Owners of Sampson County’s landfill and a local environmental group have reached an agreement that, group organizers say addresses decades of pollution and environmental concerns in the Snow Hill community

On behalf of the Environmental Justice Community Action Network, the Southern Environmental Law Center filed a proposed court-enforceable agreement with GFL, likely the largest landfill in North Carolina. The agreement was filed in federal court and addresses “harmful PFAS pollution and environmental justice issues near one of the nation’s largest landfills — the Sampson County Landfill in Roseboro.”

According to a release issued by EJCAN, the agreement would provide community-led relief to the rural, predominantly black and Latino neighborhood of Snow Hill for the first time in decades.

“This agreement brings long-sought relief from pollution and reparation to the Snow Hill community, putting resources and information in the community’s hands to care for their safety and health and start rebuilding after decades of ignored concerns,” said Sherri White-Williamson, EJCAN executive director.

The agreement was filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina and represents, White-Williamson said, a major step in mitigating the harmful impacts of the Roseobor-area landfill.

Once the proposed consent decree, jointly agreed between EJCAN and GFL, is adopted by the court, the release noted, it will resolve claims in a complaint also filed the same day.

“This agreement with GFL to address toxic PFAS pollution, meaningfully investigate and address emissions from the landfill and fund community-led remediation efforts provides crucial relief and empowers the Snow Hill community to repair and look forward,” said Maia Hutt, attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center, which represents EJCAN. “Our hope is that this agreement provides a foundation upon which the Snow Hill community can build a safe, healthy future.”

Hutt said Chemours sent toxic PFAS or “forever chemicals” to the landfill for decades. PFAS are a class of thousands of human-made chemicals that include PFOA, PFOS and GenX and are linked to harmful health concerns like cancer and don’t break down in the environment or the body.

“They’re (the landfill) not taking it anymore, but that sludge was coming to Snow Hill for decades, and it’s impacting the community’s water and air,” Hutt said.

“When you don’t address these issues on the front end, they will come out somewhere, and where we tend to see those impacts lies with the most vulnerable communities.”

Although loosely connected to the county government, GFL operates the landfill independently, and had not notified anyone in county administration, nor the Sampson Board of Commissioners, about the lawsuit. Commissioners Chairman Jerol Kivett said he didn’t know there was a lawsuit until he heard about it from the press.

Although GFL isn’t required to notify county leaders, Kivett said it would have been nice to have known sooner, by someone with the company, however he has full confidence that GFL will handle the situation in a professional, diligent manner and follow any new guidelines set forth by federal, state, or local regulations.

“GFL has been very responsive to any concerns we’ve had (in the past). They’ve been very cooperative and I’m sure they will continue to do so,” Kivett noted.

The chairman added that he is confident that the Sampson County Board of Commissioners, with its new elected members, will stay on top of this; paying close attention to any new developments in the future. Kivett’s term expires in November.

The Sampson County Landfill was established in 1973 and expanded in 1992, prior to GFL’s ownership. The expansion was opposed by community members but commissioners at the time paved the way for the growth. Today, the landfill spans nearly 1,000 acres and accepts over 1.8 million tons of waste annually.

Major industrial manufacturers from across the state, like Chemours, sent PFAS-contaminated industrial waste to the landfill for decades, the EJCAN release points out. Recent testing, it continued, from the Department of Environmental Quality confirmed unsafe — and in some instances extremely high — PFAS levels in the streams and groundwater near the landfill.