NCD980602163_19821020_Warren County PCB Landfill_SERB C_Governor Hunt's Open Letter to Citizens of Warren County-OCR

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JAM[S B. Hut-IT, JR.
GOV!:RNOfl
STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA
OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR
RALEIGH 276t 1
October 20, 1982
An Open Letter to the Citizens of Warren County:
I appreciated the opportunity to meet with community
leaders and members of the executive committee of the Concerned
Citizens of Warren County on Friday, October 8.
We had a full and frank discussion, lasting about
two hours. We did not agree on everything, obviously. But
it was a valuable meeting for me and, I hope, for all of
you.
I told your representatives that I understand and
respect your concerns about the PCB landfill. Nobody wants
a landfill of any kind in their community. Your representatives
expressed your concerns in strong, clear terms. They did
not hold anything back, and I appreciated their frankness.
In turn, I was frank with them. I told them that,
in my judgment, the State of North Carolina had no option
but to place the PCB-tainted material in a safe and secure
landfill. The Environmental Protection Agency would not
approve handling the material in place along the roadside.
I told your representatives that Warren County was
chosen for the site solely on the basis of technical reasons.
No other consideration whatsoever was involved.
I also said during the meeting that the State of
North Caroiina does not intend to simply walk away from any
responsibility once the landfill is completed. I made
several commitments to that end, and I want to spell those
-out for you:
1. At the request of your representatives, the
state will sponsor a public meeting in Warren County at
which our agency officials, engineers and scientists will
review the safety features at the landfill and respond to
your specific concerns and questions. The meeting will be
held at 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, October 27, in the National
Guard Armory in Warrenton.
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Warren County C\tizens
Page Two
October 20, 1982
2. The state will push as hard as it can for
detoxificabion of the landfill when and if the appropriate
and feasible technology is developed. We will seek to
establish a joint local-state-federal working group to
pursue this end. The State Board of Science and Technology,
which I chair, will have the specific responsibility for
pressing the Environmental Protection Agency to develop this
process and for monitoring research to determine when
detoxification is possible.
3. The state will maintain continual monitoring of
the landfill. This will include the monitoring systems
included in the design of the landfill itself, monitoring of
the residential wells within a three-mile radius of the
landfill and checking streams and creeks in the area.
4. The state will cooperate with your county health
department in providing environmental and .health monitoring
for those persons who live, work or go to school near the
landfill. Warren County Health Director Joe Lennon and
Dr. Ronald Levine, the state's health director, will be
responsible for developing a monitoring program that will
guarantee that the health of the citizens in the area is
being protected.
5. My administration will support legislation
prohibiting any additional contaminated soil from ever being
placed in this landfill and prohibiting the state from ever
placing another landfill in your county for any purpose. I
understand that Frank Ballance will be preparing legislation
along these lines, and we will work with him on this issue.
6. The State Department of Commerce will make
special efforts to help Warren County attract indU'!;try and
jobs. We will encourage businesses and industries to visit
the county and consider sites there for expansion.
These are the commitments I made on behalf of the
State of North Carolina. It is my responsibility to see
that they are carried out, and I take that responsibility
seriously.
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Warren County Citizens
Page Three
October 20, 1982
I know how controversial this matter has been.
Again, I respect your concerns. And I take them seriously.
Your state government has a responsibility to you and to all
the people who live along the roads where the PCB material
was dumped, as well as all the residents of North Carolina
who might have been affected had that material spread and
entered the food chain~ The state is convinced, on the
basis of the best scientific evidence that is available to
tis, that the landfill is safe and will remain safe in the
future.
But you and I have seen that scientists can disagree,
and their disagreements concern us. That is why I intend to
see that the State of North Carolina keeps its commitment ~o
you, your children and your grandchildren to continue to
press for detoxificaton of the site, to closely monitor it
and to guarantee its safety for generations to come.
That is the pledge I made to your representatives in
my office last Friday, and it is the pl~dge I make to you
now.
My very best personal regards.
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