Greene County – Town of Snow Hill
A citizens’ group sued the Greene County Board of Commissioners in 1998, saying that they approved a landfill site without following proper procedures or considering alternative locations. After four years of community pressure and a NC Court of Appeals opinion in favor of the citizens’ group, the Board re-voted, overturned its original decision and decided not to approve any of the proposed landfill sites. This case was the first to fall under a North Carolina statute, passed in 1999, which established a protocol for approving landfill sites within one mile of an existing facility. This situation typifies others in which rural counties are targeted for imported waste by private companies.
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“In eastern North Carolina . . . good jobs aren’t plentiful, and the counties are always looking for ways to generate revenue. And when you have large corporations coming in and shopping around for places to put a landfill, they always make it sound a lot better than it actually is for the community.
“I always wonder, if the landfill is such a great deal, then why don’t you want to keep it in your community so you can profit from the income generated?”
-Community Member