental Protection Division, which will approve or deny the company's application for a landfill permit, according to the Tribune and Debbie Pressley.

"Any water, air, soil or noise pollution generated by the landfill will harm our families," Pressley said in a Facebook post. "Industrial-level traffic will endanger our safety on roads that were not designed or engineered for heavy trucks.

"The dump site is located on a significant groundwater recharge area with a higher susceptibility to groundwater pollution. Wells and natural resources will be threatened."

Citing the danger of permanent damage to the water table, creeks, wells, springs, sloughs and the Etowah River and pollution—methane, noise and that from airborne chemical sources—they say habitat for diverse and abundant wildlife will be destroyed and endangered species present in and around the Etowah River would be placed in further peril if the water supply is contaminated, according to a petition on change.org.

Southern States has been trying to open a Hodges Mine landfill since the late 1980s—battling both Bartow County and the EPD—but has already won the local zoning it needs with a 1994 lawsuit, County Administrator Peter Olson told WBHF-AM 1450 this morning.

With a 9 a.m. hearing set for Wednesday, opponents are asking a judge to temporarily stop the county and company from moving forward on the landfill, but Olson said the group should be talking to the EPD.

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