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Some two dozen persons turned out for a public hearing on a proposed Oneida landfill Tuesday (Feb. 10).
The meeting, held to hear water quality concerns from citizens, was conducted by the water quality division of Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC).
The Roberta Phase II project, proposed by Oneida entrepreneur Johnny King, would entail a 300-acre tract adjacent to the existing landfill at Bear Creek in north Oneida. Initially, the landfill would only cover 24 acres of the site. However, engineers at Tuesday’s hearing described the initial 24 acres as a “starting point,” indicating that the landfill would eventually expand to fill most of the 300 acres.
The landfill proposal cites Scott, Anderson, Campbell, Morgan, Pickett, McCreary and Whitley as counties that would be served by the site.
The deposit of TVA fly ash at the landfill has not been ruled out. TDEC officials conducting Tuesday’s hearing said another division of their department would be responsible for the ultimate decision on the fly ash issue.
The existing landfill has been approved by TDEC as a test site for fly ash disposal.
After engineers charged with designing the proposed landfill spent several minutes discussing the proposal and fielding questions from the audience, residents took the floor to voice their concerns. To a person, those commenting—which included Scott County residents as well as a few residents from surrounding areas—were in opposition of the proposed landfill.
Tuesday’s hearing concerned the proposal to eliminate a section of stream and fill a small area that has been deemed a wetland.
Some 1,400 feet of a small stream and eight-tenths of an acre of wetland would be altered by the landfill. King would be required to pay for the purchase of wetland in Greene County at a rate of four feet for every foot of stream disturbed, or four acres for every acre of wetland disturbed.
Tuesday’s hearing also concerned the issue of leachate, liquid that drains from a landfill. The leachate would be captured in holding ponds and would be required to be treated at the Oneida Sewage Plant at the cost of the landfill operator.
The hearing was the first in the landfill permit process. Following the hearing, residents had 10 days to submit written comments to TDEC.
TDEC’s Mike Lee said the decision on whether to permit the landfill would be based on whether the agency finds that water quality would be jeopardized by the operation.
“If we find that water pollution would take place, we wouldn’t issue the permit,” Lee said. “If we find that it wouldn’t be polluted, we probably would issue the permit.”
