Uniontown residents want Arrowhead, ADEM to address concerns before landfill permitted to expand

Alabama Department of Environmental Management officials said at a public hearing in Uniontown on Nov. 18 that they see no reason why they shouldn’t approve changes in the permit of a huge landfill in Perry County.

A community activist said no permit should be approved until Arrowhead and ADEM address community concerns and invest more in the community.

The owners of Arrowhead Landfill in Uniontown have asked ADEM to amend their permit to increase the “design capacity” of the massive landfill from 49.7 tons to 63.9 tons, an increase of almost 29%. Arrowhead also asked for some changes in the way they pile the 6,000 tons of waste that come into the site every day.

ADEM representatives from the departments responsible for pollution in the air and on the ground read statements at the hearing stating that the proposed changes would not violate environmental standards.

John Robert Gill with ADEM’s air division noted that while the agency believes the landfill will still meet state standards after the proposed changes, he noted that residents had “concerns around the facility, traffic noise and property values” that ADEM had no power to address.   

No one from Arrowhead and no public officials spoke at the public hearing, but Black Belt Women Rising Executive Director Portia Shepherd testified that no new application should be approved until Arrowhead and ADEM show that they care about how the landfill has affected Uniontown.

“No one has to tell Uniontown what environmental injustice looks like,” Shepherd said. “We have lived it.”

“The original agreement between Perry County and Arrowhead Landfill left both the city of Uniontown and our unincorporated areas completely outside the circle of protection,” Shepherd said. “For nearly 20 years, we have lived with major industrial operations in our backyard while receiving none of the financial support, environmental safeguards or decision-making power that should have been standard from the beginning.”

“Every community deserves clean air, safe water and a healthy environment,” Shepherd said. “But rural Black Belt communities in Alabama have been asked to accept burdens that wealthier communities would never be asked to tolerate. That is not accidental. That is not coincidence. That is a pattern and this hearing is a chance to break that pattern.”

Shepherd said residents have complained for years about strong odors, headaches, nausea and breathing issues as well as dust and fears about water and air quality.

“But what stands out most is not just the number of complaints. It is the silence that followed them,” she said. She said almost two thirds of complaints to ADEM have gone unanswered.

Before expanding the landfill is considered, the community needs odor standards that can be measured and enforced, independent monitoring instead of letting Arrowhead self-report, and required responses to serious issues, she said.

More from this section

Fox trapped inside Amazon delivery van engine rescued

Lula says Germany's Merz should have 'gone dancing', after Belem criticism

Coat drives near Huntsville

Shepherd said that Arrowhead’s owner, Waste Connections, earned almost $9 billion in 2024. “The issue is whether that growth will continue to come at the expense of small rural communities like ours, which often lack political power, financial leverage or a seat at the table,” she said.

“If this expansion is on the table, then so must be community benefits, including a community relief fund for homeowners and residents; investments in local infrastructure, including waste services; transparent reporting on truck traffic, odors, air quality and groundwater; and a seat at the table for community members on environmental oversight.”

She asked ADEM to address uncorrected complaints and “ensure that if expansion ever moved forward, the community’s wellbeing comes first, not last.”

Shepherd also noted that Arrowhead doesn’t need to expand its design capacity because it has plenty of space.

“The landfill has decades of space left at current disposal rates,” Shepherd said. “This expansion is not being requested out of necessity. It is being requested out of preference and profit.”

Laura A. Washington told the hearing officer that her family has been plagued by odors “that get into our house and our cars.” She said her son has been “in and out of the doctor” because of asthma.

A third resident was scheduled to testify, but Shepherd said his electronic wheelchair didn’t have enough power to make it the courtroom at Uniontown City Hall, where about 40 residents gathered for the hearing.

In addition to expanding the capacity of the landfill, the New Jersey-based owners are asking ADEM to allow the daily height of waste in a cell, the lined pit and mound where waste is dumped or piled before being covered over, to increase from 8 feet to 15 feet. They have also asked for variances from ADEM design and operating rules, including using automotive shredder residue, the non-mental waste from shredded cars, as cover for the day’s trash, according to the permit.  

After consideration of all oral and written comments and consideration of the requirements of the Alabama Air Pollution Control Act, the Federal Clean Air Act, the Alabama Solid Wastes & Recyclable Materials Management Act and all other applicable regulations, the Department will make a final determination on the proposed permits, according to the ADEM legal notice. Public comment has been extended through Dec. 22.

The current permit took effect in March 2023 and will remain in effect until March 2033.

The total permitted area for the Arrowhead Landfill is almost 974 total acres, with 425 acres used for disposal operations. The site has three tracts, and each tract includes up to nine cells of various sizes to receive waste. Tract 1, which is almost 118 acres, is currently in use, according to ADEM documents.

The permit allows the landfill to take in waste from 33 states.