Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Mayor Franklin still opposed to having landfill

In recent months, reports from Gurdon Mayor Clayton Franklin on the proposed landfill to be located just a few miles out of Gurdon's city limits has drawn much local concern.

Plans are for the landfill to be placed in the Smithton community and will take in garbage from Clark, Hot Springs and Garland Counties.

This has citizens living in this area worried as to what will happen to the peaceful environment and the fresh air they are used to.

International Paper (IP) owns the land were the proposed landfill is to be established. However, in the past IP has denied offers to purchase the land for such a facility.

"I don't want all of the new traffic and I do not want the smell of garbage drifting through the air around my house," said Ray Golden who lives about a mile from the proposed area.

Several other locals have the same fears and believe the smell will be petrifying at times.

Franklin has attended several meetings concerning the landfill and has left no doubt in anyone's mind as to how he feels about the landfill.

"I don't want it here. Simple as that. It will not bring anything good to this area and I don't understand why they would want to locate it that close to our town," Franklin said during a past city council meeting.

Franklin recently made the following points at meeting concerning the proposed landfill.

Franklin stated: "Landfill history reflects an almost universal site selection limited to regions populated by minorities, low-income families, or some combination of both. Those citizens perceived to have the least capacity to protest. The Smithton site has all of these characteristics. This site exhibits a strong case of environmental justice litigation.

"Landfill history also reflects an almost universal corruption of water resources regardless of soil composition, liner technologies, or engineering. Past Garland County landfills, along with many others within the state, serve as prime examples. The City of Gurdon depends on wells, as its sole source of water.

"The Smithton site is not a desirable location from an economic viewpoint. The site is in the most southern portion of the three-county district and represents the most inefficient economic location to be considered. The economics of liner and land cost can be argued, but these one-time costs do not compare with the daily, recurring cost of staff, equipment and fuel to transport solid waste over the distances represented by the Smithton site. To my knowledge, no study has been done to examine the costs.

"The Southwest Central Solid Waste Management District's attempts to minimize citizens concerns by representing the permit application process as a hedge against increased tipping fees. It has been stated numerous times that the landfill site would not likely be developed and that the district only wasted to develop an option in the event the fees were increased by BFI. This representation is misleading. A landfill permit is a most valuable commodity and if issued would most likely be exercised by the district."