Teamsters work to delay new mega landfills
Raleigh, NC— Prior to the General Assembly’s
adjournment for the year, the Teamsters and a coalition of environmental
groups succeeded in passing a one-year moratorium on new mega-landfills
in North Carolina. The legislation puts a freeze on the controversial
mega-dumps, including four landfills in rural, mostly poor communities
in the state that were in the midst of the permitting process.
The new landfills would have made North Carolina
the fourth largest, waste-importing state in the nation and would
have left North Carolina taxpayers facing a massive potential burden
in landfill clean-up costs.
The effort involved a “No Mega- Dumps”
campaign, launched by the Teamsters and BREDL, to persuade voters
and legislators that Waste Management, Inc., and other huge waste
haulers should not be allowed to dump New York and other states’
garbage in North Carolina.
“This was a fight we felt we had to join
and win, for the sake of North Carolina and communities across the
country,” said Jack Cipriani, president of Teamsters Local
391 in Greensboro, North Carolina. “This is a quality of life
issue for our members and their communities, who have been hurt
by irresponsible waste hauling and dumping schemes. Studies show
that working people and people of color are disproportionately hurt
by waste facilities. Now decision-makers can step back and consider
the real pitfalls of dumping New York trash in our beautiful state.”
Cipriani said, “The Teamsters will continue
to raise awareness in state legislatures and municipal bodies of
the need for better regulation and oversight of landfills, transfer
stations and other waste facilities.”
The “No Mega-Dumps” campaign included
a billboard bearing the message, “I Don’t Love New York
Garbage” and a web site where voters could contact their state
legislators to demand the temporary moratorium. |
