June 05, 2008 12:38 am
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ANDERSON — People interested in learning more about landfill guidelines and the Mallard Lake landfill are invited to attend an informal information session from 4 to 7 p.m. Thursday at the Anderson Public Library.
The Indiana Department of Environmental Management set up the meeting to help people grasp what a landfill is, how the state permits landfills and other general information, said Barry Snead, public information officer for IDEM.
“Basically, the whole idea of the meeting is to let people come in and ask questions,” he said.
Four tables — one with a geologist, one with the permit manager, one with an engineer and one with the assistant commissioner of land quality — will be set up in the Delaware Room in the library.
Each expert will be available to answer general questions about landfills and Mallard Lake in particular.
While the meeting will take place from 4 to 7 p.m., the format is set up for people to come at any time during that three-hour window, Snead said.
Snead said he did not know how many people might attend the meeting.
“We’d love to see a bunch of people come out,” he said. “It’s hard to predict how many will come, but we’re here to help public out and give them answers.”
Bill Kutschera, president of the Killbuck Concerned Citizens Association, said the organization’s attorney was not notified about the meeting until 1 p.m. Tuesday.
“No one from the KCCA (was called), despite frequent contact with IDEM and assurances from IDEM that we would be made aware if a public meeting was scheduled,” Kutschera said.
The Killbuck Concerned Citizens Association is an organization created in April 1979 to stop the Mallard Lake landfill near Killbuck School. JM Corp., which first applied for the landfill permit in 1979, has been to court several times over the issue of whether it should be allowed to locate northeast of Anderson.
Last year, state Rep. Terri Austin, D-Anderson, requested a public meeting. At that time, IDEM stated that there was no requirement to hold a public meeting of a renewal of a permit, Kutschera said.
Kutschera said he would attempt to go to the meeting, but he was out of town when he received notification about it.
“I certainly would’ve been there if I had the courtesy of notification,” he said.
Until this year, Mallard Lake had to follow the zoning and guidelines from the year it requested the permit. The Indiana General Assembly passed legislation during its most recent session to force any landfill that had not taken in outside trash by April 1 to comply with current laws and not those of 1978.
Ralph Reed, owner of the landfill, opened Mallard Lake Landfill Collection Container System to the public the weekend before the deadline, but according to previous interviews with Cory Wilson, executive director of the Madison County Planning Commission, he did not take in any waste.
Reed said he did not plan to attend the informational meeting.
“We’re not going to have any say in it; it’s the state,” he said. “I don’t want to get to talking to people. We think it’s a good idea. We’re glad they are going to hold it. There are so much untruths out there. This will be a good place to clarify it.”
IDEM landfill informational session
4 to 7 p.m. Thursday
Anderson Public Library, 12th and Main streets
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