GREENVILLE, SC (FOX Carolina) – About a week after the Department of Environmental Services (DES) granted approval for a waste transfer station in West Greenville, neighbors voiced their ongoing concerns during a town hall meeting with state officials Thursday night.
“I don’t think you should have ever gotten that permit,” said a neighbor at the Anderson Road Library, where the community meeting was held.
The DES’ decision followed months of protests over a variety of concerns, including potential pollution and odors along Old Easley Highway, where the gas station is to be built.
“This area is really close to my heart and unfortunately we are here today because once again it seems that profit and industrial expansion are more important than the people who live and breathe here,” said Kimberly Rush.
Rush has lived in the area since birth and is angry about Greater Greenville’s sanitation system.
“We are viewed as less valuable, so for some reason they continue to locate businesses here that no one wants to live near,” she continued.
DES officials told residents that their concerns had been heard, including fears that the site could one day become a landfill.
“We again approached the commission and were able to get them to add a permit condition that states that before work begins, there will be a land deed restriction that no landfill will be built on this site and that the site will only be used for a transfer station,” said Juli Blalock, deputy director of the Bureau of Land and Waste Management, during the meeting.
“I think the perfect scenario would be ‘No, we don’t want it,’ but we’re past that,” state Rep. Chandra Dillard (District 23) told neighbors.
Dillard wants the people of West Greenville to be proud.
“It’s not a defeat. It’s really a victory. In this particular process, the voices of the community helped shape this approval, and I think that’s overshadowed by the disappointment. One of the approval conditions is a property restriction, which is huge!” Dillard said.
Regarding concerns about wastewater, DES said the new building will be built at an angle to avoid runoff into the surrounding environment. Neighbors also fear Greater Greenville will miss operating hours due to unexpected traffic.
“They describe a perfect scenario to us, but do not provide us with a detailed analysis of what will most likely happen in everyday life,” said one concerned neighbor.
DES recommended that neighbors form a local advisory board to help hold the transfer station accountable.
Officials also said that due to neighbors’ input and lobbying, they would consider changing decades-old regulations regarding waste transfer stations.
“And that’s how we can make changes in laws and regulations. When our voices are heard, when we get involved in the public process. So this is another great success,” Dillard added.
Still, neighbors said they would continue fighting.
“The most important thing we can do now is to organize and activate community members,” Rush said sadly.
The neighbors have just under a month to appeal the permit.
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