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It is my understanding that the Cumberland supervisors don’t allow folks from outside the county to speak during the public comment period at their meetings. For that reason, I submit this open letter. 

I heard that they are about to consider a new, or amended, Conditional Use Permit (CUP) for the proposed 1200-acre mega landfill. This means that they have the chance to do what the previous approving Board did not do: deny it. To deny the CUP is the right thing to do, not only for the Cumberland community and surrounding communities, but for all of the Commonwealth. 

Approval of a landfill of this scale that will be used for out-of-state trash sets a bad precedent and once you set that precedent, it will be difficult to go back. More waste disposal companies will come to Virginia counties and ask to construct landfills that are unnecessary and it will be  difficult for them to deny them. 

In their latest submission to the DEQ, Green Ridge (without input from the Cumberland  Supervisors) is reducing the cell size to 104 acres as a way to get their feet in the door with the  stated goal of additional expansion. In this submission they use the term “initial phase”  throughout the document. Therefore, I ask that supervisors be mindful that one request will not be the last. If they approve this CUP, the company will come back and ask for approval to increase the daily tonnage, increase the height of the trash heap, and expand the land area for disposal. It will then be difficult to deny those future CUPs. 

The lure of money should not be the top priority for approval. Cultural, historical, and  environmental aspects must first be considered. Those three will be so detrimentally and  irreversibly harmed that no money can fix them. 

Also, please be mindful that constructing landfills throughout Virginia will make Virginia the  nation’s landfill. It will forever change what is beautiful about the Commonwealth landscape. It  will then be more suitable to change the motto from Virginia is for Lovers to Virginia is for  Landfills. 

Respectfully, 

Trudy Berry
Lunenburg County