After months of comments and protests citizens finally have their answer about the proposed rubble fill north of Massey on the Alexander Farm. At the start of last week’s meeting Commissioner William Pickrum addressed an audience made up of meeting regulars and about 50 protestors.
“I know a lot of folks are concerned about the proposed rubble fill. Based on the information that we have received and the facts as we understand them regarding job growth, and the economic and environmental impact I think that we’ll be opposed to establishing a rubble fill off of Rt. 301.”
His statement was met with a round of applause and cheers. Pickrum added that he is aware some local delegates want to take the rubble fill issue to Annapolis during the next legislative session. “I am vehemently opposed to this,” he said. “This is a local issue … they (delegates) should let us do what we’re going to do and they should work on keeping Annapolis from trying to destroy local economies.” John Vail, a member of the Sassafras River Association, the organization behind many of the protests, said “we just want to say thank you.”
Commissioner Ron Fithinan thanked the SRA and concerned citizens for expressing their opinion in a professional manner and giving the commissioners time to do their job. “When these types of things come before us we have to do our due diligence and check it out from both sides. We feel like we’ve come to that conclusion and it’s time to stop spending the money (on consultants.)” To date the county has spent more than $60,000 on private consultants to advise them about the proposed rubble fill.
He said that Commissioner Alex Rasin, who was not at last night’s meeting, agreed with the stand the commissioners were taking on the rubble fill.
The idea for a rubble fill was first brought to the county in July by Kent Recycling & Land Reclamation. The proposed rubble fill would be on 339 acres of land north of Massey. The facility would receive approximately 1,200 tons of construction and demolition materials a day from locations in Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New York. The site would be able to hold more than 36 million tons of debris. Kent Recycling would own and operate the facility under a management agreement with the county.
Concerns were immediately raised by the SRA about the impact the rubble fill would have on the area’s ground water and nearby Jacob’s Creek, a headwaters stream that feeds into the Sassafras River.