So what's the deal with this landfill?

Making their way around Cherokee County in an effort to sell people on their plans, officials from Waste Management Inc. say they will provide honest answers to every question.

No, for instance, they will not bury plutonium or hazardous waste at the proposed landfill and recycling center they want to construct near McKowns Mountain.

And no, they concede, there is nothing they can do about the truck traffic that would make its way from Interstate 85 down Highway 329 onto McKowns Mountain Road to the proposed entrance to their property.

But truck traffic would not be unexpected with any new business, they maintain, and their plans for a new recycling center and landfill go to great lengths to ensure that area residents wouldn't even know it was there if it were not for the trucks.

According to unscientific polls being conducted by The Gaffney Ledger, both through telephone and online polls, Waste Management officials still have a way to go to convince a majority of people that the company's plans for Cherokee County would be a good thing locally.

The Gaffney Ledger has been asking: "Should Cherokee County Council approve Waste Management's request to build a recycling center/landfill in the McKowns Mountain community?"

Online poll results, as of Thursday evening, showed an unofficial vote of 199 to 142 against the landfill with an additional 7 people undecided.

Company officials conceded from the start, however, that opening such facilities is always an uphill climb. In their ongoing attempts to answer questions, Waste Management officials have been agreeing to meet with local groups interested in hearing more. On Wednesday evening, they spoke before a group of about 50 people at Limestone Presbyterian Church.

On Thursday, former Lieutenant Governor Bob Peeler, who works for Waste Management, and Randall Essick, a senior manager for business development at Waste Management, sat down with The Gaffney Ledger to answer any questions by or received by the newspaper. Here's a sampling of some of the questions we've been receiving here and their responses:

Q. How much money is Bob Peeler making off this?

A: "I've heard some rumors," Peeler said with a laugh, "and after I did, I said 'Randall, we've got to talk.'"

Seriously, Peeler said he is a full-time employee of Waste Management and his salary is not dependent on the success of the Cherokee County project. He won't get paid more if the project gets a green light, or less if it doesn't.

Q: Will you be accepting any hazardous or toxic waste at the proposed facility?

"First off, we're not permitted to take any of those," Peeler said. Peeler and Essick said there are special permitting requirements for the handling and disposal of hazardous waste and Waste Management has no desire to handle those types of materials. Moreover, Essick said the types of waste it would accept would be clearly spelled out in any contracts it signs with Cherokee County. Plans call only for the handling of municipal waste, construction debris, and recyclable materials.

Q: How big would the actual landfill portion be on the 1,550-acre property?

A. Peeler and Essick said the landfill and recycling center operations would take up about 400 acres. Three landfill sections are planned for the parcel, each a little more than 100 acres. The first section of the landfill would last about 15 years at current disposal levels, but could last much longer depending on how much recyclable material Waste Management can pull out of the waste stream.

Q: How high would the landfill be compared to the Palmetto landfill in Spartanburg?

A. Essick said the company's plans would limit the landfill operations in Cherokee County to a height of about 200 feet, which is about 60 feet lower than the Palmetto landfill. A 1,000-acre buffer around the property would make it practically invisible from any nearby road.

Q: Would anything limit you from expanding landfill plans beyond what you've stated?

"The bottom line is we would spell out in the agreement (with the county) the total acres (used for a landfill) during the course of the site," Essick said. Such an agreement would prevent expansion beyond that.

Q: Would anything stop you from bringing in refuse and recyclables from outside the 75- mile radius you've announced?

A. There is no plan to exceed 75 miles and state Department of Health and Environmental Control reports will show exactly which counties the refuse and recyclable material is coming from, Essick and Peeler said. Moreover, both men refuted rumors that Waste Management would bring shipments of garbage by rail into the 75-mile radius just so it can be brought into Cherokee County. "That would make absolutely no economic sense," Peeler said.

Q: Will the roadways leading to the landfill be littered with trash blowing from the trucks?

A. Essick and Peeler maintained that Waste Management has had a long standing relationship with Palmetto Pride to clean the roadways around its facilities and would make extra efforts to ensure that the Highway 329 corridor is clear of any debris.

Q: What routes would be used by the trucks to access the location?

A. Peeler and Essick said almost all of the truck traffic would use Interstate 85 and Highway 329 to reach McKowns Mountain. The only trucks using other roads would be those making local pickups of refuse and recyclables in Cherokee County.

Q: What about the roads? Will they need improvements or maintenance?

A part of the process would involve detailed traffic studies to see if any improvements are needed. Workers from the planned Duke Energy nuclear power plant on McKowns Mountain Road would be using the same roadways, potentially adding thousands of construction workers into the mix.

Q: What about groundwater and the potential for contamination?

A: Essick explained how Waste Management builds a liner at the bottom of landfill that involves several layers of compacted clay, plastic, and a system to collect leachate. While problems have occurred in old, unlined landfills, Essick said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has not found any leaking liners since new rules on lining landfills went into effect in 1990.

Q: Waste Management had tried to build a new landfill in southern Spartanburg County but it's plans were rejected. Why would Cherokee County want something Spartanburg County didn't want?

A: Peeler said Waste Management's plans for Spartanburg County were like comparing "apples and oranges" to the company's plans for Cherokee County. The Spartanburg County project was going to be nothing but a landfill, while Waste Management's plans for Cherokee are based on recycling and removing recyclables from the waste stream. All of the recycling machinery and operations, for instance, will be built before anything is deposited into the landfill.

"I would not be involved in a proposal for Cherokee County that was just a duplicate of something that was offered somewhere else, " Peeler added.

Q: How much longer will the Palmetto landfill be open and how many people does it employ?

A: The Palmetto landfill is nearing the end of its service life and should be closed within three to five years, Essick said. That landfill employs 16 people.

Q: Will they be offered jobs in

Cherokee County?

A: The operations in Cherokee County would employ 42 people, from equipment operators to sorters, forklift operators and office workers. Essick said it was doubtful workers from the Spartanburg facility would take jobs in Cherokee given the distance, gas prices, and the availability of posts in Waste Management's hauling operations.

Q: How much would you pay workers at the Cherokee County facility?

A: Essick said heavy equipment operators would earn from $18 to $21 an hour, while others, like sorters, would earn less. None of the jobs, however, would be minimum wage jobs.

Q: If community or church groups were interested in having you come out to talk to them, how could they arrange that?

A: You can call Waste Management's information office at the Willis Plaza in Gaffney at 649-1180. You also can drop by the information office to see maps, plans and get answers to questions on Mondays, Wednesdays or Fridays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.