Citizens Against the Landfill in Hempstead

Ironically, while doing volunteer community service picking up trash in the area in June 2011, a local citizen inadvertently learned that a 723 acre property known as the Rainey Ranch, along Hwy 6 near Hwy 290 in Hempstead, was going to be turned into a municipal solid waste landfill. It was also understood that local County government officials had been working in secret with Green Group Holdings, a Georgia-based company, on the Pintail Landfill project. Soon after, the Citizens Against the Landfill in Hempstead (CALH) was formed by a large group of citizens who clearly realized that this location over the Gulf Coast Aquifer recharge zone, and so near to the City of Hempstead, was the wrong site for such a hazardous facility. After more than a year of controversy, the actual filing of a permit application, and the questionable stalling by locally elected Waller County officials, a march by thousands of concerned citizens on Waller County Courthouse on February 12, 2013, still did not persuade these then-current elected officials that this 250 acre landfill was clearly detrimental to the northern part of Waller County. That evening, among the many hundreds of citizens giving landfill-opposing public comments, City of Hempstead Mayor, Michael Wolfe, made a promise to take the issue on behalf of his City all the way to the Texas Supreme Court if necessary. Despite vocal opposition by their citizens, those Waller County officials voted in favor of Pintail Landfill, sealing the deal by choosing to amend the landfill ordinance and sign Pintail’s host agreement. In December 2014, a Waller County court found that there were 13 counts of violations of the Open Meetings Act, the Public Information Act, and record retention requirements, and the original landfill siting ordinance was re-instated and the host agreement invalidated. Those elected officials who sided with Pintail either lost their re-election bids or decided not to run for re-election. Their April 2015 appeal of the case was found baseless by the 1st Court of Appeals. Proof of the unsuitability of the site and confirmation of what locals had been telling the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) for years came on July 17, 2015, when a site visit by CALH representatives, as requested by CALH and ordered by the court, showed groundwater spewing from one of the piezometers designed to measure the water table elevations at the site. This discovery led to the TCEQ rejection and return of Pintail’s first MSW application for non-compliance with state regulations, a fact that Pintail had to readily admit. In June, 2016, Pintail/Green Group Holdings purchased the property which they had previously only held under an Option to Buy Agreement. Their second application, filed in July 2016, was returned by TCEQ in December 2016 based on the applicability of ordinances now in place in the City of Hempstead and Waller County. Pintail has since filed suit against the TCEQ, questioning their right to reject this second application and the lawsuit is now pending in Travis County. More than six years, 2 MSW landfill applications submitted and rejected, 4 TCEQ Public Meetings, 2 trials, 1 Contested Case Hearing, hundreds of hours of depositions, $2 million dollars raised and spent on legal fees, 43 garage sales, 4 dinner/auction fundraisers, and support by Rep. Cecil Bell and Senator Lois Kolkhorst leading to 2 Legislative Bills written and testified to should all equal an end to the Pintail Landfill at this location, one would think, and a return of Waller County’s beleaguered citizens to their peaceful lives. Apparently, Pintail/Green Group Holdings have the budget to continue their litigious ways as they continue their costly pursuit of Pintail Landfill on Hwy 6 in Hempstead. Thus, CALH must work to raise more funds to ensure a just outcome for Waller County, and are currently planning a fourth dinner/auction fundraiser, ‘We STILL Stand United’ on Saturday, July 29, 2017, at the KC Hall in Hempstead. A sell out in all previous years, ticket information is available by calling 979-826-4839. Additional information can be found at StopHwy6Landfill.com.