Special to The Beacon ATLANTA — The Georgia Supreme Court has declined to hear a challenge by the Brantley County Commission to a Environmental Protection Division permit for a 122-acre landfill in Brantley County, upholding a low court decision finding the permit valid.
Attempts via phone to reach County Manager Joey Cason for comments and the county’s next were unsuccessful.
The court case sprung from former EPD Director Richard E. Dunn’s issuance of a landfill permit in 2023 to Brantley County Development Partners for the landfill on U.S. 82 between Waynesville and Atkinson.
However, the landfill proposal goes back much further than that. In 2014, the county development partners acquired 2,400 acres of land to build solid waste handling facilities on what space there was — much of it is protected wetlands — per court documents.
In 2015, Brantley County fully supported the measure and gave the necessary approvals at the local level.
In 2016 a new set of county commissioners reversed course and attempted to “delay, deny, obstruct and hinder,” the application for a permit from the state EPD.
U.S. District Court Judge Lisa Godbey Wood ruled in BCDP’s favor after an initial challenge, leading to Dunn’s approval of the permit in May 2020. Brantley County challenged again, this time seeking to have the permit revoked.
Judge Kimberly W. Schroer of the Office of Administrative Hearings reversed Dunn’s decision in March 2023.
That reversal prompted BCDP to file a suit in Brantley County Superior Court, which overturned Schroer’s decision. The Georgia Court of Appeals affirmed the superior court’s decision, which will stand now that the Georgia Supreme Court has declined to hear the case January 14 of this year.
Schroer initially reversed the ruling due to alleged inconsistencies in BCDP’s permit application. While the landfill was initially planned for the north side of U.S. 82, at some point, the plans moved south across U.S. 82.
Brantley argued in motions at the Georgia Supreme Court that the permit application was not complete — and therefore not lawfully approved by the state EPD — because the application did not accurately describe the proposed location of the landfill as it was first filed showing the landfill on the north side of the highway.
By making the ruling it did, Brantley County argued that the court was effectively relieving the EPD of any duty to confirm landfill permit applications are accurate before approving them.
BCDP did not give the public enough time to participate in the process after the plans were changed to move the landfill to the south side of U.S. 82.
Local government is responsible for ensuring the proper public meetings are held in which the public can participate. The EPD is not responsible for ensuring landfill permit applications are accurate as the county government is saddled with the responsibility of due diligence in state law, BCPD argued.
The landfill has been the subject of much controversy in recent years. The EPD received more than 9,000 objections to the landfill and the Brantley County Commission rescinded its letter supporting the landfill in July 2020.
The Satilla Riverkeeper took a stance against the landfill based on its potential impacts on the nearby waterway — popular with both locals and tourists — as well as the claims that Brantley County citizens were not given proper opportunity to weigh in on the landfill proposal.
“I am disappointed Brantley County residents were denied a meaningful public voice in the landfill permitting process and may now be subjected to a landfill that we don’t want and don’t need,” Shannon Gregory, Satilla Riverkeeper, said Monday. “The Satilla Riverkeeper (organization) will continue to stand with the community to defend our right to a healthy, safe environment.”
