When T.S. Eliot wrote “The Hollow Men” in 1925 he ended it with the famous line, “Not with a bang but a whimper.” That seems to sum up the recent ruling in favor of JM Corp.’s Mallard Lake landfill. After 28 years it seems to be over not with the bang of protest but with the whimper of a judge’s remarks.
Ralph Reed, owner of the Mallard Lake land, claims he has won a dozen court tests against his proposed landfill. He says he’s currently shopping around for a buyer of the landfill and it could be operational next summer.
Helen Wean, longtime president of the Killbuck Concerned Citizens Association, was resigned upon hearing the news. “There’s nothing more we can do,” she said. “I lost all hope when (the Indiana Department of Environmental Management) dropped the case,” she said. She doesn’t expect IDEM to appeal this week’s ruling by Marion Superior Court Environmental Division Judge Michael D. Keele.
Should the landfill become a reality, there will be issues Madison County and other entities will have to face.
Anderson Community Schools’ Killbuck Elementary School will be directly affected, sitting across the street. It’s possible the school will close. If it doesn’t, alterations will have to be made for the safety of the students.
ACS Interim Superintendent Mikella Lowe said the school board has never taken a vote on what to do with Killbuck should the landfill become a reality. “We’ll have to wait and see,” she said.
How will buses and trash trucks operate on the same road that is too narrow now? Will the county, chronically cash poor, spring for widening the road?
What about the airport? The landfill is less than six miles away. Whether it will affect flights remains to be seen. Is it time for Madison County to have a new airport in the Pendleton-Lapel area to accommodate growth and the possibility of the new toll road? Time will tell.
There is also the aquifer issue. Will the landfill be built in such a manner to prevent leakage into the aquifer? Reed states that his landfill would exceed state standards for construction, but will it be a container for the long term?
We hope Reed is right about this. If we’re going to have a landfill, it has to be as safe and sanitary as possible.
Madison County has to get ready for this new landfill. There will be many decisions to make in the coming months. A new business is coming that will affect many people. The confrontation is over, the acceptance will come grudgingly. What is imperative, however, is that Madison County voices discuss how to live alongside this landfill.
Editorials
Questions abound on landfill ruling
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Editorial: Firings show inability to turn foes into friends
