Dear Editor:

Here are reasons to reject Waste Management's proposal to place a landfill on McKowns Mountain Road.

REASON #1:

McKowns Mountain Road is a 2-lane country road. Presently, there are about 200 families, a few businesses and the DMW Fire Department that rely upon this road for daily travel.

Duke Power Company is planning to build a nuclear power plant on McKowns Mountain Road. It is estimated that there will be about 2,000 construction workers required to build the plant. During this time, all those construction workers will travel on McKowns Mountain Road. There will also be many trucks hauling construction material for the power plant.

Now Waste Management is planning to put a landfill on this same road and will have 300 garbage trucks traveling daily.

Has Cherokee County Council determined how much traffic on a road is too much? Is there another location that has less present and future traffic that would be better suited for the landfill?

REASON #2:

Waste Management has said they will not allow any garbage to be brought in from more than a 75-mile radius. This should mean that garbage will be brought from Charlotte, N.C., and Greenville, S.C.

What if Charlotte would agree to permit New York City to dump garbage in their trash handling facility for $500 per truck?

Charlotte could then claim the garbage as theirs, spend $200 to haul the garbage to Cherokee County, where we charge just $100 per truck. That would result in a net profit for Charlotte of $200 per truck. (Waste Management plans to give Cherokee County less than $100 per garbage truck.)

What if Greenville were to do the very same with the garbage from Atlanta?

Cherokee County's present landfill is already full because we accepted garbage from anyone from anywhere for a very low tipping fee. Are we going to do it again? Who will track where the garbage originated? What are the penalties for violating the agreement? Will there be increases in the penalties for multiple violations?

REASON #3:

Waste Management states that there will be a thick plastic liner that will contain any and all liquids that may end up in the landfill. They claim they will monitor the surrounding area to ensure there will be NO leakage of hazardous liquids from the landfill. Has Waste Management put in writing who will pay to clean up the hazardous liquids that leak from the landfill? Has Waste Management stated what amounts of compensation the surrounding community/families will receive for deaths or medical problems? Will Waste Management pay for relocation of these affected families?

We encourage everyone to look at

http://www.stopwmx.org to view other communities' experiences with this company. Contrary to Waste Management's advertisements, many fines have been imposed on the company due to leakage from their landfills. Communities do not consider it a good company to have in their area and as a result citizens have stopped them from constructing landfills in their area.

If county council is looking just at the taxes to be brought in, we urge them to have patience and wait for the additional revenues from Duke Energy's nuclear plant.

We look forward to an increased standard of living and the good-paying jobs the power plant will bring to Cherokee County. We don't want to be known as the laughing stock for states around for allowing a garbage dump to be put here for 40 lowpaying jobs.

Has Cherokee County forgotten about all the promises from the last company, CMI, who was going to put a landfill/incinerator in the county? Sincerely, Alan & Ellen Pauly Gaffney, S.C.