Highway 6 landfill fight far from over
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Some folks just don’t take no for an answer.
Today, Waller County residents learned the Georgia garbage giant Green Group has now bought hundreds of acres along Highway 6, a signal the garbage peddlers still want to build a 17 story tower of trash in the beautiful stretch of farm land right next to the City of Hempstead.
The news comes nearly 5 years to the day of the beginning of the Highway 6 landfill fight, when residents first learned of plans for the landfill. Since then, a million dollar fight has been waged, and folks thought it might be over when the TCEQ threw out the landfill application earlier this year.
Green Group had an option on the 700 plus acreage since 2011, and had run out of options to either buy the land or move on. Despite the state ruling against Green Group, the company has gone ahead and bought the land, a clear signal the fight is far from over.
Green Group may still be fighting, but the Waller County Politicians who kept the deal secret from voters paid the price at the polls. A Waller county jury punished the county for violations of transparency laws.
The Waller County District Attorney Elton Mathis may also feel the heat. He claimed he would investigate possible wrongdoing in the wake of the testimony in the civil trial, but a year and a half after getting documents from the Special Prosecutors, Mathis appears to have done nothing.
If early documents are accurate, Green Group likely paid up to 9 million dollars in total for the property. The previous landowners may be eligible for a royalty on every ton of trash put in the site.
Of course, Green Group has to start all over again. The question is how? Green Group would need to sue the state, or try to get a new permit on a slightly different location on the land they own.
“Green Group has bought a bunch of former TCEQ bureaucrats as lobbyists, who will likely try to slip this garbage through the legislature as well,” says Wayne Dolcefino, a consultant for a Waller County landowner. “In case they don’t already know, they have a fight on their hands. If they want to raise cows on that land, god bless. If they want to bring in garbage, get ready for another dose of whoop ass.”
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