Landfill lawsuit raises concern in Pickens County

Secret meetings and lies about a landfill project in Pickens County were outlined in a statement by Pickens County Council, but the attorney for the company says the allegations are bogus.

Council members say the new landfill was supposed to be built off of Highway 93 by the company “MRR.”

Council approved the landfill to MRR in 2007, agreeing that it would only be used for non-toxic waste such as construction debris.
Now, council members are claiming MRR held “a series of secret meetings with the Department of Health and Environmental Control in 2014” in an attempt to add a liner to the landfill, which would change it from a class 2 to class 3, making it suitable for coal ash.
Smith says he was concerned of MRR’s intentions to deposit coal ash into the landfill back in December after a former DHEC employee gave a statement in a deposition. Council suspended the company’s permit to move forward with the project shortly after.
In 2015, MRR filed a lawsuit against Pickens County Council and Planning Commission for suspending their permit.
“You don’t want coal dust. When you’ve got employees at their plant saying their advised to wash their cars off because that fly ash gets on their cars and corrodes their paint, just imagine it getting into the water system,” says Neil Smith, Pickens County Councilman for District 4.
MRR’s attorney, Robert Goings, said in a statement to 7 News:

Unfortunately, Pickens County continues its PR campaign to defame this company through the media. The reason Pickens County is continuously issuing press releases on a pending legal action is deprive MRR Pickens of a fair trial and to wrongfully exert political and public pressure in defending against a clear breach of contract. To argue that MRR Pickens engaged in a conspiracy with DHEC and committed “perjury” is preposterous. The truth will come out in the court of law, not through one-sided and false press releases spun by Pickens County.