Dumfries officials weighed in on a plan to close a controversial landfill in the town.
The Potomac Landfill is full of building materials and is easily visible from Interstate 95. It’s located squarely inside the Town of Dumfries and has been a magnet for odor complaints filed by town residents.
The dumping ground is also on a state watch list because it piled debris, such as used wood, drywall, and concrete above a maximum legal height of 195 feet.
The Potomac Landfill is now rectifying the situation reducing the size of the debris pile and spreading it around the site. The landfill also sells the old materials to recycling firms that remake it into new construction material.
Landfill president Phillip Peet proposed a new agreement to the town that would allow the landfill to continue piling debris up to 250 feet high, effectively stopping the height remediation efforts mandated by the state. In exchange, the town would then receive up to $3 million over the next 20 years from the landfill — a portion of the profits made from the landfill recycling old materials.
Peet would also close the landfill in 20 years and build a park and playing fields on the reclaimed site. If Dumfries officials agree, Peet said the state height requirement gets tossed out.
“If there is an agreement for vertical expansion, we vacate the consent order. “If there is no agreement, materials will continue to be removed, and the landfill will expand laterally,” said Peet.
If the town does not accept the proposal, there would be no guarantee the facility would close.
“I’m concerned if we do nothing the Potomac Landfill doesn’t have a closure date it can remain opened, and they can go back into the ground and re-mine to get materials that have value,” said Dumfries Mayor Gerald “Jerry” Foreman.
The landfill has been known to disturb older portions of the landfill to go back in search of materials that can be sold for cash and recycled, added Foreman.
Dumfries Councilwoman Helen Reynolds scorned Peet for presenting the proposal before the company reached compliance with the state order to reduce the height of the debris pile.
“They put these restrictions on the landfill, and before we can talk about moving forward, up, down, or sideways with the landfill. You all had to correct those violations,” said Reynolds.
The company is well on its way to reducing the height of the pile agreement or no agreement, said Peet. The landfill met its first milestone in 2013, and will meet another one this year in the effort to bring down the trash pile, he said.
Peet said the landfill’s parent company Potomac Recycling, which he oversees, aims to run the landfill until it closes. However, if an agreement is not struck between it and the town, Peet said the company could sell the junkyard to another party is if the opportunity presented itself.
Peet said he hoped to strike a deal with the town by late summer or early fall. Foreman and Councilwoman Gwen Washington urge more public participation in the matter before a decision is made. Peet is anxious to solidify a deal soon due to the upcoming closure of a much taller debris landfill in Lorton. Business at his site will pick up once the Lorton landfill closes, he said.
“I don’t think it’s a decision that seven people are capable of making,” said Washington.
“The seven of us will have to make this decision, and that’s the point,” said Vice-Mayor Willie J. Toney.
The town scheduled two public workshops on the matter earlier this summer, were plans, maps, and detailed charts were presented outlining the planned closure of the landfill. Another public meeting on the matter is scheduled September 15 and is open to the public.
