LURAY - The company operating the Battle Creek Landfill, which the state
shut down Wednesday, asked a federal judge yesterday to allow dumping to
resume. The judge denied the request.
The company, National Waste Services of Virginia, made the request during a
hearing before Judge Peter J. Walsh in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington,
Del.
National Waste's parent company is in Delaware.
"We are pleased with the ruling, but it's not all that surprising," said Tim
Murtaugh, a spokesman for Attorney General Jerry W. Kilgore.
Walsh declined to overrule a Virginia regulatory action. Also, Murtaugh
said, Walsh cited a Feb. 27 ruling by a federal judge in Richmond that
National Waste did not have standing, or the right to participate, in the
state's enforcement case against Page County.
Kilgore's office is providing legal representation to the state Department
of Environmental Quality in the landfill crackdown.
In a rare move, the DEQ revoked the county's landfill permit Wednesday. DEQ
officials said the landfill took in more garbage than it could handle and
endangered the environment.
National Waste, which the county hired in 2001 to run the dump, filed last
week for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Company officials say they need
the landfill income to pay off business loans.
National Waste's president, Bart Begley, said the landfill was properly
operated. He said he would like a chance to prove that. "We've never had our
day in court."
In Page, the rumble of dump trucks that for five years represented a steady
source of revenue all but ceased yesterday. And the county turned away
residents who came to the dump to discard trash.
Since the landfill opened in January 1999, Page residents have been able to
dump for free. The closing would not affect most residents because of the
existence of three "convenience garbage stations," smaller sites where
people can take trash, said Page County Adminis- trator Eston Burge.
National Waste had been hauling the trash from the stations to the landfill.
The county hopes to have a destination for the refuse by today, Burge said.v
At one station near the town of Shenandoah, south of Battle Creek, residents
said they wanted a well-run local dump, but they were concerned about losing
the privilege of discarding at no charge.
Free residential dumping was an important feature of Battle Creek operations
since its planning. Previous members of the Board of Supervisors wanted the
option as a way to stem the random dumping that had occurred along roads and
in the Shenandoah River.
Shenandoah resident Michael McNelis voiced concern about rogue dumping after
arriving at the convenience station with his pickup truck full of trash and
recyclable items.
"I'd rather [Battle Creek] be open and running properly than closed and have
people throw stuff out on the side of the road," McNelis said.
The landfill's permit allows it to take 250 tons of trash a day, according
to the DEQ. But the dump routinely took more than 1,000 tons a day, much of
it from outside the state. National Waste maintains the 250 tons was a
guideline, not a firm limit.
v
Word of the closing apparently spread quickly to haulers.v
The Page County Sheriff's Office spent some time near the entrance of the
dump just west of Luray to notify truckers of the closure, but none showed
up by midafternoon, Maj. Russell Montgomery said.v
"Everyone appears to be complying with the order," he said.
The county-owned site lost money in its first 18 months of business because
Page couldn't attract enough garbage to cover its operating costs.
In 2001, the county replaced its original operator with National Waste. The
DEQ issued numerous citations against the landfill before moving in
September to revoke the permit.
Page County could appeal the closing, but no decision has been made, Burge
said.