Va. governor announces $35M for Bristol landfill - WJHL-TV News Channel 11

Va. governor announces $35M for Bristol landfill | WJHL | Tri-Cities News & Weather

BRISTOL, Va. (WJHL) — The city of Bristol, Va. landfill got some good news dumped in its lap Friday with Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s announcement of $35 million in Commonwealth funds “for key projects associated with Bristol Landfill remediation.”

The announcement drew a rapid response of “deep gratitude” from the city to the Youngkin administration and local legislators “for recognizing the tremendous financial challenge the City faces with its landfill…”

The money will help fund financial commitments Bristol made in a consent decree it entered into with the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality and Attorney General Jason Miyares’ office. The decree includes a lengthy list of requirements for mitigation at the now-closed facility, from gas collection, sidewall odor mitigation and waste temperature monitoring to leachate extraction, stormwater management and monitoring and installation of a cover system.

“While the costs related to the important remediation work on the Landfill to continue to present a number of financial challenges, with this state support, the City is confident it can complete the remediation work ordered by the Court for the benefit of the larger Bristol community,” City Manager Randall Eads said in a statement.

Joel Kellogg is President of Hope for Bristol, an advocacy group that first brought issues at the landfill to the city’s and public’s attention in late 2020. He called the announcement “wonderful news,” particularly since to his understanding the city had issued around that amount in bonds to address the mitigation costs.

Kellogg said local leaders had tried unsuccessfully to get more state help prior to Friday’s announcement and said given what he called Virginia’s “war chest” of surplus funds, “it was really disappointing that we couldn’t get any headway.”

He said part of the blame lies with Virginia due to what he called lax enforcement over the past couple of decades with the landfill, which was built in a former quarry.

“I think it’s the right thing to do,” Kellogg said. “If you look over the history of this debacle the state of Virginia has culpability.”

The announcement comes just two days after the city announced it had hired Laura Socia as its new director of solid waste.

The city’s release said Youngkin and his finance secretary, Steve Cummings, “invested significant time” over the past year learning about the financial challenges Bristol faces surrounding the landfill remediation.

“The Southwest Virginia legislative delegation additionally developed an in-depth understanding of our landfill issues in order to secure state financial assistance,” the release states.

Citizens who live near the landfill, which stopped taking garbage in September 2022, first began complaining about noxious odors in late 2020. After roughly two years of back and forth between residents, the city and state officials, Miyares’ office sued the city in January over claims the facility violated numerous Virginia environmental laws, regulations and terms of its operating permits.

The consent decree was signed just two weeks after that lawsuit was filed. It promised just $2 million in funding from Virginia.

Kellogg said the city has “poured a tremendous amount of money and resources into remediation efforts.” He added that emissions continue “assaulting our community” on a regular basis despite placement of an unprecedented sidewall mitigation between the landfill liner and quarry walls.

“Has progress been made? Yes. Are we there yet? No, not by a long ways.”