Opposition is growing in Baltimore County to a landfill’s plan to dump more of its toxic water discharge into the Bird River.
The county council is expected to ask the Maryland Department of the Environment to reject the proposal.
Katherine Martin, who lives near the Days Cove Rubble Landfill in White Marsh, told the council at a hearing Tuesday that she agrees with its proposed resolution to not only deny the permit, but also to shut the operation down.
“As this is one of three landfills within five miles of each other, the waters and the communities of the tidal gunpowder are asked unfairly to bear the burden of others’ waste byproducts,” Martin said.
According to the Baltimore Banner, the operator of the landfill, which takes in construction materials, has had multiple violations of its current wastewater permit. Its new application would double how much discharge it could put into the Bird River, which is a tributary of the Gunpowder River.
The amount would increase to 25,000 gallons daily, doubling what it currently can discharge.
Theaux Le Gardeur is the Gunpowder Riverkeeper and heads an organization that monitors the health of the Gunpowder and other nearby rivers.
He said a resolution from the council opposing the permit should carry some weight.
“It should, given that if this is appealed, and these decisions are appealable, it would be appealed in the Baltimore County Circuit Court,” Le Gardeur said. “So if we’re thinking in terms of preserving the issue of public sentiment, there are 80,000 residents around this landfill and overwhelmingly they are saying no.”
The landfill’s operator did not speak at a public hearing Tuesday the council held on its resolution.
At a community public meeting last month in Perry Hall, The Banner quoted Darren Hunt, the landfill’s vice president of operations, as saying, “We understand there’s some concerns and questions that everybody has. I hope that we’ll be able to address all those.”
Le Gardeur said there were mistakes made in the landfill’s original application, which means MDE should hold another community public meeting. He said last week he asked MDE for an additional hearing.
The council’s resolution was filed by Republican David Marks, who represents White Marsh. Four of his six colleagues have signed on as co-sponsors, meaning its passage Monday night is all but assured.
