Bill may hurt Riegel Ridge project

Raleigh | State lawmakers passed a bill Thursday that some believe will make it impossible for state regulators to approve the proposed Riegel Ridge landfill in Columbus County.

Sen. R.C. Soles, D-Columbus, said he believed that Senate Bill 1492 kills the project, because the detailed new law prohibits landfills near state game lands.

"I don't believe the project can go forward," he said.

Greg Peverall, one of the project's developers and a consultant to the solid waste industry, said Thursday he could not comment on the effect of the bill until he analyzes it.

Peverall and his partners have been trying for seven years to get permission to build a facility on 100 acres of a 760-acre parcel off N.C. 211 south of Bolton. The Green Swamp land around it is part of the Juniper Creek conservation preserve.

On Monday, according to The Nature Conservancy of North Carolina, state officials signed an agreement to lease that property as part of the state game land system.

"We announced more than a year ago that that was our intention," said Katherine Skinner, the organization's executive director.

The bill and a set of amendments to it passed earlier on Thursday, which were sent to Gov. Mike Easley for his expected signature, prohibit pending landfill applications of record on Aug. 1 from being within a mile of property owned or leased by the state for game lands.

On Thursday, the Friends of the Green Swamp said they felt that their seven-year opposition effort paid off. Steve Smith, cochairman of the group, said they were motivated by natural heritage of the land, which is part of the only native home on the globe for Venus's flytrap.

"It's one of the most unique and ecologically fragile areas in the world," he said.

The project had been approved by the Columbus County commissioners because of a need for municipal landfill space and because of the fees that the landfill would provide.

While the project was pending, a statewide controversy over landfill projects arose. In response, lawmakers put a halt to new landfill development over the last year while they hammered out changes to the state's environmental regulations.

Senate Bill 1492 is the result of that work. In addition to the placement requirements, the bill creates a $2 a ton tax on trash that will be used to pay for cleaning up abandoned landfills and encouraging recycling.

The bill also creates a system to recycle used computer equipment.

Mark Schreiner: (919) 835-1434

mark.schreiner@starnewsonline.com