Published: May 15, 2008 09:40 am         

Landfill location ordinance in place

By Libby Cluett
lcluett@mineralwellsindex.com

PALO PINTO – Trash can be a dirty word and where to put it can illicit some even dirtier words.

Just ask citizens who spent years battling a landfill planned for the southern part of Palo Pinto County. Years ago they joined together to create the non-profit Citizens to Save Palo Pinto County to fight the landfill and more recently spurred the county to adopt an ordinance.

For them and many more aware and unaware county citizens, Monday was a banner day.

In a quiet, unceremonious commissioners court meeting, Palo Pinto County commissioners officially adopted a solid waste facility siting ordinance for the county. The result will be fewer headaches, thwarting landfills in areas of the county that could be watersheds, protected natural habitats or scenic areas and saving countless legal fees.

The ordinance is the result of lengthy planning and several public forums over the past year in which citizens had the opportunity to offer input – and many did.

At Monday’s commissioners court meeting, CSPPC President Max Wheeler thanked commissioners for “a good job.” He called the newly adopted ordinance “something we’ve needed” and commended the “appropriate action commissioners are taking.”

CSPPC member Norman Hall told commissioners he hopes the ordinance adoption is the beginning. He complimented commissioners and said their “proactivity” builds a good precedent.

“With the final adoption of the solid waste siting ordinance, we are at the conclusion of a process, which started a little more than a year ago,” said Palo Pinto County Judge Mike Smiddy about the period when the county first contracted with R. W. Beck to help develop an ordinance.

“The adoption of the ordinance means that we as a county have taken the necessary steps to direct our own future,” he said of the ordinance designating the areas suitable for landfills.

“If the county had not taken these steps. Others would have been able to make these decisions for us.

“I want to be absolutely clear,” he added. “By this ordinance, we are not authorizing a landfill anywhere in the county … the permit process is strictly a sate run system. If any landowner begins the process of obtaining a landfill permit in one of those areas not deemed suitable for landfills by our ordinance, we and the public will know,” he said.

Smiddy concluded his remarks by thanking commissioners, R.W. Beck Inc. and Scott Pasternak, Max Wheeler and Robert Rexroat of the CSPPC and those “who have provided valuable information and encouragement during this long process.”

Through the efforts led by the county and CSPPC, all Palo Pinto County citizens have the benefit of an ordinance.

On their Web site www.csppc.org, the group quotes the notable 20th-century anthropologist Margaret Meade – “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed it’s the only thing that ever has.”