TCE Covers Blue Ridge Landfill Victory!

Blue Ridge Landfill Opponents To Get Their Day In Court, TCEQ Rules

Opponents of industry giant Allied Waste’s plans for a major expansion at Blue Ridge Landfill will get a chance to air their grievances in what’s known as a “contested hearing,” the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality decided Wednesday.

“They granted us a hearing on every issue we asked for,” said environmental attorney Richard Morrison, who represents a citizens group called Coalition Against Blue Ridge Landfill Expansion, which opposes the expansion.

Morrison also said the TCEQ ruled that three Houston TV stations have standing in the case and can present arguments at the contested hearing, which likely will be scheduled at a hearing next month.

Allied had argued that the three stations – KTRK Channel 13, KHOU Channel 11 and Fox affiliate KRIV – shouldn’t be allowed to raise concerns they have, that the Blue Ridge expansion would result in refuse being piled so high it would block out the stations’ Doppler radar signals.

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 “waste footprint” 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.

But at that height, say officials with the TV stations, the giant mound of garbage would block weather radar signals from the stations’ towers, 3 miles or less away to the northwest, hampering efforts to track hurricanes, tornadoes or other severe weather. . . (click the title link above for the full story).

Get updates on this grass-roots effort at: http://cabrle.spaces.live.com/

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Side note/comment:

This blogger finds it a wonder that with all the real problems threatening our homes/health (i.e. no MC hospital/school over-crowding/high foreclosures/expanding airports & landfills that this city administration/mayor supported) that Mr. Owen would be pushing a tax buster purchase of a private golf course by the city. They don't even discuss the possibility of the involved MUD & HOA fund handling the purchase and protecting the tax paying public.


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