[ December 21, 2021 ] The Pickens County Board of Commissioners passed a resolution mandating that County staff and the County Attorney take civil enforcement actions against "persons" that manage, operate and/or are otherwise associated with the Whitestone Valley Construction & Demolition Landfill. This landfill is located at 1714 Old Whitestone Rd E, Talking Rock, GA 30175.

SUMMARY PROVIDED BY PICKENS COUNTY

The BOC is compelled to mandate this enforcement directive to promote the health and welfare of the residents and other stakeholders of Pickens County Georgia due to multiple ongoing violations of Pickens County's Code of Ordinances and of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated that are associated with the Whitestone Landfill.

Five (5) "affiliated" corporations act in concert to conduct a multistate waste management business that includes the Whitestone Valley Construction & Demolition. These "affiliated" corporations are: [1] Cash Environmental Resources, LLC; [2] Green Energy Transport, LLC; [3] K & M Landfill, LLC; [4] Renewable Energy Holdings of Georgia, LLC; and [5] Triple Horseshoe, Inc. These corporations constitute citable "persons" for purposes of the civil enforcement actions mandated by the BOC.

The corporate "persons" are "affiliated" through the following common attributes: [A] Ownership; [B] Management; [C] Branding and promotion provided by the website of Cash Environmental Resources, LLC; and [D] Intermingled and entwined business activities.

The mandated civil enforcement actions include civil citations, the revocation of all county-issued permits and licenses, an administrative closure order for the landfill and action to pursue the recovery of delinquent tonnage fees owed to the County in the amount of $215,548.11.

Each of these corporate "persons" will be charged with the following violations of the Pickens County Code:

■ Unlawfully dumping waste materials originating from sources of outside of Pickens County in violation of Section 58-102(b ), with significant amounts coming "affiliated" waste transfer stations located in Cherokee, Fannin and Union counties which combine to serve markets spanning southward from East Tennessee through Metro Atlanta
■ Unlawfully operating a landfill without a valid permit in violations of Sections 58-3, 58-102 (b) (1), 58-102(c) and 58-106(a)
■ Unlawfully dumping scrap tires in violation of Section 58-102(b)
■ Unlawfully operating a landfill having an adverse effect on public health in Pickens County in violation of Sections 58-102( c)(3) and 58-106(b) (Note that the landfill is currently shutdown due to stop?work-order imposed by Fire Marshal Callahan on December 8, 2021.

Because of these violations, Section 58-109(a) allows the County to administratively revoke or a suspend all county-issued permits and licenses related to the landfill and to immediately impose an administrative closure order on it.

The Board of Commissioners has also directed the County Attorney to make necessary preparations to defend the administrative closure order in Superior Court and to compel the payment of delinquent tonnage fees in Superior Court. The Pickens County Government is owed $215,548.11 in tonnage fees related to the receipt and dumping of waste materials at the landfill pursuant to O.C.G.A. ?12-8-39. Some of those tonnage fees have been in arrears since 2020.

In addition to the Resolution, enclosed is the PPT overview of the resolution that was used in the BOC special called meeting to introduce and explain the resolution.


AGENDA

I. Call to Order
II. Resolution regarding the Whitestone Valley Construction & Demolition Landfill
III. General Comments
IV. Adjourn