FBS-Landfill Company Claims Public Welfare Not A Concern In Expansion Hearing!

pict from FBN
Waste firm claims weather radar blockage not public welfare concern

By Cheryl Skinner
Two of the three Houston TV stations, who have contended the proposed expansion of Blue Ridge Landfill could block their Doppler radar signals and prevent accurate tracking of approaching hurricanes, really shouldn’t play a part in the forthcoming hearing to determine if opponents of the landfill expansion will get a contested hearing from the state, say landfill officials, according to Richard Morrison the attorney representing a grass roots organization trying to stop the expansion.

Morrison said a document filed with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, attorneys for Allied Waste subsidiary Blue Ridge Landfill TX LP did agree that a citizens group opposing a major landfill expansion has issues viable enough to request a contested hearing before the TCEQ, but only one of the television stations has the same right. Two of three TV stations who want to participate in a contested hearing don’t qualify because they are about a mile away from the landfill, Morrison said the landfill attorneys are claiming. A law firm representing the television stations is expected to dispute this contention at the forthcoming hearing.

Allied Waste operates Blue Ridge Landfill at 2200 F.M. 521, a mile north of Fresno in Fort Bend County. Allied wants to increase the landfill from the current 302 acres to 784 acres, and increase the maximum height at which refuse can be piled, from the current 58 feet to 170 feet. The mountain of debris, opponents claim, will create health issues, quality of life deterioration and lower property values.

At the height proposed by the waste company, officials with KTRK Channel 13, KHOU Channel 11 and Fox affiliate KRIV Channel 26, the tower of trash would block weather radar signals from the stations’ towers and effectively create a problem in forecasting hurricanes and tornados in the Gulf Coast region.

A citizens group called Coalition Against Blue Ridge Landfill Expansion organized last year in opposition to the landfill and secured Morrison, an environmental attorney, to file protests on their behalf.

Surprisingly, Blue Ridge owners agreed that nearly every issue CABRLE raised in objection to the expansion is relevant for discussion in a contested hearing, Morrison said Monday. “I am hopeful, somewhat happy but I am still hedging my bets because we still could get screwed,” he said of the hearing that could win the group a contested hearing. A contested hearing is somewhat like a court trial, he explained. Each side would present evidence supporting their claim and a judge would decide the issue. If the CABRLE side prevailed it could stop the expansion. . . .

. . . Click the title link for the full story from FB Star.


OP/ED from Cheryl Skinner (FB Star):


Weather radar not important to the health and well being of the citizens?

I found it extremely amusing, not to mention ludicrous, that the attorneys representing Allied Waste plan to contend that the possible blocking of three major television networks Doppler radar is not a matter of public safety but is an issue of economics.

Well, Duh! Here is a large company who wants to build a tower of trash claiming everyone in watching distance of Channel 11, 13 and 26, can just go out and look at the sky to see if a hurricane is approaching or a funnel cloud swirling in the sky. Give me a break! And, to claim that the TV stations could just relocate those towers elsewhere is strange coming from a garbage company who says it would be “too costly” to relocate that heap somewhere else in the county (or state—hint, hint).

I would think all the citizens in those viewing areas would consider it a matter of public safety. Now what the state regulatory agency thinks should be interesting. Somehow, they always seem to favor the landfills. I wonder if they get tipping fees too.

The ball is in the court or does the commissioner court have the balls?

(get the full OP/ED piece at: http://www.fortbendstar.com/Columns/skinner_cheryl.htm)


Stay informed and keep in touch! Many Missouri City area communities share water-ways with this landfill property and with a 2005 Barium leak (highly toxic and water soluable chemical) and with the Missouri City Council & County Commissioners accepting "tipping fees" to not oppose the expansion, this is getting interesting.