Ron Barnett

rbarnett@greenvillenews.com

The company that plans to build a landfill to dispose of coal ash in Pickens County is appealing the county’s decision to revoke its land-use permit, an attorney for the company said Tuesday.

“The county's unlawful termination of the Land Use Approval aims at preventing MRR Pickens from conducting any activities on the property and threatens its members with criminal prosecution for doing nothing wrong, nor illegal,” the company said in a statement to The Greenville News emailed by attorney Jessica King.

“The county's decision to terminate is in violation of their own ordinance and the decision was made without prior notice or discussion with MRR Pickens,” the statement says. “Therefore, MRR Pickens has been given no other option than to take legal action to resolve this issue and protect its rights moving forward.”

Gary Poliakoff, an environmental lawyer hired by Pickens County to represent it in the case called MRR's appeal, "utterly groundless, frivolous and in direct contradiction of MRR's repeated representations for years to Pickens County citizens."

"Our intent is to vigorously defend this inappropriate filing, likely to include defenses of fraud and misrepresentation by MRR," he said in an email to The News. "We will be filing appropriate responsive pleadings, requesting dismissal, sanctions and other relief shortly."

There has been an outcry from residents and elected officials who represent the county over the company's plans, with more complaints made during a public session at Monday night's County Council meeting.

"This is a potential danger to the whole county, and not even just our own county," said Pree Hamilton, who lives near the site.

County Council last month revoked the land use permit on the site along State 93 between Liberty and Easley, saying the company's plan would violate the county's land use ordinance by operating a type of landfill that’s not allowed.

The state Department of Health and Environmental Control has approved the company’s plan to install a liner which would allow it to dispose of coal ash, a byproduct of the electrical power industry that contains low levels of heavy metals such as lead and arsenic.

MRR’s statement said, “Over the years, MRR and Pickens County have had a good working relationship as evidenced through our mutually executed agreements. On January 11, 2016, Pickens County unlawfully terminated MRR Pickens right to run its business by barring it from constructing and operating its already permitted SCDHEC Class Two Landfill.”

The county approved the company’s request to operate a Class Two landfill for construction and demolition waste in 2007, but MRR didn’t begin construction until last year. Installing a liner system would effectively turn it into a Class 3 facility, county officials argue. DHEC hasn't permitted it as a Class 3 landfill.

Company officials didn’t mention coal ash during a public hearing with the county Planning Commission last January, county officials said. Later in the year, DHEC approved the coal ash plan, and the company then asked for a variance that would allow “a significant increase” in its 70,500-ton limit of the proposed 4.61-million cubic yard landfill.

As of late last week, DHEC was still waiting for the company to answer questions such as how much coal ash it planned to put in the landfill, how it would ensure it met the Class 2 standards, and where it would be coming from.

Coal ash 'forum and petition signing' planned in Liberty